Posted by RobertDavid on January 8, 2008, at 23:17:13
In reply to Re: Anxiety without clonzapam - RobertDavid, posted by brooke484 on January 8, 2008, at 22:41:24
> How long did it take for you to feel better on 2 mgs? Was it right away? .5 used to work for me, but now 1 mg doesn't even do anything and I've been off it for years. Some days I'll just decide to try it, but it's like taking a placebo (and I even have the brand). So I wasn't sure if it takes awhile for it to kick in, or if it's immediate.
Brooke: I started at .5mgs Klonopin with very high hopes and my doctor made me feel this was finally going to be the medicine that was going to takle my social anxiety. It was my first try at a benzo. But I was initially disapointed as I did not feel much different. My doctor raised dose by .25mgs every 5 days and it wasn't till I was up over 1mg and was at the higher level for about 3 weeks (taking it daily) that I felt a suttle improvement. From there I raised the dose and was stable at 1.5mgs for about a month, then went up to 2mgs for a few weeks and ultimately went as high is 3mgs. I noticed that I didn't feel any better at 3mgs than I did at 2 and was a bit more sedated so we slowly dropped back down to 2.5mgs. I was doing great, but had it in my mind that I wanted to take the smallest dose necessary while still getting full relief from anxiety. Ultimatly I found that 2mgs was just right and is pretty much where I have been over the last 13 years. Most do feel some daytime sedation for the first week after uping the dose, though that side effect lessens when your body adjusts, at least it did for me. My opinion is that you have to get up in dose and stay there for a few weeks to get stable blood levels to determine how you are doing at that dose. If you just go up or down every few days or take it here or there I don't believe you'll be successful treating SAD/GAD. Though klonopin works much faster than other class drugs you still need to give your body and blood levels time to adjust and stabilize. I don't know all the facts of how long you have tried sticking with a 1mg dose, but if you didn't take it for at least few weeks I don't think you can determine if it was or would work to treat your anxiety. If your saying that you have taken it at 1mg for an extended period and still feel nothing I'd consider going up on dose in .5 increments and giving each new higher dose a few weeks to access how you feel. I'm assuming you want relief for SAD and or GAD and if so it sounds like your not on a high enough dose to be of help. Over the years those I have talked with who felt nothing at lower dose were not taking enough and when they went to a higher dose and stayed there for a few weeks got significant anxiety relief. I know a few people that had to go to 4mgs, everyone is different. If you google klonopin dose ranges for SAD I believe you'll find that the typical range for treatment is between 1 and 4mgs, though there are those that find relief from both higher and lower doses. I hope that helps!
poster:RobertDavid
thread:612893
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080105/msgs/805248.html