Posted by burnedout on December 4, 2003, at 11:21:12
In reply to Re: Withdrawal Symptoms. SSRIs vs Klonopin, posted by cubbybear on December 4, 2003, at 1:57:05
For me, it was without doubt the withdrawal from the SSRIs, actually, SSNRI--Effexor-XR.
I had been on Zoloft, Celexa, for a number of years, then to Lexapro, then to Effexor.
The Effexor was a nightmare and put me in the Emergency room. You can read on this board other peoples experiences, you can also do a search on Google for something like "SSRI withdrawal discontinuation pain" and the same for Klonopin.
Like the previous writer, the Klonopin taper is not as dangerous as a taper from Xanax or Ativan because of the way those drugs go out of the system so quickly. But there will probably be withdrawal effects with the Klonopin, unless you do a very, very gradual taper.
For me it's mainly feeling stress more and shaking. I try to stay there a while then if it goes away, I can try lowering the does a tad more. If it doesn't go away, I raise the dose back up to where I was stable and do the taper again. Eventually, I'll be off the Klonopin.But coming down on Klonopin, in my experience is nothing to what happened when I came off the Effexor-XR (SSNRI).
Also the worst day for the SSRI withdrawal, after being completely off, was day three. My doc told me if I could get past that without a seizure then the worst is over. He was right. Then it took 39 days before I finally came out from most of the effects of the SSRI.
With either of these, if you've taken them for a while, (over two weeks) DO NOT STOP ABRUPTLY. You are asking for serious/acute and dangerous reactions. I know.
poster:burnedout
thread:286405
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031202/msgs/286532.html