Posted by Viridis on December 24, 2003, at 1:53:27
In reply to Re: why is xanax addicting (Viridis), posted by Kon on December 22, 2003, at 12:12:57
I have occasionally taken an extra dose of Klonopin, and this works pretty well. However, since I generally do well at the same, fairly low dose of Klonopin, I'd rather take another med (Xanax) when I really need it and keep the level of Klonopin the same. Besides, I'd have to change the prescription, since I just get enough Klonopin for one dose/day. I'm sure that I could do this, but it might be more complicated ("take 1 mg/day except if you need more", etc.) than just having a second, small prescription for Xanax, PRN.
Also -- Xanax has a rapid onset of action and just "feels" different to me. Klonopin doesn't really feel like anything; it simply reduces anxiety. Xanax noticeably reduces anxiety very fast. I don't get a high from it, but I can actually feel the effects, and my tension dissipating. This is reassuring, and I like to have Xanax available for those occasions when I really need it.
Those episodes are sporadic, and I generally keep the use of Xanax to once every week or two, at most. I wouldn't want to use it any more often, because even at this level of use it requires a substantially greater dose to achieve the same effect than it did initially. This seems to have stabilized (at a dose that's still low by many people's standards), and given my infrequency of use it wouldn't be a problem for me to stop Xanax if my tolerance were to increase further.
It just seems to work best for me to have two distinctly different meds for anxiety, one for regular use and one for special cases.
poster:Viridis
thread:292100
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031219/msgs/293048.html