Posted by zeugma on January 8, 2004, at 18:29:15
Does anyone know how, or whether, Klonopin affects serotonin? I ask this because one disturbing s/e of K (and I take a tiny dose, .25 mg in the am) is that it has caused a return of my hypnagogic hallucinations/ sleep paralysis, but with a twist: somehow the sensation is less dreamlike and more electrical. Like I stuck my head in an electrical socket and the currents were running through my body. This is similar to what I have read about the Effexor/Paxil "brain zaps." The difference is that mine occur only when falling asleep: at those times when most prone to have a hypnagogic experience, when overtired from lack of sleep and trying to get an early rest, only to have it blocked by these painful sensations centered in my head and running through my body. Now I have a headache and an aggravated feeling of being 'too tired to sleep.' Does anyone have any insight on what in Klonopin's pharmacology could be causing this? My conjecture was that K blocks slow-wave sleep, hence causing the early onset REM associated with narcolepsy and sleep paralysis, but that doesn't explain, as I said, the less 'dreamlike', more 'electrical' quality of the experiences. Also I get definite images that are not dreamlike at all, and that are more like the afterimages one gets when staring a long time at a brightly lit object then turning off the light. Insight, anyone?
poster:zeugma
thread:298285
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040105/msgs/298285.html