[packfan96]

I realize I may be straying into dangerous territory. In addition to bipolar 1 I have severe anxiety and stress which causes major problems in my life. I have been on Clonazepam for years, but only .05 mg at night to help me sleep. My anxiety is getting a lot worse, so my psychiatrist increased it to 1 mg twice a day and told me to continue taking .05 at night for sleep. This increase is having no effect on my anxiety at all. Do you think I may be starting to become addicted to Clonazepam if I'm not already? I don't want to increase my dose more, nor do I want to switch to another benzo. What should I do? Does anyone know of natural remedies to help with anxiety? I'm afraid I may need to stop the Clonazepam entirely, and I've heard that benzo withdrawal can be hell.

Bipolar 1, general anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder

Lamictal 375 mg a day
Wellbutrin 150 mg a day
Trazodone (for sleep) 100 mg a day
Clonazepam 2.5 mg a day

[splitimage]

It's very likely that your body has developed a tolerance to clonazepam. It can happen with any benzo. If it were me, I'd discuss doing a very slow taper off of it.

You might try low dose seroquel, for anxiety. I find it very effective. Something to discuss with your Dr.

splitimage

[*Laurie*]

I have been on Klonopin for over 20 years. In order for it to offer any help with anxiety I have to take a higher dose. The 'same old dose' just keeps me from going into withdrawal, and just barely takes the slightest edge off my anxiety. But my anxiety is severe all of the time; the Klonopin no longer really helps.

I believe you have built up a tolerance to the Klonopin and you are almost surely physically addicted to it, as well.

When you want to go off the Klonopin you'll need to taper down very, very slowly.

I have tried a lot of different meds and nothing has helped my anxiety at all. Only Klonopin helped, years ago.

[lost_lover]

Klonopin is one of the medications you slowly build a tolerance too and need to increase your dosage over time. While your body my be chemically 'addicted' to the medication I don't think of it as the same thing as a benzo addiction unless you are not taking it as directed.

I have been on it for years and have had to have my dosage increase over time but it works better for me than anything else I have tried and I have tried a lot of stuff. I personally like the way klonopin works over other benzos, it keeps you more steady. If you are having occasionally severe anxiety break throughs you might want to talk to your doctor about something like xanax but I wouldn't want to be on that daily.

[Sunflower123]

I take Klonopin daily and Valium .prn. Klonopin never really did anything for me and I have to take 2 2mg daily for it to do any good. You may be developing a tolerance to it. Speak to your pdoc.

[possum220]

I also believe that you have developed a tolerance to this med. We may think that it paxam isn't doing anything until we stop it.

Please please don't quit this med cold turkey. Are you taking 2mg per day now? There is an site called benzo buddies and this can give can give you an indication or how long it may take.

Ask the pdoc that prescribes your medications for advice and instruction in regard to your situation.

[metamorphosis12]

You should and really need to work with the prescribing doc on this. A very slow taper is usually how to do it but it is still hard. There can be other anxiolytics that are not in the benzo. class that can help. Never go cold turkey and realize that withdrawal can be extremely dangerous if not done safely and under the care of a competent pdoc. Like possum mentions there are safe but slow ways of safe taper. But you do need a pdoc to help avoid major w.d. Stay in touch and be safe

[still_crazy]

hi. maybe ask about a switch to an equivalent dose of Valium (diazepam), and see about possibly tapering off that? Valium is more sedating and has more muscle-relaxing properties (at doses equivalent to Klonopin), so you might end up doing better on a (roughly) equivalent dose of Valium, anyway.

Valium also comes in a lot of different tablet sizes, and I think they still make a liquid version. That makes tapering easier. Diazepam works quickly and stays in your system a long time (long half-life), so that also makes it an easier drug to work with, when and if you and your doctor decide to try a --slowly-- taper.

I think the going conversion is 1mgs/Klonopin=20mgs/Valium. You'd be at 50mgs/Valium, which is just a bit over the old school, 40mgs/day dose common in the 70s.

Hope this helps.

[-jimi-]

If Valium is tolerated, most docs will suggest a Valium taper, since it is the easiest. If you can talk about easy in these situations. Some people have an antianxiety effect from some neuroleptics or antihistamines, so adding one through the taper can be helpful, if you're the kind to tolerate those meds. I can't take them, they make me worse..

I've noticed that some people only build tolerance after hitting a certain mg, which means as long as they stay on a low dosage, they don't need more. That of course does not go for all people, but some are like that. So it is sometimes possible to regain help from a benzo after a taper from a high dosage. But then of course one must be responsible and really not take more.