[dunky]

Now I'm sure this has been discussed before and I have looked online for answers, but I want some people's real life experiences with this drug. Did it help? Did it not? What was your dosage? How often did you take it daily? Did you notice any side effects?

I've been on Klonopin for a few months, but my doctor told me to take them only as necessary, which I know now doesn't work. I want to start taking it regularly now, but I want to know also what to expect since it never really did anything noticeable to me in the first place. I'm on a .5mg dosage. Should I ask my psychiatrist about raising it if it doesn't work?

 

[hightimes2]

.5mg doesnt do anything for me. i need at least 1mg

 

[jim_morrison]

The usual dose will be somewhere between .5 mg and 2 mg daily usually. With Klonopin I've noticed that it works more on a mental level than physical, that is, compared to other benzos and such, it seems to work more sort of in the background and more subtly, with less of a "rush" than say xanax, if that makes any sence. Rest assured though, at the right dose, it will help you.

 

[Cast Away]

My Experience

Klonopin or any benzodiazepine is no more then decent for SA. For one tolerance grows very quickly with benzodiazepines and SA is a 24/7 disorder. So taking prn is only partly fixing your problem. Benzos are more suited for panic attacks. As for klonopin it will reduce your anxiety but for me it takes alot to eliminate SA. Also klonopin dosnt have a pro social effect like alcohol and to change your personality or make you outgoing.

 

[jim_morrison]

My Experience

Klonopin or any benzodiazepine is no more then decent for SA. For one tolerance grows very quickly with benzodiazepines and SA is a 24/7 disorder. So taking prn is only partly fixing your problem. Benzos are more suited for panic attacks. As for klonopin it will reduce your anxiety but for me it takes alot to eliminate SA. Also klonopin dosnt have a pro social effect like alcohol and to change your personality or make you outgoing.

I guess it comes down to whether or not you actually want to a) be pro social, or b) just want to be able to not feel the dreaded anxiety response of being around people in general, klonopin should work for the latter, but yeah, it's not really pro social, if thats what your aiming for.

 

[No Limit]

I had a project semester class where I was practically forced to take Klonopin for a whole semester. At that time I was taking about 1-2mg daily. It did help calm me down knowing that I had to make presentations in front of that class more often that I'd like to. I did notice that I did become a bit more aggressive (especially when I'm driving) when I was taking it. Overtime, Klonopin really didn't do anything for my anxiety anymore after awhile. The only benzo that really helped me during performance anxiety was Xanax, but I couldn't do anything right a hour or 2 after taking it (and this was like 0.5mg-1mg) because I feel drowsy and sleepy afterwards. If I did take Xanax on a regular basis, I know I would've probably developed a tolerance. One thing I realized with benzos is that the longer I took them, the harder it was to taper off of them. I could do it, but it wasn't a pleasant experience. I now take Klonopin if I'm having trouble sleeping, but that's on a rare occasion.

 

[Aleforge]

I took 1mg twice a day for about a year or so. It worked fairly good at first but I seemed to build a tolerance to it fairly quick. So for day to day use for long term help I don't think its worth anything. More of a situational drug / anti panic drug like Xanax.

 

[Saqq]

I was prescribed .5/day when needed -- which had no effect -- so over the course of the next 2 months I tried different doses up to 4mg -- and even that I didn't feel much of an effect other than becoming really sleepy.

I didn't go past that -- I just figure it doesn't work on me, or maybe its the generic pill reason -- the problem was I told my psych this -- and he basically blacklisted me from benzo's cause i took "8 of those pills??" -- I wasn't doing it for recreational value -- If i was I'm sure I could find xanax somewhere.

Anyways, so yea -- for me they didn't help but I don't have anything else to compare it to

 

[Wellington]

EDIT: OOPS, I posted under the wrong thread.

 

[dunky]

Well here's a new question. It seems that a lot of you are saying that it isn't good for long term and that you'll build a tolerance to it pretty quick which tells me that I'll eventually not be taking this drug anymore. If it helps anxiety and you stop taking it, do you feel a lot more anxiety or have you pretty much been able to work enough that your anxiety isn't as bad as it was before?

 

[CopadoMexicano]

I take 1mg of clonazepam daily and helps decrease my racing heart but once I stop the panic attacks come back.

 

[arthur56]

its rare for a SA sufferer to have an addictive type personality and K is a very useful med, .5 is too small a dose to help most of us

 

[Redefine]

Well here's a new question. It seems that a lot of you are saying that it isn't good for long term and that you'll build a tolerance to it pretty quick which tells me that I'll eventually not be taking this drug anymore. If it helps anxiety and you stop taking it, do you feel a lot more anxiety or have you pretty much been able to work enough that your anxiety isn't as bad as it was before?

If you developed tolerance, you'll most likely get withdrawal. So yea, when in withdrawal your anxiety will get worse. If your wondering if your thoughts change when on the med, I really don't know. I don't think so. I think the klonopin just suppresses those thoughts along with a lot of other thoughts (brain fog side effect). Your not really challenging those thoughts because your just not having a lot of them. This is why I think CBT is the best way to go.