I have really bad anxiety almost every day and benzos seem to be the only thing that works, I’m just really apprehensive about the addiction issues. Does anyone take a benzo daily? Do you feel the medication still helps you after having been taking it for so long?
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I take l-theanine, celexa, and hydroxine for anxiety and those 3 work fine without any addictive natures
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Can’t take an antidepressant, and the other two I have but they’re not strong enough. Benzos seem to uniquely take away all of my social anxiety, all of my tension, and all of the clutter in my brain. They’re just so extremely dangerous…
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I take klonopin everyday, twice a day and have for about six months.
I haven’t noticed them losing effectiveness, yet.
I’m sure it won’t be fun when I decide to stop taking them,
Never had benzo withdrawal before.
I recommend only taking them as a last resort.
Before I started the klonopin I tried several different options that just didn’t work.
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Have you tried buspar? 
@GrayBear Yea, I’ve tried a lot of things; hydroxyzine, propranolol, atenolol, clonidine, buspar, gabapentin, ssris, snris.
One non-benzo that did seem to help was mirtazipine, but the side effects and interactions with my other current medication would be too problematic.
Benzos do really have a unique effect on me, but I have an addictive personality so I want to be very cautious
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How bad was your anxiety before you started taking the klonopin? Benzo withdrawals are terrible, they’re painful and last a very long time it not treated
My anxiety was debilitating,
Everyday.
I was miserable and woke up everyday in a complete panic.
It was all induced by my AP abilify.
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Interesting my anxiety is pretty bad too, do you know what you plan to do long term? A lot of the sites I look at say that the dose will need to be continuously increased to maintain its effectiveness.
I’ve also heard that benzos can (sometimes) keep anxiety from coming back even after you stop use. So idk
I don’t really have a long term plan,
I’ll just keep taking them until they stop being effective I guess.
At that point I don’t think I want to up the dose,
I’ll probably just try to get off of them.
I’ve been taking Klonopin for over a decade. Still effective. I used to take it twice a day every day for about 5 years. Now I just take it as needed.
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Damn, I’m glad to hear your treatment was successful. Are your symptoms better now than they were when you started? And have you had to increase dose over the years?
I’m actually taking significantly less than I used to. I used to take 2mg twice a day and now I use .5-1 mg as needed. Though sometimes when things are really bad I’ll take up to 4mg, 1mg at a time.
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That’s kinda impressive. I might actually ask my doc about this now that you say that. I’ve needed something for so long… none of my docs so far have believed in benzos though. My new one seems willing to prescribe them sometimes
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I’ve been taking 0.5 mg clonazepam once or twice a day as needed. I’ve been taking it long term. Over three years. But I usually only take one dose a day and I don’t take it every day.
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I take clonazepam 3 mg 2-3 times a week. But not every day. When I first started with clonazepam 0,5 mg was enough. So I have grown a tolerance to it. I quit for 2 years without problems. But started again last year. I didn’t really have more anxiety when I went without it.
Benzo drugs are not really a good solution in the long term.
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I have been on Xanax since about 2012 or 2013 but I should have been prescribed it when I first got sick in 2008. That was a long four or five years. Can’t remember exactly when I started taking it but it was a godsend for paranoia. Works well for anxiety attacks too when you have them.
It hasn’t lost its effectiveness. I only take .25 mg once per day.
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I only take them the odd day, once i used them 3 days in a row, could feel it bad when I stopped taking them
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Yes I take 1mg of Klonopin a day, have been for a few years and I haven’t needed to raise the dose.
My pdoc says people with seizures take Klonopin for life, so it’s no biggie.
I think in the USA pdocs have a major benzo issue compared to other countries.
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i’ve been on benzo for 3 years. my advice is, never quit suddenly. if you wanna quit, you still have to eat xanax in modified way.
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