xanax xr or klonopin

[ConfusedAdd]

Been on the klonopin for 8 years or so and now new doctor is moving me over to xanax xr. Seems to work well but makes me a bit more tired then the klonopin.

I wonder if that will change given I need a stimulant for add? I know adderall put me through 3 days of hell this week with the worst anxiety I have had in a long time. I took it for 3 weeks and no big issues, but then tried ritalin for 2 days and then back to adderall. The adderall did give me more energy but I got spots where my heart raced.

Now I am nervous about trying the ritalin.

[katiedarlin]

I take klonopin and seroquel for PTSD and generalized anxiety. Klonopin has a much longer half life than a drug like ativan and Xanax. It's much better for treating a sustained anxiety. It's not great for full blown panic attacks because it takes anywhere from 30-45 minutes to kick in, while ativan and xanax work much more quickly.

[nalgas]

Klonopin has a much longer half life than a drug like ativan and Xanax.

That is absolutely true with regular Xanax. Xanax XR (eXtended Release or whatever it stands for) lasts quite a long time, though. I think a paper I read last month said it's supposed to be somewhere around 12 hours or so for most people, then the level drops to around half by 15 hours, which is approaching the half-life of Klonopin. It takes longer to kick in and much, much longer to wear off compared to the regular form (or so they say; I've only tried the XR form). Between my experiences with Klonopin and Xanax XR, Xanax made me more tired, too, but I had fewer side effects from it overall than Klonopin (which also made me a little clumsy/forgetful), and it worked much better for anxiety.