Can I take an extra half dose (.25mg) for particularly bad anxiety tonight?

[JaneDoe :D]

I posted only once so far on this website (thank you so much Alankay, your posts seem so knowledgable and calming), and so far, I've adjusted well to clonazepam. I've been on for about 11 days I think, and have LOVED it. After a couple of bumps getting used to it during the first couple of days, this medication has worked wonders for me. I no longer have any side effects (no more headaches or drowsiness), and I am calm, energized, optimistic, and extremely happy and feel alive again. But the past couple of days, I noticed that I start feeling slightly anxious and have mild pangs here and there (usually the beginnings of an anxiety attack), about midday (3pm?), but they've been manageable. My doctor said I could take an extra half pill (.25mg) during that midday time if needed, aside from my normal 2xdaily dose (.5 at around 8am and .5 at around 8pm). I did this yesterday, and skipped my last night's dose because I don't want to abuse this wonderful but potentially addictive medication.

I took my normal .5mg dose this morning, didn't take an extra half dose this afternoon, and took my normal pm dose 2 hours early due to a severe anxiety/panic attack (long story but I had good reason to get upset). It's been about 3 1/2 hours since I took that pm dose and I still feel uncomfortalbe, anxious, and have those horrible butterflies in the stomach, chest pangs, and the various pains that always accompanied my anxiety.

Is it okay to take an extra half dose right now, at 10pm, even though I just took .5 a few hours ago? I need to relax and calm down but it's just not happening tonight, as it usually does on klonopin. Since I skipped the half dose this afternoon, I should be okay, right?

I know i should ask a doctor but no way am I calling at night to bother anyone and common sense tells me it's okay to do this, but just want to get opinions. So, in summation-- .5 mg at 8am, I did NOT .25 mg dose this afternoon, and .5 mg at about 6:30. Any advice, please? I am so down tonight and feeling uber restless and anxious and scared.

[alankay]

Jane, I would say it 's OK as long as this type thing happens only from time to time. You are right to be cautious with these but not overly so. Just use them as prescribed with some minor variations is OK. Go right back to the normal schedule.
Are you on an SSRI as well? Just wondering as it might help you take less of the klonopin in general. I take one daily(lexapro) for that very reason. Just a thought. PM me any time. Alankay.

[JaneDoe :D]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for the response. I went ahead and took half a pill about an hour and a half ago just to stay calm. I can't say it helped completely (at this point, with .75 in my system over 4 hours, I should be nicely sedated), but it did calm me a bit. I'm just incredibly weepy and still have the random, moving chest pains and shallow breathing. I know I am physically okay because none of these symptoms are new, none of them are too alarming, they've all happened before during attacks, and it's not getting any worse (if anything, it is slowly but surely easing). I just kind of lost it earlier when my son (14, autistic, brain damaged from premature birth, no short term memory, etc.) became extremely upset that he could not find something in his room and he began to cry. My son almost NEVER cries, so it hurts my heart more than I can put into words to see him suffer. I also have two daughters, one of whom may or may not be on the autistic spectrum as well, and she came home emotional and upset over her ridiculously hard math homework. I guess seeing two out of my three children so upset and emotional and suffering just got to me. I feel so incredibly guilty that I cannot do more for my children to help them be happy and lead normal, happy lives that every child deserves to have. I would switch brains with him in a heartbeat to get him out of his prison. It just hit me so hard tonight, and I started a crying jag I still can't quite control, have the chest pains, etc., even after the .75 mg. I just feel so overwhelmed with emotions right now, I can't wait til morning. I hope I'll be fine by the morning...if not, I may just pm you after all, to learn more about this SSRI thing. Thanks so much, again, for the reply.

[alankay]

Jane, I understand. Don't let the lame feeling of guilt mess with you. You're doing as best you can and just fine as you are probably your own worst critic. Be kind to yourself also.
Just for the future, what an SSRI med can do is lower you "base" level anxiety so you can use a little less klonopin and feel better overall. Sometimes folks just use these for a period(6 months, etc) to get to a "better place" emotionally.
Yep klonopin is a great med. so as long as these things happen only from time to time, you can have a day where you take a little extra(due to events like you had) so long as you just go back to the schedule you were on. Alankay