Posted by Viridis on October 30, 2003, at 0:33:21
In reply to Re: Agitated depression; anxiety bad in morning, posted by dannen on October 29, 2003, at 15:59:40
Hi Dannen,
I started off taking Klonopin at night, in part because it can make you sleepy at first and in part because it has a very long half-life so (theoretically) should last through the next day. I found that the effects wore off by about noon the next day, so for a short while I took divided doses 4X, then 2X a day to minimize side effects. After a couple of weeks, the side effects (which were mild to begin with) disappeared and I just started taking the whole 1 mg in the morning.
It sounds like the night-dosing strategy could work well for you, and this is what a lot of doctors seem to prefer anyway. Plus, if you do have side effects like drowsiness or foggy thinking at first, you should just sleep through the worst of it.
Just curious, but did you stop the Xanax suddenly or taper off gradually? "Rebound" anxiety can be bad with these meds if you take them for a while and then just stop -- it's important to slowly cut back the dose. Xanax seems to be especially bad because it has a fairly short half-life and leaves your system quickly, whereas Klonopin does so much more gradually. But with any of these, tapering down is essential if you go off them.
poster:Viridis
thread:271647
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031025/msgs/274881.html