[orbit55]

I have been taking 2 mg of Klonopin per day for almost exactly one year now. Between last summer and this summer, my GAD and Panic has been non-existent. I've been traveling, doing well in school, meeting new people, and I even have a serious girlfriend now. About a week ago, I almost had a panic attack on a plane but was able to keep it from coming by taking a Klonopin wafer. Yesterday, I started having heavy breathing while driving and today I had a mini panic attack while showering. I literally had to turn the water off because I felt like I couldn't breathe.

Could this be tolerance setting in?

I have been very stressed lately. My finances are not the best, I have no health insurance, I am home for the summer(i dislike living at home), I am now in a long distance relationship with my girlfriend and I am taking the LSAT on Monday. I wish I knew what was going on. I do have an appointment with my doc next week.

 

[Anxiety75]

Yes, you will build up a tolerance over time. I started taking Klonopin a couple months ago and already I can tell that it has weakened a bit. I'm trying to cut down and take only when I feel anxiety coming on so I won't get too tolerant.

 

[mirakaigh]

Although I haven't built a tolerance to klonopin in that I don't need to increase my small dose that I take, I do know that the beginning of summer seems to trigger a lot of anxiety for me.

Sounds like your situation is extremely stressful and you might feel trapped in some sense, and things like that come out as panic sometimes.

I don't know if you're tolerant to it, or if you just need to adjust to a change. Be patient and trust me, I know all about those shower attacks. Seems humidity brings on a feeling of faintness and that triggers panic in me as I hate feeling dizzy.

I don't know if tolerance comes on all of the sudden like that?

 

[orbit55]

Well I never felt my Klonopin dose affected me. It just made me feel normal without all the paranoia and panic associated with GAD and Panic. So it is hard to tell if the 2 mg has stopped working. I guess I do have a lot of stress factors, too. I hope I can get this under control soon.

I have my LSAT on Monday. I'm off to Chicago on Tuesday. I'm meeting my family in Vegas on the 15th... I have been quite the frequent flyer since I had my GAD and Panic under control but as of now, the thought of flying makes me a little panicky.

And can someone explain this annoying pain on the side of my head? Everytime I open my mouth a good amount, I get a small pain on the side of my head. I don't know if it's some kind of pulled muscle, the way I slept, or what... I did read somewhere that when someone gets really stressed, it's the jaw muscles that are the first to tense up.

 

[DMBfan]

If you're experiencing a lot more stress than normal it's hard to tell. The only way to know for sure is to see what happens when the stress goes back to where it was before. It's not unusual for people to increase their dose in periods of high stress and then drop back down later. It's also not unusual to go through cycles of higher and lower anxiety and panic. I personally have not found benzos to completely eliminate anxiety, they simply help manage the symptoms.

Did you ever adjust the dose up or did you start at 2mg/day? Because initial tolerance is very common.

 

[orbit55]

My doc and I started at either 1 mg or 1.5 mg per day last summer. That was shortly adjusted to 2 mg per day which worked well. Also, I had just switched from Xanax to Klonopin last summer and my daily Xanax dose was between .75mg and 1 mg per day but it really wasn't working.

 

[euphoria]

Take magnesium glycinate supplements and other NMDA antagonists to prevent any further tolerance developing.