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1211508 tn?1343079605

Klonopin not working. Ativan better?

I've had agoraphobia for 4 1/2 years.  I have gotten much better especially in the last one year. I am on nomads my six sass has been completely through cognitive behavioral therapy (exposure).  My success has been based on taking baby steps and gradually doing more and more until the point where I feel totally comfortable. This weekend I took my first trip and 4 1/2 years. It was a challenge. We went to Disneyland. The combination of the heat and intense crowds makes this about the type this challenge for me. In an ideal world I would've broken into this much easier maybe try going to the park for as little as 10 minutes on uncrowded day. And then maybe the next day going for 15 minutes. And then maybe going when it's a little more crowded for a very short time. Eventually feeling comfortable enough to do more and more and more. Unfortunately I did not have this luxury on this trip. And when I arrived it was warm and extremely crowded. So I decided to turn to meds. I took 0.5 mg of Klonopin. It did nothing for me. My doctor also prescribed me 1 mg of Ativan and yet 1 mg of Xanax. Is it likely that I could have a much better in effect from those that I did off the Klonopin? I was extremely shocked at how ineffective the Klonopin was. After the one hour point I didn't feel any different at all. I decided to try to face the crowds anyway. But I was very nervous and panicky. And I had to turn away. I felt like if I had just smoked weed or taken a drug I would've had more success. I don't want to become habitual, I just want to be able to go to Disneyland in the next two days without freaking out. Help please. Thank you very much.
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1211508 tn?1343079605
**positive effects..... Again, I blame the dumb errrrrrr smart phone lol.
Helpful - 0
1211508 tn?1343079605
**Paxilied not Paroled lol.   Damn "smart" phones..
Helpful - 0
1211508 tn?1343079605
Paroled, thank you for your insights on explaining how these medications only make life easier not easy. I think that was a brilliant illustration of how to describe the function of the medication. Reading that helped put things in perspective for me. Oh and the reason he prescribed me both Xanax and Ativan was to try them (on different occasions of course ) to see which one may have more positive affects on me.
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1211508 tn?1343079605
My doctor prescribed me Ativan and Klonopin for different uses. The Klonopin was to be used on an everyday basis for GAD. Ativan was to be used for really phobic moments, such as getting on an airplane. I didn't realize it was not a good idea to take for instance a Klonopin in the morning and an Ativan at night. Is this a bad idea? My doctor never mentioned anything about this. However I never asked specifically about it either.
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Avatar universal
Klonopin takes longer to work than the other two, and you have the lowest dosage, which might not be enough for you.  But nobody can predict if a drug will work for you or not, or how well it will work.  Ativan and Xanax are short acting benzos so they take effect quickly.  They also wear off quickly unless the initial relaxation you get from them gets a boost from your mind feeling comfortable and staying that way on its own.  Klonopin is usually taken on a regular basis, not as needed, because it takes a while to take effect and then stays in the system much longer, but of course then you're stuck taking a benzo regularly every day.  But I have to echo the above post, how on Earth did you get prescriptions for three different benzos?  That can be trouble had you mixed them, so that's pretty unusual.  And I want to add, no drug for most of us will completely rid us of our problems -- they just mitigate symptoms.  Some people get more relief than others, but few get complete relief as the drugs don't address any underlying cause of the problem.  They just make life easier, not easy.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
They are different drugs and will affect different people differently. Why did doc give you Ativan and Zanax too?
It seems you are saying that you didn't even try any of them before so I am wondering why you have 3 different ones - Is this correct?
Did they all come from the same doc?
Helpful - 0
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