Posted by mrgeek on February 19, 2004, at 8:41:05
In reply to New Klonopin user - long time sufferer, posted by Lofwyr on February 18, 2004, at 15:34:38
Lofwyr,
I am also a new Klonopin user (for about 10 days now). I am 20 years old and have suffered from GAD and SAD since I was about 14. So let me just say I know what relief you are feeling!
As far as some information goes, I'll let you know what I think/have found.
Did you research and reactions the klonopin may have with Serzone? Always EXTREMELY important to check for interactions when you are starting a new drug.
For what reason are you taking the Serzone currently? I'm assuming It's to help you get to sleep? In my case, taking one .5mg tab of Klonopin at night for the past 10 days has given me what I believe to be some of the best sleep I've had in my life. I'm certianly no expert, but I dont think it's a good idea to be mixing the K at night with your Serzone as they both have a sedative effect -- you might just sleep the next day away! :)
From what I have read/inferred, taking a dosage of Klonopin before bed WILL NOT give you anti-anxiety effects for the entire next day. While you can find that the half-life of the drug in your system is approximately 30 hours, the supposed "duration of action" is only about 8-12 hours. I would stick with a single dose in the early to late morning for now.
This seems to be working well for you. You sound exactly like I did about 10 days ago. .5mg--wow, what a big difference, but still not "fully" relieving. So what I did is after about a week I went up to .75mg in the morning (stuk with .5mg at night) and I noticed and even greater relief.
Heres some advice: dont take advice from other's on here as far as dosage goes. You'll see some people taking 1mg 3x a day, others taking 4mg, some taking lower doses like .5mg at various points in the day. I think Klonopin is one of those meds that is very individual specific. I think it depends on the level of your anxiety and just the person you are in general. However, you seem to match up with me fairly well as far as dosage goes. If I were you I would NOT jump right up to 1mg to test it's effects. I would instead step at .25mg intervals (split one of those little pills in half--its easy). As far as psychostims go, my philosophy is that LESS is definitely BETTER. Aside from that, I have heard many stores that once you're at a particular dose--it's hard, if not impossible to drop down to a lower dose and get any benefit from it.
Finally, once you do get to see your p-doc make sure to tell him what you've been up to. Go in and be prepared possibly with some printed doctumentation about the use of K for anxiety. Print out posts from here (like this one) and theres also tons of information on the net. It seems to me that you might be able to come off serzone completely and start using just K to help you get to sleep. Thats another philosophy of mine-ONE drug is much better than MULTIPLES.
With all of this said please understand. I am only 20 years old. While I do believe that I am a responsible, intelligent and well-read individual on this I can guarantee you that I have NOWHERE NEAR the experience that your pdoc or many of the others here have. I am simply stating what I believe. Do not take it as factual medical advice--take it as possibly helpful guidance from a friend who might know a bit about what he's talking about.Phew! I think I'm done. Sorry, It was just so exciting to see someone going through the same thing as me as such a similar time. Hope all is going well for you. Feel free to keep me and us updated with your progress, as I'm particularly interested.
/mrgeek
poster:mrgeek
thread:315215
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040218/msgs/315563.html