I am going to ask my pdoc to help me get off of the Klonopin

Medications
22

I have a whacky idea. Why not try L-theanine to see if it acts as substitute or makes coming off it easier. I feel it works that way for me. Just a thought.

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23

I remember at one point I got frustrated at my doctor for not prescribing me regular benzos. Think I am glad he didn’t. Hope you can come off them without too much discomfort.

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24

I took it for quite a while in the '90s. I found that it worked better (for me, anyway) PRN rather than systemic. (Meaning “when needed” vs. “taken regularly.”) Klonopin’s relatively long half life and resulting sine wave makes if “safer” than any other benzo, which is why it is used for tx-resistant anxiety.

But “safer” is a relative term when used with benzodiazepines. They’re all tolerance inducing and habit forming because they remodel the limbic system at both receptor site and neural trunk levels. To a point, at least, the longer one uses them, the harder it will be to withdraw from them, and the more uncomfortable the withdrawal will be.

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25

My pdoc told me to stay on Klonopin for the time being - She is also an excellent Addiction psychiatrist, she said that I wont need to go to a Hospital for the withdrawal process.

I am not ready to leave the Klonopin right now, but I do plan on quitting sometime in the future.
I do not abuse this drug, never have

26

Hopefully not. 0.5 mg is a low dose, but in some people (and I would think sz pts would fall into the category), the limbic system is so inflamed that withdrawal from anything may be experienced as “difficult.”

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27

That verges on “over-medication.” Very curious: Did the script come from a psychiatrist or someone who was not that"

28

At the assisted living center where I live the pdoc told me that they try not to prescribe more than 3 mg Klonopin a day. How I ended up on 4 mg I don’t know. I think you build a tolerance for it fairly quickly. If you want to hear something really weird, I knew a guy who was getting 8 mg a day of Klonopin in his med. tray. How that happened I can’t imagine. He took the Klonopin haphazardly, too. As a result he was on a wild emotional roller coaster. He never made the connection between his wild mood swings and his irregular taking of his Klonopin.

29

So many of them are so incompetent.

Yes, ma’m.

I’m surprised the guy could move. Most people respond well to .25 or .50.

If he was slipping away, why would he? (Eeeeeesh.)

30

In practice many pdocs titrate benzodiazepines down and introduce neuron tin for anxiety. Levels at and above 300mg act on anxiety and panic attacks.

31

Yep. Fairly new off-label use. 300 mgs is half to 1/3 the dose for seizures. The anecdotal feedback is pretty good so far, but it’s effectiveness is like that many drugs now: highly patient-specific.

32

Was a miracle drug for me (neurontin). Pretty much gave me the ability to leave the flat.

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33

Thats good to know Jimbob - thanks

34

Gabapentin paucity is so genetically (or epigenetically; not sure) specific that it only appears in certain pts. Thus some respond to Neurontin in ways many others don’t because they don’t have that gabapentin deficit.

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