I was given about a week’s worth. No chance of getting addicted with that amount I guess. To be taken as needed. And boy do I need one.
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how many mg is it?
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I think sometimes just knowing you have a benzo, just in case things get bad,
Makes you feel a little better.
I’m happy you asked your doctor about it.
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I agree. I have a prn prescription for Xanax, and helps just knowing I have them to lean on if it gets too much for me to handle on my own. I rarely use them, but I feel better just knowing they’re there.
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0.5mg. So pretty weak.
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Have you tried serax? It’s not very strong but it has a lower addiction potential because of its relatively short half life and that it doesn’t give a “buzz” feeling really.
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Never heard of serax. I’ll look into it, thanks !
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It’s an oldie. That’s the brand name, I forget the generic name and too lazy to google right now 
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Oxazepam. It’s the most common benzodiazepine where I live. Plenty of people get addicted to it, though. It’s a big problem here. But it takes a while for the effect to set in (30 mins to an hour or so, IIRC), which drastically lowers it’s addiction potential (in addition to the short half-life and milder effects)
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Here’s a list of benzodiazepines. You can sort it according to the time it takes to reach peak effects. Oxazepam is at the very bottom of the list when sorted in that order. That’s probably the biggest reason for the lower addiction potential. It inhibits the implicit learning of the connection between the pill and the rewarding effects of it through the process of delay discounting.
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Have you tried visteral? It is pretty seating but helps with anxiety
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I had a bad experience with Klonopin. I got addicted, I wet the bed, my speech was slurred, I could barely talk or think.
I’m glad I found something to ease my anxiety that isn’t sedating (Lexparo).
It was because I became addicted and starting taking 4-5mg a day, and even that amount did not help my anxiety.
I think most people benefit from benzos, but I’m not one of them.
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Yeah, not saying it’s impossible to be addicted to it, but lower potential.
It feels just a bit stronger than l theanine to me.
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I have 2mg of Ativan sitting at the ready to grab for anytime I deem it necessary, although all of the rest of my medication is locked up to prevent suicide attempts. Just having it available for me to grab with no questions asked helps me tremendously. I only get 20 mgs each month, so I really have to decide when I will need it most and sometimes it’s a hard choice. But since we’ve been leaving it completely up to me I’ve actually started using less. Putting the responsibility back on me has made me push to tolerate my anxiety better and I’m actually really proud of myself. I used to go through up to 90 mgs per month.
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Good for you @everhopeful
You’ve been suffering with Anxiety for a while.
Don’t worry about addiction.
You won’t get addicted.
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My main focus is the elimination half-life, for after you reach that time you’re in withdrawal. When the drug is leaving the body you’ll have anxiety, aka ‘rebound anxiety.’ The body needs time to adjust to not having the drug.
My pdoc told me this, so if he’s correct, the chance of addiction will decrease as the elimination half-life increases. Thus let’s look at the elimination half-life of four benzos:
Serax: .31d
Xanax: .62d
Clonazepam: 1.45d
Valium: 4.94d
According to my pdoc, the potential for addiction is, from most to least:
Serax
Xanax
Clonazepam
Valium
Let me know if you agree or disagree and why.
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My doc says you can get psychologically addicted to the onset of the ‘buzz’ of the benzo. He said benzo with a quick onset after swallowing have a greater chance of psychological addiction. For this reason he isn’t keen on clonazepam cos it acts very quickly.
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@everhopeful I am glad you have spoken to your doc and got some medicine. I think a lot of people can get a significant amount of anxiety from abilify alone, let alone other reasons.
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Just for info. I was prescribed 12mg of clonazepam a day for 4 months straight and I didn’t become addicted.
I have become a lot more addicted to gabapentin/pregabalin than I ever did to benzo.
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0.5 mg dose of clonazepam is good for anxiety. One week dose is not addictive.
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