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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 11 of 11. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Joe Schmoe on July 26, 2001, at 18:54:01
Haven't seen Rick post in a while, hope he is okay....
I may be going for a job interview in the near future. I am taking 2 mg of Klonopin a day right now, 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. I am wondering what I should do to prepare for a job interview. Should I "juice up" my normal Klonopin dose with some Xanax? Add some more Klonopin? What do you do under these circumstances?
Before I started taking Klonopin I would have taken .5 mg Xanax plus 40 mg Inderal for an interview. But now I am not sure what to do.
Posted by MM on July 27, 2001, at 6:29:21
In reply to Job interviews and benzos - SP, posted by Joe Schmoe on July 26, 2001, at 18:54:01
I read somewhere (maybe here) that you're not supposed to take benzos in anticipation of anxiety, but when you get it. I've never tried benzos (would like to) so I can't really give advice, but maybe you could take an extra pill or half of a pill with you, and if you get nervous/anxious while waiting for the interveiwer you could take it. I don't know how long it takes for the benzos to work tho, so maybe this isn't the best idea. I just saw no one was replying, and I personally hate that.
If you're pretty sure you'll be nervous, I would just take a little more that day. HTH
Posted by Wendy B. on July 27, 2001, at 15:15:35
In reply to Re: Job interviews and benzos - SP, posted by MM on July 27, 2001, at 6:29:21
> I read somewhere (maybe here) that you're not supposed to take benzos in anticipation of anxiety, but when you get it.
And I was told by my pharmacist to take it in anticipation of panic attacks or anxiety. Like if you know you're going to be in heavy traffic or something...
>I've never tried benzos (would like to) so I can't really give advice, but maybe you could take an extra pill or half of a pill with you, and if you get nervous/anxious while waiting for the interveiwer you could take it. I don't know how long it takes for the benzos to work tho, so maybe this isn't the best idea. I just saw no one was replying, and I personally hate that.
> If you're pretty sure you'll be nervous, I would just take a little more that day. HTHYes, that's what I would do, take a little an adjunct to the Klonopin. It smoothes you out.
Best,
Wendy
Posted by Else on July 28, 2001, at 2:28:26
In reply to Job interviews and benzos - SP, posted by Joe Schmoe on July 26, 2001, at 18:54:01
I don't think you should increase your dose because it might impair your thinking during the interview. Not in very serious ways but you do need to be "sharp" to perform well. I once did an interview on too much Ativan and it made me too disinhibited and I revealed too much information. A small dose will help, but a large one wont. I actually read that somewhere in the www.biopsychiatry.website. Low doses of benzos improve cognitive performance in some anxious patients but above a certain dose they do more harm than good.
http://www.biopsychiatry.com/alprazolam.htm
> Haven't seen Rick post in a while, hope he is okay....
>
> I may be going for a job interview in the near future. I am taking 2 mg of Klonopin a day right now, 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. I am wondering what I should do to prepare for a job interview. Should I "juice up" my normal Klonopin dose with some Xanax? Add some more Klonopin? What do you do under these circumstances?
>
> Before I started taking Klonopin I would have taken .5 mg Xanax plus 40 mg Inderal for an interview. But now I am not sure what to do.
Posted by MB on July 28, 2001, at 17:05:53
In reply to Job interviews and benzos - SP, posted by Joe Schmoe on July 26, 2001, at 18:54:01
You mention that before you were taking Klonopin, .5mg Xanax and 40mg Inderal would be your pre-performance-anxiety coctail. Now that you Are taking Klonopin (another benzo like Xanax) instead of Xanax, wouldn't just adding the 40mg of Inderal to the Klonopin do the trick?
There's a chart here: http://www.dr-bob.org/tips/bzd.html that gives the equivalents in milligrams of various benzodiazapines. It looks like .5mg Xanax (alprazolam) is equivalent to .25mg Klonopin (clonazepam). So, if you wanted to *add* something to your daily regimin *before* your interview, you could try .25mg Klonopin + 40 mg Inderal. Maybe you should "sample" this addition to your routine a few days before your interview so you'll know exactly how it will affect you the day *of* your interview (you don't want to go in there accidently too doped up).
Posted by Joe Schmoe on July 28, 2001, at 18:38:19
In reply to Re: Job interviews and benzos - SP » Joe Schmoe, posted by MB on July 28, 2001, at 17:05:53
> You mention that before you were taking Klonopin, .5mg Xanax and 40mg Inderal would be your pre-performance-anxiety coctail. Now that you Are taking Klonopin (another benzo like Xanax) instead of Xanax, wouldn't just adding the 40mg of Inderal to the Klonopin do the trick?
