Xanax and klonopin

[rhonda19781]

I am coming off of xanax after about 6 months on 4mg, my doc gave me klonopin and said that I should take 2mg at night. I am still feeling the withdrawal though not as bad as with nothing else in it's place. I guess. It is so tough fighting this. I have tachycardia as well and it has gone up since the weaning started. Has anyone had any good outcome with the klonopin? I wish I could turn a switch off and it would be gone. Not gonna happen. If anyone has any thoughts or stories, please share them with me. Thanks.

[Summer123]

Rhonda,
If you went from 4 mg/day xanex to 2 mg klonopin, I would think you would really be suffering withdrawal.  I would think you would have been put on 4 mg of klonopin and then reduce .25 mg every 2 weeks from there.  However, you appear to be doing O.K.  For weaning off of benzos you might want to check out Benzobuddies.org.

[shelzmike]

I read your About me under your profile and you had mentioned that you cannot find any meds that "work" and that you wished that you could just turn a switch off and it would be gone.

In an effort to be honest, I can say that first, you cannot just turn it off. Many people take medicine as they think that it will just turn anxiety/panic/depression off like ibuprophen turns off a headache. I do not have to tell you that it does not, as I am sure you already know.

I have never taken klonopin for my anxiety, but know a little about it. In the grand scheme of things, this is one of the bottom meds prescribed for anxiety due to the lethargy that is caused in many cases - the usuals are xanax, valium, and atavan. I personally have a prescription for xanax, .5 as needed - 20 lasts me about 3-4 months. Am I misreading you on your post above - did you take 4 mg a day, or at a time? I am assuming a day as at a time would (should) make you sleep quite heavily for quite some time!

I was on Effexor, tofranil, and xanax at once, but realized that it was only masking my symptoms and that it was never going to go away unless I learned to cope with it and desensitize myself. I know that sounds really good, yet really impossible with the way you may be feeling - trust me, I felt the same exact way 6 years ago. But it is possible - read my About me novel :) and you will see my whole story.

Are you seeing any type of psychologist, or psychaitrist? If not - PLEASE DO, it is truely the only way that you will even come close to kicking this things tail. Medicine alone will only do so much, and to me the side effects coupled with the fact that I am never really rid of my anxiety, just hiding from it, made me stop my meds. Good Luck!

Mike