posted
I'm taking a combination of Ativan, Xanax, and Valium. Depending on how I'm feeling, I choose the drug that I hope will help the most.
I haven't had much success as far as them treating anxiety. Valium helps with my dizziness at times, but the best one I've found to help sleep at night is Xanax, but even that's borderline.
I hope they work beter for you than they do for me.
Posts: 81 | From Central PA | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
I took Klonopin for about 12 years for sleep and restless legs. It works great for sleep for awhile, but then your body will develop tolerance and you will need more to get the same effect. If you don't keep increasing, it can actually worsen your sleep because you'll start having some withdrawal symptoms between doses -- the main symptom being insomnia. Many people develop dependence to Klonopin and Ativan (they're in the same class --benzodiazepines) and they can be extremely difficult to get off of. I will never take another one.
Be careful!
Posts: 164 | From USA | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Long-term use of Benzos is not a good idea. For the reasons mentioned above and also because they can impair cognitive function. In people over 50, they can cause changes that mimic signs of early dementia. They can permanently impair short term memory and recall if used for too long or abused. And physical and psychological addiction to Benzos is a major problem.
As a Psych nurse, I suggest finding an alternative. SSRIs and SNRIs also treat anxiety and certain neuroleptics and spasticity meds can help with muscle spasms and pain. For sleep, I'd suggest a TCA like amytriptylline or it's cousin, Trazodone. The TCAs also can help nerve pain.
Hope we were helpfull and Good luck!
Posts: 69 | From Wisconsin | Registered: Apr 2007
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I agree that long-term use is bad. But I am having daily anxiety/panic/mania attacks for the last few weeks and it's all I have now to deal with them. What is a SNRI?
I tried Elavil (Amytriptaline) the other night for sleep, and the next day my panic attacks were worse! I had been taking Ambien which was only working for 4 hours a night.
Since I was already using Ativan for the panic, I figured I'd cut down from 3 drugs to 1 in an attempt to minimize any interactions.
I use the Ativan, but haven't tried the Klonopin. I'm still wondering what the difference is likely to be between them. (anyone?)
Posts: 443 | From The Wild West | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
What Kelsy said. Certainly once you take Klonapin a while you have to reduce your dosage very slowly. It is great for sleep but if you miss a dose for a few days then you cant sleep at all.
Posts: 347 | From WV | Registered: Jan 2007
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kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
I wish we had never started Klonipin. It's nearly impossible to get off. My daughter takes two a night, has tried shaving off molecules to wean off, but then can't sleep.
It works, though.
Posts: 2903 | From AZ | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
I've used Klonapin for 8 years. Originally, for a fibro. rx, but now for help sleeping also. This year I had to increase from 1 in the morning and 1 at night, to 1/am and 2/pm. I'm sensitive to meds, but Klonapin has always been good to me
I am also taking 1/2 tab. of Flexeril.
-------------------- When you reach your "wits-end" remember this: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27 Posts: 397 | From Loudoun County Virginia | Registered: Mar 2007
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Foggy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1584
posted
Klono has a longer half life & turned me into a zombie. Better to take at night. Ativan is better for daytime or when you wake up at 4-6 and want to sleep til 9 & not be totally hung over.
Posts: 2451 | From Lyme Central | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
I used klonopin for 7 years for restless legs, and never had to change or increase the dosage in all that time. After 2 years of lyme treatment, I decided to try to stop the klonopin, and I weaned off of it in 3 days, without problem. Just my one experience, but I couldn't have subsisted without for that time.
Posts: 393 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
I take 25 mg benadryl and 1/2 tab ativan to go to sleep. I have never developed tolerance or addiction to them.
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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posted
The doctor who diagnosed me with FMS gave me Klonopin to "calm the central nervous system". I was supposed to take 0.5mg at bedtime every night. I never took it that way though because of the dependency factor. I take it 3 times a week for sleep. It works good for that. I have an appt. in a couple weeks. I want a different med for sleep than a benzo.
Posts: 340 | From Ohio | Registered: Oct 2005
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klutzo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5701
posted
I ran an FMS support group for ten years,and found Klonopin to be the single most preferred drug to help with sleep, anxiety, muscle spasm and overstimulation. It can cause addiction or dependence though.
I stop breathing on Klonopin, so I was put on Xanax. My muscle spasms were so bad, I could not walk without it, and other drugs did not work. I've been taking it for 21 years now and can't get off of it. I have only increased the dose once, and I only need the extra dose in winter....I taper it down in spring, and am back to my oiginal dose by summer.
However, everything Tori said is true. I have read that taking benzos postmenopausally can back fire, and I am 56. I have all of those symptoms she mentions, plus it lowers my energy level, which I sure don't need.
I've gone off Xanax very slowly, 4 times in earlier years, but muscle spasms were so bad, I always went back on after a week or two, so I have not tried to go off since 1995, when I almost blacked out during withdrawl and had dangerous EKG changes.
It causes serious heart and muscle symptoms when I try to lower the dose, even a little. I wish I could get off, but don't see how. My blood pressure med, Clonidine, is a much better sleep aid than Xanax, plus having a CPAP machine has helped my sleep a lot, so I think I could get off now, if I was not so dependent. I've read that withdrawl at my stage of the game would take at least 1 1/2 years!
So, I would try everything else before taking benzos. I do understand wanting some quality of life, no matter what the cost...that is why I took them, but it should be a last resort, IMO.
But, please be careful with TCA's too...they can cause massive weight gain very rapidly,and only work for 15% of FMS patients. I gained 46 lbs. in 2 months on amytriptaline, causing me to be obese, another disease I did not need. I heard that story over and over in my support group, so it is not just me.
SSRI's only work if you have some neurotransmitters to hold on to. If you are so low that you don't (I've been tested) then they do not work ,and they did not work for me, except on the anxiety. They also seemed to make my cognitive problems much worse.... Dr. Paul Cheney believes this is because the brain eventually notices the overfiring neurons and kills them as being defective.
So, they all can cause problems, and personally, I would try supplements like ZMA first, or Dr. Jacob Teitlebaum's sleep combo supp., which you can find on his web site. (I typed these two docs full names here because they are a CFS and an FMS expert respectively, and are not Lyme docs).
Tori, if you are reading this, have you got any suggestions to help me get off benzos? Thanks,
Klutzo
Posts: 1269 | From Clearwater, Florida, USA | Registered: May 2004
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