Posted by RobertDavid on June 8, 2006, at 21:12:37
In reply to Re: Emsan-Day 30 » RobertDavid, posted by Last Chance on June 8, 2006, at 19:14:54
> Rob, hi - I know you have been taking the klonapin for 12 years - now with Emsam do you still have some tired times during the day, lethargy? I drink a cup of coffee in the morning and one in the afternoon, and still have times with no energy. I realize this could be my depression, so I am concerned that more Klonopin will make me more drowsy. My .5 mg is already 4 times what I have been taking for the last 2 months. Thanx, Richard
Richard:
I am taking 2mgs of klonopin every night. I didn't start there. As I recall I started at .5 for about a week. During that time I was wiped out, tired, some anxiety relief, but just no energy. Didn't think klonopin was right for me. But I was paying big bucks to see a Dr. that was supposed to be an expert on anxiety disorters and decided I would do my best to hang in there as long as I could on any trial he put me on. I had a tendancy before to bail quickly on med trials, but looking back did have some quacky doctors giving me the wrong meds and advise.
He soon recognized that I was very sensitive to meds, I can feel everything, am one of those that never could get up high enough on meds for them to work (or to see if they would work) because my side effects were terrible even at baby doses.
So after a week about a week he brought me slowly up in .25mg increments and as I recall I stayed at 1mg for about a month. The increased sedation which was my primary side effect of klonopin improved typically after about 2 weeks with each increase in dose. So I found myself feeling better, more social, less anxiety, but not where I wanted to be. My doctor wanted me to be close to 100% and taught me that there is "normal anxiety" in everyday living, to exect that. I/we just wanted to get rid of the SAD and GAD disorter part and he assured me in time the sedation would most likely disapear, but not the anxiety benefits. That did turn out to be the case.
Utimately the sedation and most of the mental foggyness went away, I was functioning better, but again, not quite where I wanted to be. Long story long, I moved all the way up to 3mgs, stayed there for a month. Things improved socially and I was feeling like I had never felt before, but unlike my past dose increases some of the sedation that typically went away was staying.
So I slowly dropped down and found 2mgs was the majic number for me. It took me about a year to figure that out. I've been there since and without giving you boaring details of my life, klonopin single handedly wiped out just about all my social anxiety. In fact, I had no quality of life before it, couldn't leave the house, now own a business and employ others.
Lastly, to reduce daytime sedation my doctor advised me only to take klonopin at night and suggested that with it's long half life it would give me anxiety coverage through the day, particularly once I had been taking it a while since blood levels would build up. I believe many that take klonopin in split doses should try taking the full dose at night (unless used as needed). Problem is that they try it and judge the results after only a few days, feel out of it and quit. It takes a week or more for you to get adjusted to it.
Also, for a while, the night dose will help to sleep, though in time sedation should improve concerably and I don't really think it is a factor to help me sleep any more. I used to pray that I would never have an emergency at night thinking I would be so out of it from taking all the klonopin at night, like a walking zombie, but I found that not to be the case at all. I'm in no way drugged if I have to get up during the night.
So if you're asking my opinion on why your so much more sedated now and what to do about it I'd suggest hang in there another week or two and suspect that a lot of your sedation will disapear, particularly with such a small dose. If you're taking klonopin for social anxiety then you have to find a theraputic dose or you will think the med isn't working. Most seem to end up somewhere between 1 and 4mgs if they take it for SAD and or GAD. Like other meds, you just have to deal with side effects for an initial period. For me, the majority of the out of it feeling went away and by far out weighed the benefit I was getting from anxiety relief.
Though everyone is different, EMSAM should help with energy particularly as you adjust to higher doses of klonopin. I tried to take coffee with klonopin to help with what I call the initial sedation period and some lingering sedation, but I'm so fricking sensitive that coffee makes feel amped for a few hours, then I crash and feel extreamly anxious, swear I'll never do it again.
Before EMSAM the best solution I found when I wanted some additional energy was to take a small dose of provigil (25 to 50mgs) which can be taken on a prn basis, just as needed, works day 1.
One last thing. Sleeping. If I don't sleep, it doesn't matter what I'm taking, doing, eating, work out activities, I feel tired and like crap. So I do everything I can to get sleep, as much as possible.
Anyway, I'd really consider staying at your .5mg dose for a little strech, say a week or two more and see if you're sedation improves. If it does, I'd keep going up in .25 increments until you feel the full benefit of it. It's some work and I understand just how you feel as I once did at the .5mg dose, but would hope like me, in time, you'll adjust and your world will open up (I'm assuming you're dealing primarily with anxiety and secondarily with depression).
I would be okay if I was on klonopin alone. Life would be fine. What I got from EMSAM was just the extra energy and mental clarity, treatment of a lifetime of mild depression. It's the blend that really fine tuned things.
All that said, if I had to give one up, I'd give up EMSAM. Sorry to rattle on, hope some of this is of help to you.......Rob
poster:RobertDavid
thread:653947
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060604/msgs/654643.html