Posted by Xanablu on July 8, 2004, at 14:31:16
In reply to Re: Xanax sedation -vs- Klonopin sedation, posted by pinky on July 7, 2004, at 1:57:29
> I dont get how this tolerance works. If I want to take xanax or clonazepam, regularly, and forever, is my tolerane just going to go up and up and up until i overdose? Or do i just keep taking a consistent amount like 4 -6 mgs a day. What happens if this stops effecting me? Do I take more? I'd ask my "doctor" but I'll let you know when i find one that isnt an idiot.
Hi Pinky, Chemist (always enjoy your posts) and other inquiring minds who want to know............
I'm Xanablu,
been reading P-B fo many a yr. no, just KEPT HAVING TO CHANGE MY SCREEN (sorry,--caps--, not really screaming) for the past 4 years cause I'mm AD(maybe H)D & I have very small reserves of patience, so I'd just kick out the old name and kick in the new. I've been Suzannah8, nightlight, plain old zannahblue (I think!?!) & now Xanablu--rhymes w/Xanadu--get it?--well dumb point being, I rarely post b/c I am a wretched typist, AND, have just been thru the worst 8 years of my life, but............thanks to to P-B, I'm 'not quite dead yet" --just a dumb allusion to Monty Python and the Holy Grail (no offense intended to anyone---I've just felt that way SOOOO often and it popped in there as I am an easily distractable ( and apparently a.m., no noonishly ansd seemingly insipidly voluble babblig M.P.fan, ..today or s/t. (something).So, hope u skipped that part, and we're off to klono land. I must say that I have been taking clonazepam (generic) for about 5 1/2 years, w/some skips of a month or two b/t., at times when trying to get both a thorough Phys. & Psych. diagnosis. It was rx'd for muscle spasms, tightness & severe pain in upper shoulders neck and back by my physiatrist. Ihad tried tricyclics, Nsaids, every muscle relaxant known to God and man before one of a long list of docs finally gave me a real DRUG that worked. I have fibro, degenerative disc disease, 3 herniated discs, lots of anxiety and episodic clinical depression. Sounds dreadful, but once I took .5 mgs. of klonopin so many yrs. ago, I have made very slow, but hopeful progress.
Tolerance. OK. within the 1st yr. and a half my dosage of clonazepam (I quickly switched to the less expensive generic, and like it just fine, especially that which is made by Teva Lab). But, I had every mid-life'event', mostly of the negative sort, occur within, certainly, these past 7 yrs. I had my 1st child at 40, a very happy event, except, I had always known 'something was 'wrong' w/me and had therefor, decided not to have children, fearing I wd. not be an adequate Mother...insert organ music...Her dad and I married..things were fine for a short while, but I was always exhausted, her dad and I had dif. ideas on how to handle money---he prefers to make his gambling--but the perqs are not so hot, my mother contracted colon cancer, supposedly terminal, which I nursed her thru b/c no one cd. seem to learn how to operate, change, clean her apparatus (not even her, which was very strange, considering her remarkable homemaking and caree capabilities prior). She 'recovered' ,was reconstructed, drs. said she was a 'miracle cure', but I knew she was not right. Even after a year, whenever I talked with her or looked in her eyes, I had th irrational, but distinct feeling she was close to death. Really weird. My dad had emphysema and heart disease and a terrific anxiety disorder, and he succumbed quite suddenly (and shockingly to me and my 2 out-of-town siblings) to a coronary 6weeks after their 50th anniversary. It was a grievous shock to us all, and STILL no one wd. believe me when I kept telling them MOTHER IS VERY ILL>HELP!!!!!!!! My depression and pain and e/t else soared. I forced my poor husband (who had not planned on getting married 4 yrs. earlier and certainly not into my world of sudden mayhem) which everyon characterized me as being very 'chicken littlish' aboutboth myself (I had not yet been psychiatrically diagnosed-accurately, that is, and I was very undermedicated for pain and anxiety, and trying to make sense out of a lost father, a ghostly mother, every single person in denial, and this beautiful 3 1'2 yr. old little girl, who b/c my absolute soulmate over the past 7 1/2 yrs. I was in LA-LA land. Finally, 6 mths. after Dad died. my sister-in-law took my mom out of town to visit she and my br.'s lovely new home. VERY BAD IDEA, to take an Alzheimer's patient away from their own home, their haven. When they brought her home 3 days later, they saidd 'yes, she did behave a little strangely and didn't recognize her own-daughter-in law, but thought maybe she was just tired from the trip'.
I had never udes the 'A' word w/ my b. and c., but I had with my best friends and husband, and told all of themm that she was acting very peculiar, not to mention mildly nutty for 2 yrs.---BUT, NO, she's just a little nervous' they said.
