Breenn Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Your experiences ? In the past one 2 mg clonazepam/Klonopin tablet used to last a full day. Lorazepam (oral) seems to last less than 12 hours. When I look up Klonopin's duration of action in a chart/table, it usually says something like 8-12 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt07 Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Well, clonazepam has a longer half-life and is going to last longer. That's been my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissaw72 Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 I only have experience with klonopin, but wanted to say that I find it works better for me (covers me the whole day) when I take 1/2 my dose in the AM, and the other 1/2 in the PM, on a regular basis (as opposed to prn). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crtclms Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Ativan is short acting. People use it for panic attacks and seizures. Klonopin gave me Klonopin rage, so I can't speak to its efficacy. Other than the rages started exactly 2 hours after I took it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dianthus Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Klonopin and its metabolites have a much longer half life than Ativan. Ativan isn't as short acting as Xanax, but it still needs to be dosed at least twice a day. Klonopin can be dosed more than once a day but for many people once a day is just fine. In theory Klonopin will control anxiety more steadily (without peaks and valleys) than Ativan will. Ativan is, however, used for more than panic attacks and seizures-- it's a legitimate drug for GAD and other anxiety disorders. It just has to be dosed more often. In fact, Klonopin has more anticonvulsant properties than Ativan if we want to get really pedantic about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breenn Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 (edited) oops, can't delete Edited April 15, 2015 by Breenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breenn Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 So I take it that people experiences with Klonopin's duration of action vary ? I get the impression that some specific anxiolytic action (?) lasts up to 12 hours, something else will last for 24 hours. Or in my case, it used to last. Dianthus, I get the feeling you know more about Klonopin. In this country, docs know very little about this drug and think 'a benzo is a benzo'. 'more anticonvulsant properties', could you elaborate ? I have seen a number that would indicate that clonazepam is about twice as potent as lorazepam on a mg base. I did try to get off Klonopin by using lorazepam ("jumping"), long story. Now I find myself in some trouble. The long term adaptations to the clonazepam are still there, but now I have also developed a tolerance/dependence to lorazepam ! If I don't take the lorazepam, my body will let me know ! Most obviously, time starts to pass much slower (when taken twice a day). Since I'm having a hard time with the lorazepam, I tried going back to the clonazepam for a few days. However, my body will let me know if I don't take the lorazepam. The original evening dose of 2 mg clonazepam won't cover for a full day, I still had to take the daytime dose of lorazepam. Any suggestions ? I had a hard time tolerating diazepam for tapering. I never was able to tolerate Klonopin taken twice a day, amongst other things daytime doses would be more sedating and evening doses would be more stimulating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooster Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 I went the other way with tapering.... changed from lorazepam to klonopin then started gradually cutting back the klonopin about 0.25mg at a time over a period of many, many months. Hopefully you are working a taper schedule with a medical provider. In the absence of that, if I were in that situation, I would start lowering the lorazepam by splitting it into quarters and taking 3/4 instead of a whole. Then after couple weeks, to a half, etc. But that's definitely just me and I am in no way a medical provider qualified to say what is appropriate for you, me, or anyone, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissaw72 Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 So I take it that people experiences with Klonopin's duration of action vary ? I get the impression that some specific anxiolytic action (?) lasts up to 12 hours, something else will last for 24 hours. Or in my case, it used to last. Dianthus, I get the feeling you know more about Klonopin. In this country, docs know very little about this drug and think 'a benzo is a benzo'. 'more anticonvulsant properties', could you elaborate ? I have seen a number that would indicate that clonazepam is about twice as potent as lorazepam on a mg base. I did try to get off Klonopin by using lorazepam ("jumping"), long story. Now I find myself in some trouble. The long term adaptations to the clonazepam are still there, but now I have also developed a tolerance/dependence to lorazepam ! If I don't take the lorazepam, my body will let me know ! Most obviously, time starts to pass much slower (when taken twice a day). Since I'm having a hard time with the lorazepam, I tried going back to the clonazepam for a few days. However, my body will let me know if I don't take the lorazepam. The original evening dose of 2 mg clonazepam won't cover for a full day, I still had to take the daytime dose of lorazepam. Any suggestions ? I had a hard time tolerating diazepam for tapering. I never was able to tolerate Klonopin taken twice a day, amongst other things daytime doses would be more sedating and evening doses would be more stimulating. I know you said you weren't able to tolerate klonopin twice a day, but I was wondering what the dose was that you were on when taking both times of day that you couldn't tolerate. The reason I ask is because maybe the morning dose was too high? ie, maybe you could talk to your pdoc about a tiny dose in the AM and then the rest in the PM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breenn Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 Wooster: from loraz to klon seems more sensible. I don't have a doc who knows about these things. Twice a day: 2 mg. I'm not sure how splitting a dose in this situation would work out. It seems that lorazepam is so damn potent ! Perhaps I should say 'agressive' ? And again, I have to rely on a GP who knows squat. Also, it seems I'm in some sort of 'tolerance withdrawal'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissaw72 Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 (edited) Wooster: from loraz to klon seems more sensible. I don't have a doc who knows about these things. Twice a day: 2 mg. I'm not sure how splitting a dose in this situation would work out. It seems that lorazepam is so damn potent ! Perhaps I should say 'agressive' ? And again, I have to rely on a GP who knows squat. Also, it seems I'm in some sort of 'tolerance withdrawal'. I guess I was thinking to take a smaller dose in the morning, then the regular dose at night, so it isn't so potent for you. ETA: I was referring to Klonopin based on what you wrote a couple posts ago. I'm sorry if I misunderstood. Edited April 16, 2015 by melissaw72 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breenn Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 (edited) Wooster: from loraz to klon seems more sensible. I don't have a doc who knows about these things. Twice a day: 2 mg. I'm not sure how splitting a dose in this situation would work out. It seems that lorazepam is so damn potent ! Perhaps I should say 'agressive' ? And again, I have to rely on a GP who knows squat. Also, it seems I'm in some sort of 'tolerance withdrawal'. I guess I was thinking to take a smaller dose in the morning, then the regular dose at night, so it isn't so potent for you. ETA: I was referring to Klonopin based on what you wrote a couple posts ago. I'm sorry if I misunderstood. I meant that dropping lorazepam in favor of clonazepam was very hard. I sort of had to take a day dose of lorazepam. In the past I took the clonazepam once a day. Taking it twice was 'hard', it made the day dose more sedating and the evening dose more stimulating, amongst other things. And yes, perhaps I could try different doses (smaller/larger), Hopefully that clarifies things Edited April 16, 2015 by Breenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dianthus Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Dianthus, I get the feeling you know more about Klonopin. In this country, docs know very little about this drug and think 'a benzo is a benzo'. 'more anticonvulsant properties', could you elaborate ? I have seen a number that would indicate that clonazepam is about twice as potent as lorazepam on a mg base. Benzos are different from each other and it's not just their half lives and duration of action. I take lorazepam and have for a long time. Clonazepam made me weird-- I just didn't like how it worked even though I'd like to dose my benzo less often. My husband has a lot of physical anxiety (jaw clenching and teeth grinding) and he and our pdoc feel that clonazepam is much more effective than other benzos for that kind of physical anxiety. Clonazepam is also just known as working as an anticonvulsant better than other benzos do. There are other benzos (Restoril) that work better for sleep. So while they're all similar, benzos are all slightly different in what they do and how they do it, along with the half life stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crtclms Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 (edited) My husband took ativan if he thought he was about to have a seizure, but takes clonazapam nightly for seizures as more of a long term prophylaxis. Edited April 17, 2015 by crtclms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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