Benzodiazepines

OMG ! You all are a RIOT!!! :shock:

Oh yeah, and hereā€™s me - afraid to take an ibuprofen or two !!! (But they do work, so what the Hell!!!) :smiley:

Sorry, I keep forgetting to sign my name -

Kim

Ok, thanks Julieā€¦got it! So Iā€™m taking 1mg daily .5mg am and .5mg at night. I was at half that dosage before increasing and it gave me such a boost, it was amazing! Iā€™m still feeling quite good - around 65%, possibly 70% which is really wonderful considering I never thought Iā€™d ever get to that point again. I did a bit of google searching yesterday and was a bit alarmed at the dependence aspects, but itā€™s the only med that hasnā€™t given me side effects (apart from initial tiredness) and has made me feel much less anxious and less motion sick. As itā€™s used for Mal de debarquement syndrome too with success, it must have other benefits which help us MAV sufferers. I have myoclonic jerks at night, I think as a result of a progressive restless leg syndrome condition exaccerbated by the manifestation of my MAV, and it is prescribed to help this condition too, which it most certainly does. As it is also mentioned as an anti-seizure med, it must have something to do with slowing the brainā€™s activity down, a problem Iā€™ve actually really felt with my brain being in an overactive state since my Big Crash. I can literally feel the ā€˜calmingā€™ effect on my brain and hence the anxiety/stress threshold has been increased to a better level. Iā€™ll wrestle my neuro to the ground before I give over any of my Konopin :twisted: !!
regards Judy

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Sorry, I keep forgetting to sign my name -

Kim

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:lol: 

Judy - you describe the felt effects of Klonopin very well. And yes that extra dose made all the difference to me too. In addition, one more step up, which my doc suggested to try once, didnā€™t really help. So i think Iā€™m at MY dose of K.

Dependence, tolerance as well as potential neural damage are serious issues, but this is a serious, disabling ailment we are dealing with.

Seizures are damaging to the brain and ACs are neural protective. I know my EEG was normal and Iā€™m not claiming to have a seizure disorder, but I swear, a year ago, my brain was in a downward spiral, and fast, it felt absolutely haywire. It wasnā€™t just the dizziness. The sensations in my brain were NOT GOOD.

Given all of that, I continue to be on the fence, personally, about benzos, because I withdrew from them in the 70ā€™s. I swore i would never go down that road again. It was bad. And I fear that the amount of Klonopin that Iā€™m taking now would cause me a worse withdrawal than the small amount of Valium I was taking back then. Thatā€™s why it was such a tough decision to start again, but here I am, thatā€™s how desparate I was, and I know it was the right choice.

Life is like a box of chocolates,

Julie

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Just for this particular dummy, my Klonopin strength medication per tablet is 500 microgram, and at present Iā€™m taking one in the morning and one in the evening. What the heck is 500 microgram??? Is it 5 mg (milligram)???
cheers , Judy (confused and medically challenged :? )

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Yes, 500 micrograms = 0.5 milligrams = 0.5 mg.

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Given all of that, I continue to be on the fence, personally, about benzos, because I withdrew from them in the 70ā€™s. I swore i would never go down that road again. It was bad.

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Never did ask, but, what was it like for you, and how long did it take?

Heather

It took 3 months start to finish. Probably about a month to taper down from about 10 mg to 0 mg, a month of really bad stuff, and a month of slow improvement but still a lot of distress. No prolonged withdrawal symptoms, like you hear about today. I wonder if those are from the newer benzos (?). I remember the day I felt a feeling which felt foreign to me, i thought for a moment, what is this feeling - oh, itā€™s happy. It was fleeting, but I knew if i could feel it once there had to be more to come. that was 30 some years ago and iā€™ll never forget it.

10 mg valium = what in Klonopin?

Heather

according to the equivalency charts, 10 mg V = .5 mg K

Ashton has a schedule for changing from K to V on the way down, with the thinking that V is easier to get off of.

Maybe this has been covered somewhere but I canā€™t find it.

When Klonapin is used is it the brand name or generic? I have taken Clonazapam for many years for sleep, 1mg at bedtime.

I know in the chronic fatigue boards and guruā€™s, they say to take the real Klonapin. So I am curious if anyone felt a difference between the two.

Thanks, Janine

Iā€™ve heard the same thing that clonazepam is the worst benzo to take as a generic. i did take the generic and then switched to brand and noticed no difference. but, i made the switch and iā€™m sticking to it, only because these pharmacies are always changing the generics they use.

Really?
I noticed a difference right away between generic Klon and name brand.
Name was more potent IMO.

Heather

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I have taken Clonazapam for many years for sleep, 1mg at bedtime.

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I must be the biggest wimp on the face of the earth.
I canā€™t imagine taking 1 whole mg at night (or at any time.)
How do you get up in the morning???

Heather

i posted this awhile ago, but let me repeat it here. companies that make generics are required by the FDA to have the following:

as much as a 10% difference in amount of actual drug in each dose
as much as a 20% difference in bioavailability in each dose

and hereā€™s the real kicker - nobody is monitoring them - pharmaceutical companies on the Honor System! :shock:

yea, Heather, Iā€™m not surprised about the K, a lot or people complain about generic K. But I could easily take 1 mg of K anytime, day or night and not notice much at all. itā€™s amazing, as drug sensitive as I am, I can take a lot of benzo. My body must have made me a lot of GABA receptors.

So maybe I should try a trial of brand name and see if there is a difference?

I was on .5 for a long time BUT I still had alot of sleep disruption from pain., then they raised it to 1mg so I wouldnā€™t have to take anything else. Also, some SSRIā€™s can cause some sleep pattern disruption.
After I had a sleep study and it was determined that pain was interferring with restoritive sleep, they started me on Xyrem. When I had my last flare of MM, I had to discontinue due to the high sodium content.
Some nights when pain is high, I also take benedryl.
Thanks for the infoā€¦Janine