![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Schlepo on October 15, 2018, at 14:08:17
Hi. I used to be on this board a lot back in 2012/13 (under 'Schleprock'), then I got better. Now I'm here again.
I've been taking a 1/4 of .05 mg clonazepam twice a day since last November (I've spent six years on various doses; I'm also on Nortriptyline) Noticed back in July that pharma changed the Teva brand to the Actavis brand. Being very sensitive to medications (Recently I felt a difference in a particular batch of the Teva) I was reluctant to jump straight to the Actavis brand. I decided to go with a bottle of excess clonazepam from 8/2016 (my old pdoc who I'm unable to see always gave me 90 pills regardless of what amount I was taking). I think I had started two months ago.
Things were going smoothly until 2 weeks ago when out of nowhere I had an unusual anxiety episode. Of course the first thing I did was take a bit of clonazepam from the old supply which seemed to help a bit. The anxiety lingered into the next few days eventually developing into insomnia, so of course I upped the clonazepam. Finding it unusual unusual that the more clonazepam I took the worse I was getting, I suspected it was the expired meds so I started the Actavis brand (thursday). Took .25 mg before bed and managed to sleep. Felt maybe slightly better. Took .25 the next day, then tried my original dosage of 1/4 of a pill at night and the following day. Sleep was not as smooth, and while feeling a bit better from the anxiety, was developing a kind of severe depression and lack of motivation. Started feeling worse last night so I decided to experiment and took 1/4 of a Teva pill from a bottle from 11/2016 that I hadn't originally noticed right before bedtime. Initially felt terrible, then a sudden burst of euphoria. I kind of felt normal again and thought I've found a solution (for as long as that bottle lasted, at least.) Then I realized after a few hours that I wasn't going to be sleeping that night and started feeling agitated (and I've never been agitated from clonazepam). So I took a few crumbs of an Actavis pill and still didn't sleep. Just took .25 mg of Activis and still feel like crap, but maybe more on the anxiety side.
And now I can finally start my discussion. My main concern is that I have a substantially different feeling with the Actavis, whereas the Teva always seemed to just work in the background. Is this lethargy and depression (not to mention the actual sensation of it in my brain) just side effects? And, closely related to the question of whether the initial anxiety was related to having taken expired meds, is my body acting like it is experiencing the clonazepam for the first time? And was the euphoria felt from that last Teva pill a good thing or not (it actually felt like a stimulant)?
At present, I'm deliberating the best wasy dosage the Activis. In the past, upping the dose with the Teva always got me through emergencies, but I'm not sure that's going to work with the Actavis. Dosages I'm considering are .25 mg twice a day, or a 1/4 of a pill either three times a day, or once or twice a day with .25 mg before bedtime. Or should I just try the expired Teva from 11/16 again and see what happens?
I think this is seriously the worst episode I've ever gone through. My last Pdoc moved his office too far away for me to see, and I was stable enough to just get my meds from my doctor, who never really took my anxiety issues seriously. So I'm desperately looking form some advice to anyone that may have gone through the same thing or can provide any knowledgeable advice. I've been in Hell the last two weeks...
Posted by rjlockhart37 on October 22, 2018, at 11:28:16
In reply to Clonazepam Issues! HELP!, posted by Schlepo on October 15, 2018, at 14:08:17
i've never understood the issue about diffrent effects from diffrent companies of generic brands, but your right ... it does happen. Maybe try Mylan? its a good provider
clonazepam causes depression, that is known fact. It does something that downgrades the serotonin in certain receptors. When i was on clonazepam, i was on 6mgs, 2mg in morning, afternoon and night. i was sedated, but i had agitated feelings even though i was a bit sedated. Klonpin was always a good sleep aid, it was better than lorazepam, it's stronger but causes a depressed sedation, in some people.
Expired meds are usually good for 2-5 years, i read that online but more than that is ... less effective
Posted by Schlepo on October 22, 2018, at 20:03:22
In reply to Re: Clonazepam Issues! HELP!, posted by rjlockhart37 on October 22, 2018, at 11:28:16
> i've never understood the issue about diffrent effects from diffrent companies of generic brands, but your right ... it does happen. Maybe try Mylan? its a good provider
>
> clonazepam causes depression, that is known fact. It does something that downgrades the serotonin in certain receptors. When i was on clonazepam, i was on 6mgs, 2mg in morning, afternoon and night. i was sedated, but i had agitated feelings even though i was a bit sedated. Klonpin was always a good sleep aid, it was better than lorazepam, it's stronger but causes a depressed sedation, in some people.
>
> Expired meds are usually good for 2-5 years, i read that online but more than that is ... less effectiveThanks, but there's definitely something different about the Actavis brand. That's the only brand at the pharmacy now. Teva is still making the orally disintegrating pill (wafer), that I might look into.
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.