Posted by jasmineneroli on December 17, 2004, at 1:24:13
In reply to For BRC, posted by Glydin on December 16, 2004, at 22:49:59
Hello there BRC!
Both you and Glydin describe the same personality/lifestyle as myself :) Your paths are very similar to mine, in the evolution of my anxiety disorder (minus the hospilization...close to it on 2 occasions, tho').
And BRC, your worrying about Klonopin seems to be a manifestation of that anxiety disorder.
Ppl with anxiety disorders are notorious for not wanting to take drugs, or take too much of a medication. They worry about everything, including their meds!
It's my opinion that you are not an abusive user of Klonopin, otherwise you would have increased your dose by now, or tried other benzo's.
I agree with everything Glydin says. I have taken a small daily dose of Klonopin for over 18 months, and, as I've said many times before, it's the ONLY drug to take my debilitating anxiety away. It gives me no side effects (except a bit of memory loss, I'm not sure - that could be age!!). I think it's a "good" drug, when appropriately prescribed.Are you feeling guilty for needing it?? I felt terrible for months after I started it, because I kept feeling I "should" be able to perform at a high level, like I always had (with no problems). I felt I ought to be able to do that without the help of a drug. I just couldn't understand why I was no longer able to cope.
Eventually I came to accept that my brain had been changed by the perpetual "adrenaline rush" I lived on, and hormonal changes. I couldn't "down-regulate" the excitatory response without the chemical aid of Klonopin
I do have a variable mild depression involved as well, which I'm trying to handle with tryptophan and other supplements (see...I don't want "drugs"!!!!). In this experiment, I have added Niacinamide(a version of vitamin B3). It may well help with anxiety. I'm going to try increasing it and decreasing my Klon., to find out. The only reason why I'm doing this, is the memory thing. If it doesn't work, I'll continue with the Klon.
If you are really wanting to try out how you will be without the Klonopin, I, too, recommend you talk to your doctor about how to very slowly discontinue it. You might want to go over to the Alternative Board and read about niacinamide, there are some ppl there that have stopped benzo's to try it.
Best wishes, as always. May your thoughts stop racing! Sorry for the long reply!!
Jas
poster:jasmineneroli
thread:430058
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041211/msgs/430628.html