What do you think of the drug Klonopin?

Question

I'm talking about Klonopin for severe anxiety attacks. How much is good? Should you be on it for life?

Answer 1

Klonopin (clonazepam) belongs to the benzodiazepine class of drugs. So it's chemically similar to Valium and Xanax. I do not believe Klonopin is the med you should be taking for severe anxiety. Physicians usually prescribe it for patients with seizure problems or muscle tightness.

I suggest you try Valium for your anxiety. How much will be effective? Only you can determine this through experimentation with various doses.

If you suffer anxiety for life, then you should be on medication for life. I do not advocate talk therapy. Psychiatric philosophy dwells on the past in an attempt to help. Buddhist philosophy does not dwell on the past. Rather, it deals with the present. As a Buddhist, you can guess which philosophy I follow.

If Valium does not work for you, there are numerous other medications you can try. Do not be afraid to experiment. It is your body and your life. I wish you all the best.

Answer 2

I think its a good drug if taken for no more than 4-6 weeks. After that I believe you become medicaly addicted to it. I've been on Klonopin for 2 years with my dosage for one year at 3mg a day and now I'm at 1mg day and staying there until I can find a way to get over the withdrawls. I've tried repeated times to stop this drug and have failed because the withdrawl sysmtoms are the most disturbing things i've ever dealt with in my life.

If you are going to stay on the klonopin I would advise taking a week off every month from it and now raising your dose. After awhile it loses its sedative effect, but nots it ability to cope with the anxiety.

I would use this as a last alternative, have you've tried Buspar or Lexapro?

Last word, if you do decide to stay on the medication for life then I would make sure to implement a exercise schedule into your daily routine because the drug does have a depression affect after long time use, but hasent for me because I exercise daily.

Just be very careful taking it. Damn, this thing turned into a novel. ;0)
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Answer 3

I have severe panic attacks/anxiety disorder. The only thing Klonopin did for me was knock me out and I slept all the time. I don't remember what it's called, but my doctor was telling me about a medication that dissolves on your tongue, when you feel an attack coming on, you take it and the feeling passes. Right now, I'm only taking Zoloft. It helps decrease the severity of my attacks. You might want to check with your DR. about the dissolving one, it also comes in pill form, the pill just takes longer to kick in. Best of luck!

Answer 4

If you take drugs for severe anxiety you should also be getting counselling as there is most often a basis for it. I know people who have had success with the drug but everyone is different in how they react to medication. Whether it is a lifelong thing depends on how well you deal with the underlying cause of the anxiety.

Answer 5

I've been taking Klonopin since 1999 for anxiety as well. The one thing I noticed about Klonopin is that you can have severe withdrawal from it if you stop taking it all of a sudden. I never did this on purpose. My pharmacy gave me the wrong prescription. I drove home, looked at it, called them, described it, and they asked me if it was white and round! There are a million drugs out there that are white and round! I said yes and they said that it was the right one then. I started taking it and since I wasn't taking the Klonopin, the withdrawal kicked in within about a day and full-blown w/drawal within about two or three days. I was having the worst nightmares I've ever had in my life, ones I can still remember today--4 years later, I lost 15 pounds in 7 days because I couldn't even look at food, of course my anxiety was through the roof, you should have seen my eyes: my pupils were like big black saucers. That's w/drawal from 2 mg twice daily.

When I had my first doctor, he prescribed me 4 mg twice daily. I had to drive an hour to work every morning on the highway. I got in a fender bender one day from nodding off at the wheel (I was lucky though cuz I nodded off every frickin day on the way to work) and a week later, I nodded off for more than enough time to wake up and see a car in front of me slamming on the brakes. I slammed on my brakes, put the clutch in first gear which of course killed the transmission, and hit the emergency brake. I was going 70 mph and I hit the van in front of me so hard that my airbag went off. I blacked out for a bit. And when I regained consciousness or whatever, there was smoke everywhere, and I thought my little Honda Civic was going to blow up. So I jumped out of the car, quickly looked at it and saw that the bumper was about a two feet from the windshield wipers, and I ran to the lady in the van in front of me to see if she was okay. She got whiplash, as did I, but was otherwise okay. Her van only had a small dent in the bumper. That's because she had a little room between her and the guy in front of her so she could accelerate a little when she saw me coming at her in her rear view mirror. That was probably what saved my life and possibly hers too. I didn't even give notice to that doctor for a month that I was leaving him for another doctor that knew what the f_uck 4 mg of Klonopin can do to you in the morning. Then, I wrote him a letter telling him exactly what happened. I should have sued his a_ss royally. Come to think of it, I should see if I can't get info from the police department on that lady to thank her for what she did.

Anyway, you don't mess around with this s_hit. If you've been on even 2 mg twice daily for a couple years, if you stop taking it for a week, you can even have hallucinations, some people do my doctor told me. There's f_uck ups out there that get ahold of Klonopin and drink it with alcohol for a bigger buzz, just like Prozac, except most of us know Prozac is an anti-depressant, not anti-anxiety. I will probably be on it for life, but I don't mind, as long as they don't increase the dosage. Even some people who start at 1 mg get drowsy for a while. But, you usually get used to the effects, meaning that once you've taken it for a while, it doesn't make you drowsy anymore. Same is true for me and my 2 mg twice a day. I don't get drowsy from it. I get drowsy from a different med though.

Good luck. Sorry about my book of an answer.

Answer 6

I don't recommend taking drugs especially benzodiazapines or anti-psychotics(commonly prescribed for anxiety and very dangerous)...they do not really help. It's just a band-aid. It may help for a short bit...but the side effects are sometimes (many times) worse than the benefit. I recommend working through your problems with a counselor (intense counseling)....get to the bottom of it!!! . Face your issues head on without masking....you'll get through it.(I did).. The more you mask with drugs...the longer it will take to get better.

Answer 7

Kolonopin is like valium. It can be very addicting so be careful. Don't drink it will intensify it.You should consult your dr. he will know how long to keep you on.Don't just stop taking it you could possibly go thru withdrawl.

Answer 8

whatever it is that its solving it is also taking your memory and your ability to think rationally. Messed up pill. Try behavioral theraphy.

Answer 9

I don't know who told you that Klonipin is an anti-anxiety, it's actually an anti-psychotic. If you have severe anxiety, you should be trying Ativan.