[Frostbitten_Kiss]

Today I went to Student Health to pick up a prescription of Klonopin for anxiety. I had a death in the family recently and I have to return to the funeral home that my mother's service was in. Needless to say, I'm a wreck. This has nothing to do with my question though.

The doctor told me that she'd been considering putting me on long term medication for anxiety because of my stress. Now, I am the first to confess that I am a stress case. Little things will stress me out to no end. I find it to be more of a control issue than anxiety, though. If things are out of my control, I stress and stress and stress until finally I accept that it's out of my control or I somehow manage to get control of it. An example of this is my test anxiety (I'm a college student). The first test I always fail because I stress out about not knowing what will be on it - and I shut down and don't study. However, I'm not so severely stressed that I can't function day by day.

Anyway, I was wondering if going on long term medication sounds like a good idea?

[ktp]

I guess maybe it's according to the type of medication that it is. I've been taking Xanax for over a year, and now I'm to the point where it's "as needed" rather than twice daily. If it's an "as needed" dose to help you through extreme stress, then I'd say maybe it's worth it. I don't know that I'd start a slow release or once daily med again UNLESS I needed it really badly.

The rate and frequency of addiction is enough to scare me. That's the last thing I need. =) Maybe you just really need to do some research and then you can always decide later whether or not it's worthwhile for you to use. Talk to your doc about your concern. Good luck!!!

Take care,
Kimberly.

[Ash0104]

I am on Xanax XR...and it works pretty well...its a time release med. so it helps calm you for about 6-8 hrs until your next dose many doctors will put you on a fast acting med like klonipan to calm the immediate anxiety...so maybe pairing that with a time release will help the long term stress...and I am also a college student and my anxiety is like 1000x worse now that i've gotten to college panic attacks are much more intense so the fact that you had to deal with a terrible stresser on top of being a student is a definte sign that maybe you need some meds...good luck and i'm terribly sorry about your mom. Good luck and stay strong.

[Parker10]

Whoa..........Klonopin is not a fast acting benzo ! It has to build up in your system before it works, and that takes several days. However, Xanax is a fast acting, as is Ativan, Valium, etc. Perhaps reading up on the half-life of benzo's would explain this better. IF a medication works for 6-8 hours, that means it peaks at 3-4 hours, and starts losing effiacy from that point on. Klonopin has a 24-50 hour half-life, thus u get benefit at 12-24 hours...........thus explaining why you must take it regularly to build up in your system so that you don't have to wait that long for it to work.

[Parker10]

Hi frostbitten - just thought I would add to above post to Ash..........if you are a person who stresses alot, have pressures of college, test anxiety etc, then a long acting med might be great for you. Rather than having ups and downs from the shorter acting ones.

I am sorry you must return to a place that will cause you sadness. Losing a parent is so hard ! Going back to where the funeral was may bring back memories.......but when I return to where my Dad's funeral was - I go with GOOD thoughts, GOOD memories of him, and its not as hard. Good luck, and be nice to yourself thru this difficult time.

[Samanthaq]

So, on the subject of anxiety and medication, my pdoc put me on Paxil. Wanted me to start with 12.5 a day for the first 8 days, then go up to 25mgs a day. I took the first 12.5mg dose and nearly killed myself because of it.

For me, the Paxil erased any of the gains made by the Welbutrin, and increased the depression and axiety by a fact of five. I could not believe how badly that stuff made me feel and I just don't know what to do. I'd been on Xanax as needed for a while (15 tablets lasted me 2 months) and I certainly wouldn't mind having something to cut the anxiety down to something I can more easily deal with, but Paxil, no way, NEVER again!!!

Anyone else every face this problem? What did you do?