Overdose of Clonazepam

[benbrh17]

what happens when you have to much clonazepam in your body?

[punkgod94]

It really depends on your bodyweight, how much you took, and what your tolerance is (what dose do you normally take and how often). Taking too much (depending on the above circumstances) can have effects ranging from nothing, to slightly mild sedation (moreso than normal on your recommended dose), to falling asleep, to potential death (it IS a downer). Be careful when taking it and consult with your doctor if you think you took too much or that your current doseage isn't working. If you already took too much, I'd recommend discussing it with your doctor (who should be understanding and will help you), but as far as organ damage goes I believe you should be fine...Clonazepam is fairly safe on the body. But talk to your doctor to be sure - they can perform tests to confirm.

As a side note, one of my psychiatrists who teaches at a college in the city told me that the difference between Clonazepam (the generic) and Klonopin can be as much as a 30% difference with the generic being weaker. This only matters if you're prescribed Klonopin and your pharmacy or a new doctor places you on Clonazepam...they're the same drug but 0.5 mg of Clonazepam may not seem to be as effective whereas 0.5 mg of Klonopin may work just fine for you. Just thought I'd pass along the knowledge!! This is true of all benzodiazepenes I believe he said, so that would apply, most notably, to Ativan, Valium, and Xanax as well.

[Matt_H]

Benzodiazepine's like clonazepam and alprazolam rarely cause death by overdose on their own.

Now, you add alcohol to the mix... That's a whole 'nother story.

As far as the comment above me.. 30% is a big difference! I had no idea there was such a big difference between generics and brand names. I always get the generic Alprazolam by default it seems, never once got the brand-name Xanax. My friends mother is a nurse, she's prescribed the brand name Klonopin. How do you get them? Do you specifically request the brand-name medication at your pharmacy? Is it an insurance matter?

-Matt

[punkgod94]

Yea, the psychiatrist I was seeing at the time wasn't the right psychiatrist for me, but he was VERY knowledgeable about his stuff. I have a Bachelors in Psychology so I told him that he could basically talk to more a little more "advanced" than he might have with a normal patient, and like I said he teaches at a well known graduate program University (cant remember which one) in the city. He said that the 30% difference is really only true with benzodiazepenes.

However, after he told me of the huge difference I started reading articles online and in magazines of horror stories where people had unknowingly had their anti depressants switched from the name brand to the generic (I remember reading an article on Wellbutrin in particular), and apparently SSRIs, SNRIs and the other typical anti depressants can have an effect as well...these people noticed their symptoms were returning and weren't sure why. So a word to the wise...make sure you know whether you're prescribed a generic or a name brand medication and make sure the pharmacy doesn't mess up and give you a generic if you're on a name brand!!!

As for how I got them, once my doctor said that I simply asked him if I could try the name brand instead to see if it helped me any better. At the time my clonazepam was only mildly effective. I did notice that the name brands of the same dose were slighly stronger. Your doctor may agree to give you a name brand, but they have to initial your script to state that generics are NOT acceptable substitutes, otherwise the pharmacy will give you generics because most insurances would rather pay for the cheaper medications (of course). So ask your doctor and he'll write it on your script to give you name brand only. Once you're at the pharmacy there's not much they can do because if they're told to fill a script of "alprazolam" for you, that's what they fill...they won't give you "xanax". It's worth a shot, but if the meds you're on now work fine then I say stick with them.