Oh, how we all wanted her to be well, but she was gone within 8 months, just 14 mths. after dad. I was her caregiver along with my daughter, who never shied away from "Nan". Not even when she b/c thin, bony, and unintellible and forgot who we were, she knew Cynara and I and my 14 yr. old boxer, Hannah, were her keepers, guardians, listeners, jesters and protectors forever and ever, always trying to make her laugh or smile. C. wd. do a silly dance or sing, and poor ol' Hannah wd. try to keep up. C. had no preconceived notions of death, and, luckily, my mother did not b/c a true invalid until about 6 weeks before she
died at home, in her own room, holding my hand, at dawn on a chilly April morning.
That year we 4 spent together were probably the closest I've ever been to my Mom, and I was so happy to be there, even thru the pain.I was so happy she knew my own daughter. 'A'. patients are not adept at learning new skills; Mother could wrap her unwieldy tongue around 'Cynara" (rhymes with Lara), so she just called her 'LoudMouth',lol, very appropriate and made my little one strain to be all the louder! So funny... And she didn't believe I was her daughter, but, oddly, she remarked on how much we resembled one another. I asked her if I cd. call her Mom and she grasped my hand and squeezed it and said she'd be delighted and not at all offended. Ironic, huh? But, so dear. She Called me 'Trudy' reg'ly for weeks. I had no idea why. She was clearest when she wd. wake at dawn, so, early one am when we were chatting, I said, "Ya know 'Trudy', that's a pretty uncommon name to me. I don't know any myself". She answerd back, "Yes you do, silly, you live right across the road from me, we're best friends and we ride your horses all the time! Don't get tricky with me!"Yippee, I knew my new persona and it was so flattering to me I almost burst with affection and pride. In her mind, she was only 9 or 10. She said, 'Let's do that tomorrow! Let's get the horses out and run 'em good. That'll put the zip back in me for sure!' 'Great idea! We'll do it', I said.
Sounded good to me, and she was already asleep and galloping away. I never even knew she rode, course, her gran did own a big farm, too, soo...And me, I run from horses. I've ridden twice. I love animals, but horses are biiiiiig. But my sis has ridden since 12'ish and she never knew about Mom's equstrian obsession either.Life is weird, so is death. It is unnaturally natural, like breastfeeding was to me. It doesn't often 'just happen'. You have to lean into it and there is, a blessed, sometimes joyful release.4 months later I was deep into a breakdown. Totally exhausted, emptied out, a void in a body. Supine on the living room sofa, so I cd. keep up w/where my dog, kid, & husband were. For 3 mths. 'til my 'best friend' fell out of 'transference love' w/her p-doc and 'allowed' me to see him. I was dx' w/tha ADD + anxiety disorder + major dep. immediately (He really was a great doc, but, jeez........I DIDN'T WANT TO KISS HIM) I was sent to a psychopharm psychiatrist, went up to 3mgs clon + effexor375 (slowly) darvocett 100-4 a day prn. and , finally Soma. The Klon lost its ability to quell my physical tenseness, but we raised it to 4mg after a year which is where it has stayed fo 2 yrs., daily prn 2-4 mgs.I take propanolol 40-120 mgs daily for migraine prevention. This is gen Inderal, a beta blocker, and superb for the chest pressure and nausea--physical effects of anxiety, which is a very nifty side effect.
For chronic pain, I am allowed up to 4 Darvon 65's daily, and when pain is intolerable, I am allowed up to 3 Soma (carisoprodal) 350's a day, the only effective 'muscle relaxant' I have ever been rx'd ntil the Klon pooped out in that dept.
For ADD/anxiety/dep, I easily titrated off the effexor reeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllll slowly, and now use 10-20 Lexapro (more before my period-I am now PROUDLY-lol-perimenopausal, and my husband want a new lay. Well, fancy that!!!. After this soap opera, who can really blame him?
And I am allowed 4 dexedrine spansules (15mg) daily, with 4 5mg. Dexstrostats to augment really awful fatigue that I experience, mostly b/t ovulation & when ever my period comes.
I also take supplements, but it was the addressing of my ADD symptoms, the use of stimulants, that truly saved my life. My A-D's have never worked until I had them.
So, MY opinion of clonazepam is it is the best benzodiazepine on the market. No buzz, just a clearer, less tortured sense of everything being too much-too loud, too slow, too rushed, too-too.
I fel sure, that as my life (Pray For Me) begins to fall in order, I will need less rathe than mor and my dosage only escalated due to external and extenuating circumstances. Quite understandably. So, with a good doc at your side, u shd. be able to safely benefit from this med, which I will take for the rest of my life if need be!
All the best and sorry for the novel Dr Bob (U do a super job!!!!)
poster:Xanablu
thread:361737
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040704/msgs/364097.html