Klonopin to Xanax?

[micohe11]

I had panic attacks about 4 years ago. The Dr. back then gave me klonopin for the attacks and lexapro for daily use. It worked great until 3 weeks ago when I started having more attcaks. The new Dr. gave me Xanax.5  every 8 hours and now zoloft 100mg and I am also going for CBT. can I go back to the klonopin??  I am afraid of the addiction to the Xanax?

Thanks

[txQC]

Well, it's depend of how bad is your anxiety... for myself, I don't have a comfort zone, I have severe panic attacks + supraventricular tachycardia (who can last 6-8 hours a day with a pulse rate of above 160 to 240... who trigger A LOT of panic attacks). I have panic while I have to take my bath or my shower, when I climb the stairs, when I have a bowel movement, when I eat cause of the gaz and bloating problem who trigger chest pain all the time... I loose 30 pounds in less than 3 months because of the panic and especially because of the supraventricular tachycardia... and since my Cardiologist think i'm having a postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POST), I can't take a beta-blocker to reduce the pulse rate cause my blood pressure drop all the times on them, to the point that I faint...


So for the Xanax, I agree that if someone have a panic attack every 2-3 days and they happen only when that person leave his house, taking the Xanax only when you have to leave the house is the good way to take it... but for someone who have panic all the time and everywhere with no comfort zone, that's impossible to take the Xanax without taking it regulary, so around every 3-4 hours...

For the addictive part, both drugs are addictive BUT the addiction occur more often with the Xanax, who develop faster for the Xanax, that's why I mean that if you take it every day, you will ending with a problem of increasing the dose all the time to the point that even at 8-10 mg a day it will not work... I know what i'm talking about, I ending at the hospital for severe addiction to the Xanax in 2008 and was at 12 mg a day... had to go in rehab... 3 months of pure hell!!! For the Klonopin, the addiction occur also fast if you take it everyday BUT the withdraw is less difficult... I stop it often between 2005 and 2009 without any problems, just more panic attacks... but no problems like being unable to speak, tremors, muscles twitching, sweating, tachycardia, who happen with the Xanax withdraw...

I agree about running out of pills... that's creating more anxiety... same if you skip a dose... it's the psychological part of the addiction who do that... cause you take the pills and say to yourself that you can go out of the house or take a shower without having a panic and suddenly you remember that you forget to take your pill and you have a panic... that's very tricky...

For some people, the addiction and increasing dose will never happen, we don't know why but some peoples have no problem to stay at the same dose for years... and others like me will have to increase the dose after 2-3 weeks... We have all different brain I guess and different kind of anxiety and different severity of anxiety...

To be honnest, I don't think that a panic disorder can be treat in a long term view with only a Benzo med... an antidepressant is more appropriate for the long term... too bad I can't tolerate them anymore...

[solidnickel]

Well, It really depends on how you take the xanax...

I agree if you take it all the time, you will need to up your dosage but you should not be taking it all the time.

I have been taking xanax for years and still take the same dosage and it is still very effective because I only take it when I absolutely feel like I am going to Panic or going to a Place that is out of my comfort zone.

It also depends on the Anxiety that the individual suffers from; mine happens to be environmental which is I think the most common. I can sometimes be in a strange environment and it will trigger a rollercoaster effect where I need to take the Xanax but its best not to the take the Xanax in your comfort zone such as home if you can help it.

It also ***** to get dependant on it because if you ever run out, that can trigger Anxiety in itself. I would love to get off Xanax because I hate being dependant on it and that fear of running out or losing my meds is not a pleasant thought.

[txQC]

Hi,
    I also don't understand why your Doc put you on Xanax and remove the Klonopin, I mean the half-life of the Xanax is A LOT shorter than the one of the Klonopin.

Also, the Zoloft is perhaps not the good SSRI for you? All the SSRI's tend to stop working after several years on them, so a change is maybe a good idea? Do you ever try the Paxil, it's the only one antidepressant who work for me to stop the panic disorder... too bad I can't tolerate any kind of antidepressant now... The Zoloft and the Prozac are among the most activating SSRI's... BUT the Lexapro, who is suppose to be the one with less side-effects is not good at all and have a lot of side-effects... I know that everyone is different... but it was the worse for me...

For the Klonopin, 2-3 times a day is not enought to control the anxiety, AGAIN everyone is different, BUT even if the hal-life is longer for the Klonopin, you don't feel it's working for a long time and if you take it since a while, your brain is used to it. I don't know how bad are your panic attacks and if you have a lot of other symptoms who last all day long, BUT I find the Klonopin to work best when it's dosing every 1-2 hours... Also, both drugs are addictive and if you are lucky, the Xanax will work for more than one month without needed to increase your dosage, same for the Klonopin. Both drugs tend to stop working after 1-2 months and you need to take more and more to the point that it's not working, even in high dose... You see, actuallty i'm taking 8 mg of Klonopin a day and divided it into  (16 X 0.5 mg pills), so 1 pill every hour... and my PDoc add 2 months ago 1 mg of Xanax divided into 3 doses OR as needed... I'm dealing with an extreme panic disorder and have a lot of chronic symptoms like long lasting supraventricular tachycardia, chest pain, headache, jaw pain, eyes pain... everything is now trigerring panic attack on me and my heart go crazy all the time now... It's just not working for me anymore, the Xanax at first help me 3 weeks to prevent panic while I had to take my shower of have to do a bowel movement or be in a car, but now it's doing nothing... and I don't want to increase the dose of the Xanax...

I think that what happen is the fact that the GAba-A receptors in the brains get used to the Benzo drugs and they change over time, so the drug canno't bind to the Gaba-A receptors... or the number of Gaba-A receptors in the brain decrease... I don't really know but that's the theory of my PDoc...

Anyway, good luck and take care of you!!! ;-)

[mammo]

Xanax and Klonopin are both addictive.  The difference is Xanax is normally prescribed on an "as needed" basis and doesn't last long in your system.  Klonopin is prescribed 2-3 times a day and controls your anxiety 24/7. I'm not sure dosing the Xanax every 8 hours is going to do much to control your anxiety.  I would contact your doctor and ask "why" he has chosen to take you off the Klonopin when it was working just fine for you.  I hope this helps and take care.