Maybe, although I don't know if the Klonopin delivers the concentrated "armor" effect that Xanax does in pressure-cooker situations. It seems weaker and more spread out.
> There's a chart here: http://www.dr-bob.org/tips/bzd.html that gives the equivalents in milligrams of various benzodiazapines. It looks like .5mg Xanax (alprazolam) is equivalent to .25mg Klonopin (clonazepam).I couldn't disagree more. 1 mg of Klonopin affects me much less than .5 mg of Xanax. I would say Klonopin is less than half as strong as Xanax, maybe a quarter as strong.
>Maybe you should "sample" this addition to your routine a few days before your interview so you'll know exactly how it will affect you the day *of* your interview (you don't want to go in there accidently too doped up).
Good advice, although it can be hard to simulate "pressure" of the job interview magnitude.
Posted by MB on July 28, 2001, at 23:04:09
In reply to Re: Klonopin vs Xanax, posted by Joe Schmoe on July 28, 2001, at 18:38:19
> > You mention that before you were taking Klonopin, .5mg Xanax and 40mg Inderal would be your pre-performance-anxiety coctail. Now that you Are taking Klonopin (another benzo like Xanax) instead of Xanax, wouldn't just adding the 40mg of Inderal to the Klonopin do the trick?
>
> Maybe, although I don't know if the Klonopin delivers the concentrated "armor" effect that Xanax does in pressure-cooker situations. It seems weaker and more spread out.
>
>
> > There's a chart here: http://www.dr-bob.org/tips/bzd.html that gives the equivalents in milligrams of various benzodiazapines. It looks like .5mg Xanax (alprazolam) is equivalent to .25mg Klonopin (clonazepam).
>
> I couldn't disagree more. 1 mg of Klonopin affects me much less than .5 mg of Xanax. I would say Klonopin is less than half as strong as Xanax, maybe a quarter as strong.
Do you think it's the difference in half-life that gives the Klonopin a feeling of being weaker than the Xanax, or do you think the chart is just wrong?
> >Maybe you should "sample" this addition to your routine a few days before your interview so you'll know exactly how it will affect you the day *of* your interview (you don't want to go in there accidently too doped up).
>
> Good advice, although it can be hard to simulate "pressure" of the job interview magnitude.
Yeah, I don't know how you could simulate the pressure of an interview, but you would at least know if you could function adequately on the combo (e.g. that it wasn't going to make you too drowsey, etc.).Anyway, maybe my ideas weren't that good...I have experience with Xanax, but none with Klonopin. I wish you good luck on the job interview. Hope you do well :-)
Posted by Joe Schmoe on July 29, 2001, at 11:31:03
In reply to Re: Klonopin vs Xanax » Joe Schmoe, posted by MB on July 28, 2001, at 23:04:09
> > I couldn't disagree more. 1 mg of Klonopin affects me much less than .5 mg of Xanax. I would say Klonopin is less than half as strong as Xanax, maybe a quarter as strong.
>
>
> Do you think it's the difference in half-life that gives the Klonopin a feeling of being weaker than the Xanax, or do you think the chart is just wrong?I don't know why a difference in half-life would makea drug weaker. Is Prozac weaker than Zoloft because it has a longer half-life? I think the chart is just wrong, or else Klonopin just feels different from Xanax. .5 mg of Xanax would make me feel like I wouldn't care if the house I was in was burning down, nothing bothers me, but 1 mg of Klonopin doesn't have anything near to that level of relaxing effect. Maybe Klonopin is just less "intoxicating" and more specific in fighting social phobia, I don't know. Xanax can make me feel kind of drunk.
> Yeah, I don't know how you could simulate the pressure of an interview, but you would at least know if you could function adequately on the combo (e.g. that it wasn't going to make you too drowsey, etc.).True. The problem with these strict 30-day supplies of controlled substances is they don't leave you much room to experiment though.
Posted by MB on July 29, 2001, at 13:10:08
In reply to Re: Klonopin vs Xanax, posted by Joe Schmoe on July 29, 2001, at 11:31:03
> > > I couldn't disagree more. 1 mg of Klonopin affects me much less than .5 mg of Xanax. I would say Klonopin is less than half as strong as Xanax, maybe a quarter as strong.
