Posted by BABatson on January 21, 2001, at 4:01:17
In reply to KLONOPIN or XANAX???, posted by Tina1 on May 27, 2000, at 20:53:43
Klonopon has the longest serum half-life [it is fat-soluable and so is stored in the fatty tissue of the brain]. Initially approved as an anti-seizure med, it is widely used to treat 'panic attack'. I found that use for more than one or two days caused increased depression, 'strong sadness', and a discomfited feeling. In my case, also, it tended to suppress deep breathing. To control, or to prevent at outset, an "average" panic epsode -- Klonopin works well from a high of 1.0 mg x 3/day to a low of 0.5 or even 0.25.
Taken when un-needed, it produced slightly uncomfortable effects in me -- it noes not have anti-depressant effects.Xanax, which I started yesterday, does not tend to depress deep breathing, but rather seems to free the chest of tension. I do not think it is going to cause 'deep sadness'. It has a medium-short half-life, Ativan having the shortest.
The results above are indeed subjective -- whether or not they tend to reflect the norm. Importance of genuine, but not burdonsome, discipline in taking benzodiazepines is a requirement; an aberrative brief urge to exceed the needful dose of this class passes just a sswiftly as it came, when one simply recognises it for what it is -- just a temporary 'blip' of the imagination, which is harmless unless "worked up" into something more than it is!
Librium is a longer lasting med of this class, and one of the first, along with Valium. I have found it preferrable for longer term use, which is why my psychiatrist prescribed it. On my own initiative, we titrated down from 3 x 25 mg, daily; to 1 x 25 mg, at bed. Librium tends to 'stack', that is, to build up in the system. I had no trouble titrating from 3 to one, over just a week's time -- this must NOT be done with Xanax or Ativan!!! For those, taper by fractional increments over several weeks at the least, ACCORDING TO PHYSICIAN'S SUPERVISION -- there is a good site online you can find, written by an MD exactly how to do this (as even some doctors may proceed too swiftly in some cases). People who abruptly discontinue Benzodiazepines --all, but especially the shorter-acting ones as mentioned -- risk sever withdrawal which can require hospitalisation and can even be life-threatening (see the anecdotal reports on the message boards).
In conclusion, as for anti-depressants, one has to be pro-active in encouraging physicians to try different medications, combinations, and dosages -- as there was a trend in the 1990s to underprescribe (apparently in reaction to over-liberal use of Valium in the '70s, and of amphetimines [which used to include myriads in the PDR!] -- in general I have found the neural transmitter enhancers to be much more desireable than the direct stimulants, and do not even use caffeine routinely -- just the occasional cup of green tea.) My experience has, thanks to the perceptive psychiatrist who added it to the SSRI Prozac, been that stimulation can be achieved by Wellbutrin [bupropione], an 'adreneurgic' sort of re-uptake inhibitor (no, it does not cause the adrenal grands to produce more adrenalin, but rather prevents re-uptake of the neural transmitter dopamine in specific sites[!] in the brain -- it is therefore much safer on the body).
PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THESE IMPROMPTU REMARKS ARE SUGGESTIVE OF FURTHER MEDICAL ENGUIRY ONLY -- you might take them up with your doctor, if they interest you. ------Brooks; Eugene, Oregon
poster:BABatson
thread:34924
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010111/msgs/52131.html