Clonazepam first time poster

[Beegee]

Hey everyone,
A little back round...I'm 24 year old male. I had a some small health related anxiety a few years ago but was able to get past it all without medication and had been fine for the last 4 years. I have been perscibed 20mg adderall xr for a good portion of my life and ended up having a very bad reaction a few weeks ago where I felt like I was over dosing with terrible vertigo and confusion. I was able to walk around and snap my self back out of it but have not felt the same since. The feeling I was experiencing such as head pressure and inability to concentrate finally made it unbearable to even sit down and work. I have since taken some time off to regroup and get my self back on track. Of course my initial feeling was that I was showing signs off a heart attack so I saw a cardiologist. After chest X-rays a EKG and blood work everything was fine except for some fairly high blood pressure he assumed was from white coat syndrome and anxiety. He perscibed me a ace inhibitor and 1mg clonazepam for anxiety. In my last experiences with anxiety, all my thoughts basically revolved around me having high blood pressure that was causing heart failure, anerisms, headaches and such. So of course after I got the all clear from the cardiologist my mind immediately jumped to the conclusion that I had a brain defect such as cancer and the adderall use had finally brought upon symptoms. Anyways today was my first day taking the clonazepam and I feel amazing. My mind feels clear and I have the ability to think about other stuff then my health for once. But I have a few questions. One how long does one pill last? Is this something I am going to have to take my whole life or is it a short time remedy to get my mind back on track? Any similar stories and or advice would be great.

[butterfly82]

Hi! I take Kolonopin, it's very low dose at .5mg, but it helps. It last about 18 hrs and works within 20 mins if I put it under my tongue.

I don't think it's meant to be used long term, my doctors always day that, but they keep prescribing it to me, maybe because it's a small dose.

How has it been working for you so far?

[soManyProblems]

[Edited to remove personal details.]

Klonopin has a long half-life of about 36 hours or more. When I took it as needed (not every day), I found that it lasted 6 to 12 hours. Now that I take it twice a day every day, it feels absolutely smooth. No ups or downs.

Good luck.

[Dahila]

Where did you find the 36 hours life of Clonazepam, what source, My source which is fantastic psychiatrist says that is 9 hours so does Dr. Google. 9 hours is the most , I am on it for over 8 months, small dose once a day plus other meds, and I am free from anxiety and panic attacks for the last 8 months. Of course I got panic attack when I got the news of my best friend passing away, but it was expected.
Clonazepam is the best benzo for so far. I am with anxiety longer than 30 years and I tried everything....

[soManyProblems]

You may be confusing half-life with duration of action. Especially for drugs with a half-life over about 12 hours, the duration of action is usually much shorter.

I personally find the duration of action for Klonopin to be 6 to 12 hours if I am taking it infrequently. I find it to be at least 12 hours if I am taking it twice a day every day.

The half-life of Klonopin is the amount of time it takes concentrations in your body to fall by half. For Klonopin, this is about 36 hours. My sources:

1. My actual most reputable source is PubMed. Just search "clonazepam kinetics" and read a few of the results. You will find that actual human trials find a result in the range of 24 to 60 hours, depending on dose and population. I chose 36 as kind of a consensus with a normal anxiety dose (not an epilepsy dose).

2. A good source is Google. Try Googling "clonazepam half-life" of "clonazepam kinetics". The figure "18 to 50 hours" pops up a lot, primarily because it is on Wikipedia. In the first 10 Google results, I also see 30 hours, 35 hours, and 36 hours.

3. If you are lazy you can go straight to Wikipedia, which says 18 to 50 hours. The 18 hour figure is probably only accurate in young healthy men who smoke, that is quite low. Lower than any actual human trial I can find on PubMed.

[soManyProblems]

Also Dahila, I totally agree, clonazepam is the best benzo for me as well. In the past 10 years, I have tried Ativan (lorazepam), Klonopin (clonazepam), and Valium (diazepam), and clonazepam is my favorite. Diazepam is good because it comes in 2 mg tablets, which are very small (considering the low potency of diazepam). Also, diazepam might theoretically kick in faster if you swallow it, because it is more lipophilic than clonazepam. Some anecdotal evidence supports this.

One great thing about clonazepam is that you can take it sublingually, letting it dissolve and absorb under the tongue. You can't do that with diazepam because it is bitter. I especially like that clonazepam, when taken sublingually, makes my mouth feel tingly and numb, kind of like mint or wintergreen. I can really feel that it is an active drug, and just that sensation of the drug affecting my mucus membranes is calming. It will be in my brain soon, and then the panic will end.

[KY keel over]

I too suffer from health related anxiety. I started on klonopin about a month ago and it has helped so far. The only problem I am having is chest pain and soreness. Has anyone else had this hapoen?

[Dahila]

somanyproblems I do believe that clonazepam is 9 hours, but maybe I am wrong. I stopped googling the meds long time ago, not to want to get the scare again. As most of us I am afraid of medications too. I had never take it under the tongue. probably the tiny ones are good for it. It is absorbed quicly.
In the last 30 years or even more I went through everything what was available. Every benzo but Xanax, the longest I was taking was oxazepam, diazepam, lorazepam, relanium but it was in Europe and I am not sure what name it has now. I do not think it is used anymore...
I took a long time to try clonazepam, somehow I believed that it is not helping;))
Till I met my psychiatrist, I trust her completely, and she is helps....

KY the chest pain and sorness may be from tensing the muscles, but it would be a good idea to check your blood pressure.. Maybe you should talk about it with doc. Usually it is caused by anxiety....in my situation I get it when my BP spikes (not very often) :))

[Summegirl1212]

Don't take that pill. go to your doctor and see if your low on anything. vitamin B6 and B12 helps with anxiety.

[soManyProblems]

Vitamin deficiency is vanishingly unlikely.

However, after reading the original post again, I am unsure whether the original poster should be taking a benzo every day. Daily benzo use is a serious last resort, you need to try SSRIs, other antidepressants, and behavioral interventions first. It sounds like the original poster got daily Klonopin prescribed rather quickly without trying milder alternatives.

[Dahila]

I am on 0.5 clonazepam daily, sometimes I do not take on weekends when the stress level is low:)

[soManyProblems]

I am on 0.5 clonazepam daily, sometimes I do not take on weekends when the stress level is low:)You might get away with that because 0.5 mg per day of Klonopin (clonazepam) is a very low dose and it has a very long half life of 36 hours or more, but taking "drug holidays" like that from GABA boosters such as alcohol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines is well known to cause long-term brain damage that predisposes you to seizures and delirium tremens. Even if you don't feel negative symptoms, when the levels of GABA and GABA boosters (e.g. Klonopin) falls below average, your brain has a little excitotoxicity party. This is related to the phenomenon of "kindling" in seizures.

This most notoriously happens to alcoholic fathers who drink 5 or more drinks every day, but then every second weekend they abstain from alcohol altogether because they have visitation rights with their kids. These guys can end up with unusually bad delirium tremens when they try to stop the alcohol use. Otherwise, one weekend they just have a seizure.

However, alcohol is somewhat stronger than benzodiazepines, and 0.5 mg of Klonopin is a low dose. Still, my neurologist friend would be horrified if he heard about your weekend Klonopin holidays. You need to take Klonopin every single day or else 3 times per week or fewer.

[Dahila]

It seems that i am safe for the moment, not drinking at all. I think even if I get addicted in my age it does not matter ;)))