> >
> >
> > Do you think it's the difference in half-life that gives the Klonopin a feeling of being weaker than the Xanax, or do you think the chart is just wrong?
>
> I don't know why a difference in half-life would makea drug weaker.
It wouldn't make it weaker, i.e., the relative area under the plasma concentration curve (the curve derived by plotting the plasma concentration of a drug or its active metabolite versus time) would be the same at equivalent doses. The measurement of such area is how, I imagine, they determined the equivalent doses for the chart in the first place; it's often how they measure the "therapeutic" effect of a drug's dose (sometimes useful in comparing the variation in therapeutic effect of different administration routes--oral vs. parenteral, etc.--of a particular medicine). So, with the relative area under the curve the same (relative, that is, to the absolute "strenth" in milligrams of the drug or it's active metabolite), a drug with a longer half-life is going to give a less drastic peak plasma concentration. So, the Klonopin might "feel" weaker, even though it takes *less* of it to reach an "equivalent" therapeutic effect. Also, the peak concentration might take longer, from the time of administration, to achieve.
> Is Prozac weaker than Zoloft because it has a longer half-life?
With the SSRIs, we're talking about a drug class whose efficacy isn't noted (in most cases) until steady state plasma concentrations have been reached for some time. So, the only ways in which I can see the disparity in half-life being "felt" with these drugs is by way of a) dosing schedule convenience, or b) withdrawal severity. With the Benzodiazepines, we're talking about a drug whose efficacy is rather immediately proportional to plasma concentrations. So, again, even though it takes less Klonopin (dose per dose) to achieve the same, relative AUC as it does with Xanax (making Xanax seem the weaker drug, according to the chart), the Xanax *might* feel stronger, in that it hits you harder and faster (but doesn't last as long). I have no personal experience with Klonopin, which is why I asked you your opinion regarding the mechanism underlying Klonopin's *feeling* weaker, not Klonopin's *being* weaker (which, mg per mg, it's not). In other words, could it be possible that it's just a matter of the Klonipin taking longer to hit--as well as hitting less hard--than the Xanax?> I think the chart is just wrong, or else Klonopin just feels different from Xanax. .5 mg of Xanax would make me feel like I wouldn't care if the house I was in was burning down, nothing bothers me, but 1 mg of Klonopin doesn't have anything near to that level of relaxing effect. Maybe Klonopin is just less "intoxicating" and more specific in fighting social phobia, I don't know. Xanax can make me feel kind of drunk.
I had a friend who was put on Klonopin instead of Xanax because the doctor thought there was less chance of her getting "high" from it.
> > Yeah, I don't know how you could simulate the pressure of an interview, but you would at least know if you could function adequately on the combo (e.g. that it wasn't going to make you too drowsey, etc.).
>
> True. The problem with these strict 30-day supplies of controlled substances is they don't leave you much room to experiment though.
Yeah, with no refills, usually. It's annoying, I agree.
Posted by Joe Schmoe on July 29, 2001, at 14:27:50
In reply to Re: Klonopin vs Xanax » Joe Schmoe, posted by MB on July 29, 2001, at 13:10:08
>So, the Klonopin might "feel" weaker, even though it takes *less* of it to reach an "equivalent" therapeutic effect.
But since the therapeutic effect is totally subjective, anything which "feels" weaker, *is* weaker, for all practical purposes. I still don't understand how an anti-anxiety drug which relaxes me less than another one could be considered as strong as, or stronger than, the one that really relaxes me. It's kind of like saying that one beer sipped over three hours might be just as "efficacious" as a shot of vodka downed immediately, just that it has a lower peak concentration and a more spread out action. That doesn't make any sense to me, if the idea is to feel intoxicated (or in the case of benzos, to feel relaxed).
Posted by sar on August 1, 2001, at 1:49:27
In reply to Re: Klonopin vs Xanax, posted by Joe Schmoe on July 29, 2001, at 14:27:50
my own opinion:
too much of a benzo makes me giggly and idiotic.
a shot of vodka makes me feel a lot better in about 5 minutes, but a beer would keep me feeling level that full hour, rather than shooting me up and leaving me craving more, and with a headache.
i would take xanax id i didn't give a shit about my health, but klonopin makes me kind of almost level. hail klonopin!
and from myexperience, it is better to be a bit nervous on a job interview than too relazed. nervous, they expect--too relazed would seem suspect.
my own opinion.
sar
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