Lost my medication. Is it ok to make a quick switch off Alrazolam onto Klonopin?

I've been taking Alprazolam for about 4 years now to help with anxiety. I am currently up to a dosage of about 4.5mgs a day. It has helped tremendously and I am doing well. However, recently I had my medication in my jack, and apparently it must have either fell out of been stolen... so basically I lost my medication, and am now left without it. I take it on a daily basis, and know I am not supposed to just stop taking it. Due to it being a controlled substance, my psychologist said that we did not have many options and that really all he could do is prescibe another medication like Klonopin until the time frame passes where I can renew my Alprazolam prescription. After taking Alprazolam for so long, I am now very concerned about switching from a fairly high dose of Alprazolam to another drug that I am not familar with. Is it ok to substitute Klonopin for Alprazolam? I am concerned that it will have an impact on my life and cause me to not be able to do certain things I have been doing. I am also concerned that I may experience withdrawl (withdrawal) from the switch, and without taking the Alprazolam. Also, is it true that you can not get another presciption of Alprazolam until a certain amount of time passes? Do you have any information or advice that may be able to help? Thank you so much in advance.

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

Klonopin is a great drug, longer acting, and in the same family of drugs...try it, you will like it, but factor in that is longer acting so you are not drowsy at the wrong time.

[Jimmy1965]

Hello,

I personally dont think that it would be a good idea to switch. If you lost your med, can you just tell the pharmacist what happened. You might have to pay for another script but to me that would be better than taken the chance of a new med that your totally unfamiliar with. Maybe your psychiatrist can even call and talk to your pharmicist. Are you on an SSRI med? To me it seems like that 4.5mg of Lorazepam (sp?) is a heavy duty dose for a benzo and I would be concerned about addiction.


Good luck!

[Jimmy1965]

Sorry, I thought you were taking Lorazepam but your actually taking alprazolam which is Xanax. If that's the case, it's my understanding that Xanax is the strongest of the bezo drugs. I wouldnt just switch over to the Klonopin. I would definitely see about getting another prescription of Xanax. This is my opinon and you all know what opinions are like and everyone has one but 4.5mg of Xanax per day seems like a strong dose. I dont know your situation, maybe you have tried Anxiety meds beside benzo's and they dont work for you but I just hear these horrible stories of people getting physically hooked on Xanax over a period of time taking a sizeable dose and they have one heck of a time getting off of it.

Good luck, I hope you can get your Xanax re-filled.

[Abeybaby]

First off I would like to say I would seriously look at ways to eliminate slowely your dependence on this drug. At 4.5 mg this is very high daily dosage and I would really try to get off this. Klinopin or Clonazepam is another benzo and its longer lasting but again getting hooked on this isn't great either. To answer your question, you could perhaps go back to your pharmacist and get some interum pills until you can get your regular prescription. Be careful with alprazolam- I lknow of people who get on it and have an extremely difficult time trying to get off the meds and they often can't get past .25 mg doses. You would get rebound anxiety if you stopped the meds without weaning off. try to find other means and try to lesson your dependance on this drug....its not a permanent solution.

Take care