Posted by Louise on December 5, 1999, at 8:03:29
In reply to Re: social anxiety - benzos - to James, posted by saint james on December 4, 1999, at 23:54:26
James,
Just as I suspected ... you've never tried Klonopin, nor have you withdrawn from it. Geez, I'm not trying to pick a fight, but why would a pdoc give a patient a stronger benzo like Klonopin to help with withdrawal from Xanax? And I've taken Xanax for 3 years and I've yet to experience the "euphoria" that you describe, and Ativan has about the same half-life as Xanax. And I did wean off Xanax for over a year, and have only recently gotten back on it.
I'm not against Klonopin if it works for you or anybody else, but saying that taking it is better than another benzo for withdrawal purposes is not true. I've tried both, and the only thing that helps with withdrawal is very, VERY slow tapering of the drug, as pointed out in Elizabeth's post.
Please, James, no insults. You obviously haven't read all my posts. Thank you.
Louise :-)
> > James,
> >
> > I disagree ... withdrawal is withdrawal. Have you ever completely weaned off Klonopin? Or have you ever gone from Klonopin to Xanax or Ativan? Just curious.
> >
> > Louise
>
>
> James here.....
>
> I take atavin as needed with no problems. When I was in retail during christmas I took 3 mgs atavin daily for 4 months and got off it smoothly
> using slow reduction of dose.
>
> There is a big difference in W/D in an agent (xanax) leaves to body quickly (a few hours with
> amount of agent in blood decreasing quickly ) Klonipin leaves the blood over 24-48 hrs, so the decrease is gradual. This is why Klonipin is often used to get someone off Xanax ( amoung the benzos is considered the most addictive, due to its short life it produces euphora quickly and then a few hrs later it is gone.) Once a day dosing covers you all day. You are chasing w/d all day with a short acting agent as you taper the dose, with a long acting agent you can dose 1X a day and then slowly reduce the dose over months. This makes for a steady state of benzo in the body, instead of peaks and valleys. You are never going to beat addiction if several times a day you start to feel funny as the benzo level drops.
>
> In general my feeling is that there are some of us who need scheduled (adictive) meds to function so leave us alone, dammit ! I take Dexadrine and now some cronic pain people who need their morphine or fentanyl to function. Another friend has a generalized anxiety disorder and has taken Xanax for years, always the same dose. Her doc has made it clear he will perscribe for as long as she needs it. Yes she is phycically dependent on Xanax, but she needs it to function normally. It's a no brainer.
>
> j
poster:Louise
thread:15816
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991123/msgs/16216.html