Posted by viridis on January 22, 2003, at 0:41:51
In reply to Raise Klonopin dosage?, posted by andyboy on January 21, 2003, at 17:18:08
I've done very well on 1 mg K/day for about a year and a half, for anxiety and panic attacks. Early on, though, my psychiatrist asked me several times if this was enough -- he said that panic patients often need "several times" that amount, and that I shouldn't worry about finding an optimal dose; the key thing is to keep the anxiety under control, and different people require different doses.
Since this dose works for me, I've declined the offer to increase it (and my pdoc is pleased that such a small amount is effective). But he definitely considers 1 mg very low for people with severe anxiety disorders, so maybe you are taking too little.
I do sometimes experience "breakthrough" anxiety in stressful situations, and for this I take 0.25-0.5 mg Xanax. It's extremely effective and works fast. I use it sporadically -- sometimes I don't take it for weeks at a time, sometimes I'll take it a couple of days in a row, just depending on what's going on. If your anxiety is episodic, this might be a way to augment your Klonopin without increasing the daily dose, but if K just isn't doing what it should on a regular basis, I'd try increasing the dose a bit.
One other thing (and this is very "fringe"): recently I've been taking 100-200 mg of L-theanine (an amino acid found in tea leaves) a couple of times a day. I've tried lots of supplements, herbs etc. for anxiety and never had much luck, but this actually does seem to have a mild calming effect that augments Klonopin well. I really don't think it's just placebo effect. L-theanine is widely used in Japan, and is fairly well studied. I certainly don't think it would solve major anxiety problems on its own (I'm sticking with the benzos), but it does seem to add a bit of calmness and clarity, so might be worth a shot. It's relatively inexpensive and appears to be quite safe (you could get the same dose by drinking a lot of green tea). Anyway, just a thought, as a possible add-on for anxiety.
poster:viridis
thread:136916
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030119/msgs/136990.html