Posted by Melissa on March 17, 2000, at 17:40:19
In reply to Re: Klonopin, posted by Jill on March 17, 2000, at 17:02:31
> I been on Klonopin for 10 years now. And it is not working anymore for my anxiety. I have been on the same dosage. Now my new Dr. wants to up my dosage to 3mg a day divided up. I was on .5mg 3x a day. I haven't experiene weight gain or loss of appetite on the lower dosage. Did you gain or lose on the higher dosage? How about appetite? I hope someone can help me with my questions.
I have just stayed on my usual dose of klonopin 1 mg at night. My doctor put me on neurontin to serve as a substitute for klonopin. I would try that if I were you instead of uping the dosage of klonopin, which is so heavily and dangerously addictive. Neurontin is also an anti-convulsant that is used to treat anxiety as klonopin is but it is non-addictive. When I took it I found it far more effective than klonopin and though I usually have weight gain issues on almost any drug, I actually started to loose weight on neurontin because my compulsive eating was lifted. I could not stay with nerontin however because it made me incredibly in my bones tired and I started to not be able to function. The positive psychological effects were tremendous however and if I could have stayed on it I would have. So I suggest you try that first for a couple of weeks (while staying on your current dosage of klonopin) and if there are no intolerable negative side effects then wean yourself off the klonopin very slowly. It is a dangerous drug to get off of. It can cause epileptic seizures if the withdrawal is done too quickly. And I believe my doctor was going to prescribe Beta blockers (if I have the term right) if I had been able to move forward with the neurontin. That was to help with the withdrawal from the klonopin. But I never got that far. Good luck!
I also meant to ask, have you switched from klonopin to a generic of it? The generics are not as effective and don't work the same or as well. If so I would go back to the brand name klonopin. It is more expensive and insurance plans don't seem to cover the excess but I had to do that.
poster:Melissa
thread:1356
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000312/msgs/27374.html