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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Guy on April 19, 2003, at 12:00:26
There seems to be two schools of thought regarding clonazepam for anxiety. One camp says you can take it indefinitely without loss of efficacy (e.g. my shrink). The other says it leads down the road to benzo hell...that there will come a time when the med poops out and actually starts causing more problems than it solves. I have a friend here in town who somehow worked his way up to 20 mg per day in an attempt to control his manic episodes. He now calls them sugar pills because he feels they have lost all effect. Then again, others have had great success. What a crap shoot! And who is one to believe anyways.
Posted by Janelle on April 19, 2003, at 13:54:07
In reply to Does clonazepam remain effective for life? , posted by Guy on April 19, 2003, at 12:00:26
Very intersting info... I had on idea that there are two schools of thought regarding clonazepam for anxiety.
I can only relate my experience with it and that is that I have been on it for about 8 years now with NO loss of efficacy. KNOCK ON WOOD!
I think this might be the case in part because unlke many other benzos, clonazepam/Klonopin is LONG ACTING/SLOW ACTING - it does not just go in, calm you down and go out like Ativan or Xanax - with those many people have to keep popping them every few hours and it leads to addiction very fast.
The only psych meds that I know of for sure that can poop out over time (I had this happen to me with Paxil) are the SSRI a-d's.
I would also say that it's probably an INDIVIDUAL thing - what works indefinitely for one person might poop out eventually for someone else.
Posted by BrittPark on April 20, 2003, at 12:52:54
In reply to Does clonazepam remain effective for life? , posted by Guy on April 19, 2003, at 12:00:26
I don't think there are really two schools of thought about benzos. It's well documented that benzos can and usually do remain effective with little dose escalation over very long periods of time. I think it more likely that your friend has developed a new pathology than that the clonazepam has stopped working. YMMV.
Feel Well
Britt
Posted by Viridis on April 21, 2003, at 3:33:16
In reply to Does clonazepam remain effective for life? , posted by Guy on April 19, 2003, at 12:00:26
Clonazepam (Klonopin) has remained effective for me for almost two years at 1 mg/day, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will continue to do so. Interestingly, though, my tolerance for alprazolam (Xanax) has increased, and I only take it once or twice a week. So, maybe there's cross-tolerance with benzos? In any case, I have no need for more Klonopin, and it works very well. I know of a woman who's been on the same dose of Valium (diazepam) for about 30 years, and it still has the same effect.
This is the end of the thread.
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