Posted by RobertDavid on May 16, 2006, at 2:11:15
In reply to Re: RobertDavid, posted by Greif on May 15, 2006, at 21:41:46
> I have tapered off Zanax with Klon several times. Take it slow and its not bad however the undrlying anxiety returns and the last half miligram is very hard to give up. I now take 2 mg of K daily and will continue to until something better comes along. Zanax is great for occasional panic attacks. Try taking it for several years and you need 4 mg to equal what 1 did initially. K is much more benign and has little or no anti depressant effect. Many use SSRI with it. I have not felt the need to go beyond 2 sometimes 2.25 daily and an occasional Zanax when needed. I have friends who have taken a year to witghdraw from Z with Z and claimed that it was torture. Switch to Valiun or K and withdrawl is much easier. To take above 3-4 mg of Z daily is entering into the danger zone for post withdrawl syndrome.
Thanks for the impute. I was stable at 2mgs for years. Once was up to 3mgs, but found 2 worked as well and agitated my depression less. I do like the fact that it's easier to taper off of than the shorter acting benzos, but more importantly it has worked better for SAD. I do on occation take a small dose of xanax if I'm really having a bad day, but take only .25 on those occations which is rare.I'm aware that when you taper getting off the last .5mgs is the toughest. Right now I just want to go down a little then settle for a while. I think I'll sit tight at 1.5 and let my body adjust while still adjusting to EMSAM. If I continue to feel good I'll shoot for my next level of 1mg and sit there for a while and so on. I'm NO hurry to get off a drug that has help me with my anxiety greatly. My doc feels it's a 50-50 chance that EMSAM alone will work, but if not I just want to take the lowest dose of klonopin that's effective.
I did try to blend klonopin with all the SSRI's SNRI's and othe to be the "missing link" with treating the depressive side of my issues. Anxiety is by far my primary disorter, SAD in particular. Klonopin is a FABULOUS med, it least it has been for my SAD, I just needed something like EMSAM to lift my mood, clear my head and that is what has happened.
So regarless if I'm on klonpin or blending it with EMSAM I'm okay with it and happy to be functioning at such a high level for the first time. I think there will be many that find it's going to be a blend of EMSAM with a benzo that's the key, though those that are purely treating depression will probaby do well with just EMSAM as mono therapy. Well, that's my take on it anyway. Again, thanks for your impute. The more info and points of views the better. Rob
poster:RobertDavid
thread:642357
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060515/msgs/644592.html