Posted by med_empowered on May 31, 2005, at 4:02:45
In reply to Klonopin, posted by lushkins on May 31, 2005, at 3:05:34
hey! As benzos go, Klonopin is easier in terms of withdrawal symtpoms than a lot of others...especially Xanax and Halcion. If you're doing this very short term, it should be even less of a problem. Klonopin kicks in around 20minutes after you take it, unless you take it during or right after a very high-fat meal, in which case this could be delayed a bit. The tricky thing about Klonopin, though, is that the concentrations of Klonopin reach their peak about *4 hours* after you take it. So, I'd recommend trying out maybe .5mgs-.75mgs around, say, 6-7PM (that's just when I took it when I used it for sleep; your mileage may vary). Around 10-11, you'll be feeling what are pretty much the *full* effects of your Klonopin dose; if you're not yet sedated enough to sleep, you can try another .25mgs-.5mgs...hopefully, that way, when it first kicks in (20mins, +/-) you might be sedated enough to fall asleep; then, the levels of Klonopin will continue to climb for the next couple hours, and the plateau and fall off. Hopefully, if you get 7-8 hours sleep out of this, by the time you wake up you'll have a smaller amount of Klonopin in your system--enough for an anti-anxiety effect, but not quite enough to cause sleep or too much cognitive impairment. This setup worked for me, and I found Klonopin effective as a temporary sleep aid, but your results may vary. When you no longer need to take Klonopin, what you may want to do is cut your dose gradually; from, say 1mg a nite to maybe .75mgs for 3-4 nites, then .5mgs for a bit, then .25mgs, then stop. I found that keeping some headache medicine on hand along with some dipenhydramine helped alot during withdrawal...you might get mild headaches, and the dipenhydramine should help with any sleep trouble you experience. Since Klonopin is long-acting, it is theoretically easier to taper off; also, discontinuing benzos used for sleep is usually easier than discontinuing benzos used for daytime anxiety. Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:505629
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050527/msgs/505646.html