Klonipin ? for Ryan

[Suzzie205]

Ryan, you and I touched base quite sometime back. I was taking Gabapentin for anxiety which wasn't doing any good. Since then I have changed psychiatrist. She has put me on Klonipin I am now up to .05 in the am and .25 in the pm, seems to be helping, but still am having some anxiety issues. She says that I cannot stay on this long term which I feel bad about as I have had little to no side effects. She says that it's not good for long term use.

She wants to to try other medications very slowly to see if they work so that she can start removing the Klonipin. I am very medicine sensative so new meds are always an issue. I have tried Lexapro,Cymbalta and most recently Zoloft and the Zoloft gave me a very upset stomach and did not get better after 9 weeks so that was stopped.

I am getting very discouraged with this medicine problem. I am thinking about asking her about trying Paxil next. Do you have an opinion on this medication? Or what else would you recommend? I have also been on Elavil which caused a great deal of issues.

I am feeling hopeless, as my Dr. is trying me on very, very small doses and I still have prolems. Example: Zoloft was started at one quarter of a 25mg. dose and left that way for six weeks, until the side effects went away. As soon as she raised it to one half the side effects returned and I never felt any relief for my anxiety so she stopped it all together. I feel so much better when I am just on the Klonipin by itself, a little tired and drowsy but that is something I can put up with.

Any med suggestions would be helpful! Thank you in advance.

[lowT]

I noticed in one of the above posts you mentioned that Valium does not lose its effects over time.
I have been given congflicting information by different Dr's and refference sources, some saying that it does lose it's effect and becomes addictive, some saying that it only loses its sedative effect, and others saying that it does not lose its effect nor is it addictive in people who are not prone to addiction.

Valium is the only drug i have used so far that has helped me because i suffer from constant nausea and all the others make it worse even Xanax.
I am on 10mg of Valium daily and my Dr does not want to increase this even though i still suffer from some anxiety and nausea.

Any advice?

[lowT]

I have tried Paxil and it was not a pleasant experience.
Also i would avoid Effexor i had the worst reaction to this drug of any of the medications i have taken.

[Suzzie205]

Yes! I would love to have that list you were talking about. Is there any good medication other than the Klonipin that would be safe for me to try? I do know that I still have this allergy as the last time I was in urgent care for a bee sting they would not give me anything for it.

[Suzzie205]

Also to add to my previous post, my Dr. has started me on such a low dose because of all my previous medication reactions. She wanted to see if I could even tolerate the Klonipin. On my last visit she did suggest that I add in another .25mg per day to bring my total dose up to 1mg a day. I am the one that chose not to raise it up, not her. Do you think I should go ahead and add in the other .25mg as I still have some anxiety, just not as bad as I did on the Gabapentin. I was afraid of getting addicted so that's why I didn't raise it up as she suggested. I am trying to make it through the day on the lowest dose possible. Is this not a good idea? Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Suzzie205]

I found your response quite interesting.Your mention of antihistamines really frightened me, especially the mention of Benadrly, as I am extremely allergic to anything with an antihistamine in it. I mean very allergic,  I can't even take Niquil I will act like I'm on some sort of trip until it is out of my system. My grandmother almost died from a reaction to antihistamines and I inherited this from her. Would this if I'm understanding you correctly be the reason I've had such a hard time with antidepressants and not with the Klonipin? I almost wrecked my car on Benadrly several years ago, I was so out of it. It took until my grandmother was in the hospital with this reaction before I put the pieces together and realized we shared the same allergy.