Posted by mattdds on July 11, 2003, at 7:49:32
In reply to Klonopin and Agorophobia, posted by AndyD on July 10, 2003, at 20:05:49
Hi Andy,
I was very pill phobic too. Afraid of feeling strange, or having altered perceptions, but Klonopin is not like that. Other than the relief, you won't even notice it. To me, it is a near miraculous drug; amazing in its specificity and extremely powerful for anxiety. Kinda like a bunker buster for panic.
You might be interested to know that I'm in the US military as well. I have an agreement that they will pay for my dental school education(very expensive school) in return for 3 years of active duty as a dentist. So it's a good deal. I know how it can be to try to look "macho", when inside you're scared to death, but I can assure you even people in the military have panic disorder. I remember having a panic attack when I was getting commissioned!
I also suffer from panic disorder, and only recently got diagnosed; before, docs always diagnosed depression and gave SSRI's. I believe all my other problems (mainly depression) are secondary to the panic attacks. I never had agoraphobia, but did reach a point where I was literally in a constant state of panic for about 3 months. I've heard this called status panicus, or a constant state of panic. What followed this was almost 2 years of severe derealization and depersonalization, along with depression. I consider myself fully recovered now, in part, due to Klonopin (the other part was CBT, which is a psychological treatment).
Klonopin has been life changing. Like Viridis says, it doesn't "feel" like anything in terms of a "high" or altered perception. The only thing you will notice is *relief*. Its specificity for anxiety is really amazing! You may notice some drowsiness or sedation at first, but this almost invariably goes away after a week or two. Get on a constant steady dose for best effects. My dose is 1.5 mg daily. I don't feel the need to raise the dose.
There is some very good research about Klonopin in particular for symptoms of agoraphobia. It is extremely safe and well studied for this purpose.
One last thing, it is much better to be on a constant dose than the roller-coaster ride of as-needed dosing. Trust me, I've tried both (as needed when I was pill phobic, but I decided I wanted to feel good *all* the time :)). 0.25mg seems a little low, but you can start at that and work your way up. Most people need between 1.0 mg and 4.0 mg.
Best of luck,
Matt
poster:mattdds
thread:240734
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030708/msgs/240832.html