Posted by JohnX2 on January 24, 2002, at 17:28:38
In reply to Re: Need HELP with Neurontin schedule!!! » JohnX2, posted by MB on January 22, 2002, at 14:50:23
Hi MB,I first was prescribed Klonopin to help
with restlessness while sleeping on Effexor, I
found out by accident that it solved a myofacial
pain problem that had been nagging me for quite
some time.After being rediagnosed as bipolar, my doctors
thought that non habit forming anti-convulsants (other epilepsy meds)
were a better treatment course for the tension headaches
and other pains in my head/face than using Klonopin.
Klonopin is generally used for anxiety disorders, which
wasn't my problem. Over time I grew quite tolerant
to the analgesic effect of Klonopin, and the
physicians could not find a replacement med. Eventually
2 mg became 6 mg, and my sleep was completely
messed up. Last month I found out that the
anti-convulsant Topamax relieves my facial pain
COMPLETELY, so I have no use for Klonopin and its
sleep destroying properties (after tolerance builds),
hence I am trying to quit the medicine. Topamax works
on the calming brain gaba receptors in a manner not
to unlike Klonopin, but it is not habit forming, so it is
a better solution for me.I've been taking Klonopin for 2.5 yrs and the
tolerance issue really kicked in after about
6 months (that's when I needed to keep bumping
the dose). Klonopin is an anti-convulsant as
well as anti-anxiety and I think the anti-convulsant
may be more likely to "poop-out" than the
anxiety (it was studied for epilepsy but generally
would fall apart after 3+ months). A lot
of people have taken Klonopin for a long time
without developing tolerance, so maybe my experience
was bad.regards,
John> Why have you decided to get off of Klonopin? I was actually thinking of trying to get some Klonopin. I was thinking that with that as a foundation, the cycling of the Neurontin in my system wouldn't jerk me around so much. Neurontin is hard for me to work with because it takes approximately three hours after dosing to feel it, and the relief is short lived: about 3 hours. I've been dosing no more than 8 hrs apart. If I take large enough doses to cover me for the whole eight hours, I feel way to drugged in a bad way...it reminds me of a dextromethorphan overdose (yes, I experimented years ago). I can cope with 300-400 at bedtime, but anything more than 200mg at a time during the day really screws me up. My mind shuts down, but it doesn't touch the anxiety very well. My doc mentioned adding Lamictal or Depakote if the Neurontin isn't showing enough "horse power," but it seems to me that Depakote and Lamictal are so harsh. Not only the minor start-up SEs seem harsh, but the liver failure, hair loss, weight gain (Depakote) and fatal rash (Lamictal) seem like such severe potentialities to play with in treating anxiety. A girlfriend of mine takes Klonopin once a day and she says it is really gentle. She said there weren't really any side effects and that she just kind of noticed her anxiety go away. I'm curious what your negative reactions were that made you want to get off of it.
>
> MB
poster:JohnX2
thread:90899
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020124/msgs/91452.html