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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 11 of 11. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Vesper on July 7, 2000, at 2:44:02
Lovely grammar on that subject line, no? I have started taking wellbutrin sr and prn ativan to calm me down at night so I can sleep. Is ativan as bad a withdrawal syndrome as klonopin? Anyway, I am trying not to take it unless I have to. I'm getting too sleepy to write any more right now, but I haven't posted in awhile and wondered if y'all have forgotten me.
Cheers
Vesper
Posted by JudithC on July 7, 2000, at 4:59:13
In reply to comments wanted on new meds, and stuff, posted by Vesper on July 7, 2000, at 2:44:02
Vesper,did you take Klonopin previously,and if you did,did you have difficulty tapering/withdrawing from it? If so,then you may have the same problem with Ativan as Ativan,Xanax,Klonopin are the high potency benzodiazepines and they produce more difficult withdrawal syndromes.
JudithC
Posted by Oddzilla on July 7, 2000, at 8:13:43
In reply to comments wanted on new meds, and stuff, posted by Vesper on July 7, 2000, at 2:44:02
I haven't posted in awhile and wondered if y'all have forgotten me.
Impossible!!!-I'd been wondering how you were.I have no first hand experience with ativan but I watched someone else withdrawing and I've never seen anything like it.It was very difficult. Ativan is so fast acting compared to klonopin-would that make withdrawals worse? (Just speculating)
Hope things are going well for you! O.
Posted by Vesper on July 7, 2000, at 11:25:03
In reply to Re: comments wanted on new meds, and stuff, posted by JudithC on July 7, 2000, at 4:59:13
>
>
> Vesper,did you take Klonopin previously,and if you did,did you have difficulty tapering/withdrawing from it? If so,then you may have the same problem with Ativan as Ativan,Xanax,Klonopin are the high potency benzodiazepines and they produce more difficult withdrawal syndromes.
> JudithC
Well, yes the klonopin withdrawal was bad, after taking it every day for a couple of years. I'm hoping the ativan is not as bad because it is shorter acting and will perhaps be gone from your body faster(?) Also I am only taking 1 mg at night, and not every night.
Posted by Libby on July 7, 2000, at 12:06:23
In reply to Re: comments wanted on new meds, and stuff » JudithC, posted by Vesper on July 7, 2000, at 11:25:03
Vesper, The Klonopin withdrawal was much worse than Ativan for my daughter. She took Ativan, 1 mg every night for six months and had no withdrawal. She just stopped taking it. With the Klonopin, withdrawal was terrible and seemed to last for weeks. Her doc said that Klonopin tends to cause a psychological addiction (because it is so fast-acting) that he doesn't see as often with Ativan.
Posted by Oddzilla on July 7, 2000, at 13:54:36
In reply to Re: comments wanted on new meds, and stuff » JudithC, posted by Vesper on July 7, 2000, at 11:25:03
> >
> >
> > Vesper,did you take Klonopin previously,and if you did,did you have difficulty tapering/withdrawing from it? If so,then you may have the same problem with Ativan as Ativan,Xanax,Klonopin are the high potency benzodiazepines and they produce more difficult withdrawal syndromes.
> > JudithC
> Well, yes the klonopin withdrawal was bad, after taking it every day for a couple of years. I'm hoping the ativan is not as bad because it is shorter acting and will perhaps be gone from your body faster(?) Also I am only taking 1 mg at night, and not every night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vesper-According to Gorman's guide,Short-acting benzodiazepines may produce more severe withdrawal symptoms than long-acting benzodiazepines, but the difference is small.
BTW the friend I mentioned in the post above was on 5mg a day which is considerably more than you are taking. O.
Posted by noa on July 7, 2000, at 14:41:59
In reply to Re: comments wanted on new meds, and stuff » JudithC, posted by Vesper on July 7, 2000, at 11:25:03
I may be mistaken, but I was under the impression that shorter acting meds are more likely to be addictive.
I did hear someone at a conference talk about how with shorter acting drugs, it is the quick up and down of the levels and its effects that makes one more sensitive to the drug, and more likely to crave it when it isn't there. I don't know if this applies to downers. They were talking about uppers--ie stimulants like ritalin, as it was an ADD conference.
Posted by noa on July 7, 2000, at 14:43:35
In reply to comments wanted on new meds, and stuff, posted by Vesper on July 7, 2000, at 2:44:02
Glad to hear you have a new, and hopefully promising, strategy, Vesper.
Posted by Wallabee on July 7, 2000, at 20:18:46
In reply to comments wanted on new meds, and stuff, posted by Vesper on July 7, 2000, at 2:44:02
Vesper, despite all these years, I've resisted learning 'script talk, so donno what sr and prn mean. I have been on the wellbutrin benzo combo, though fortunately didn't have to take valium/clonazepam/halcion (u can still get halcion where I am) often enuf to have withdrawal problems.
Is your need for the benzo related to the wellbutrin? It was a great antidepressant for me (I switched to lamictal for other reasons) but I did have problems with sleep while on it. I found that when I took it (as early as possible in the day, in a single dose) and how much (as little as necessary to keep my mood up) helped a lot in reducing the need for benzos. (I also found that when I was having sleep problems while on wellbutrin, I needed more benzo drugs than usual to deal with them - if that's true for you, it doesn't augur well for withdrawal probs)
David
> Lovely grammar on that subject line, no? I have started taking wellbutrin sr and prn ativan to calm me down at night so I can sleep. Is ativan as bad a withdrawal syndrome as klonopin? Anyway, I am trying not to take it unless I have to. I'm getting too sleepy to write any more right now, but I haven't posted in awhile and wondered if y'all have forgotten me.
> Cheers
> Vesper
Posted by Wallabee on July 7, 2000, at 21:35:50
In reply to comments wanted on new meds, and stuff, posted by Vesper on July 7, 2000, at 2:44:02
Came off a good six months ago, so had to take some time to think back. Donno if it is the same for you, but I noticed while I was on wellbutrin that I had absolutely no tolerance for caffeine, and had to really avoid non drowsy cold meds or anything with ephedra, and had to stop taking ginseng. Donno if avoiding those things will further reduce your need for benzos
I also found that even slight (in my case 25mg) changes in Wellbutrin dose had a significant and fairly rapid impact on undesirable effects such as headaches and inability to sleep.
As a pure antidepressant (vs lamictal, which has combined effects), it is the best I ever took (tho I admit I stuck to tricyclics, being bipolar), so good luck.
Posted by JudithC on July 8, 2000, at 6:03:08
In reply to Re: comments wanted on new meds, and stuff » JudithC, posted by Vesper on July 7, 2000, at 11:25:03
> >
> >
> > Vesper,did you take Klonopin previously,and if you did,did you have difficulty tapering/withdrawing from it? If so,then you may have the same problem with Ativan as Ativan,Xanax,Klonopin are the high potency benzodiazepines and they produce more difficult withdrawal syndromes.
> > JudithC
> Well, yes the klonopin withdrawal was bad, after taking it every day for a couple of years. I'm hoping the ativan is not as bad because it is shorter acting and will perhaps be gone from your body faster(?) Also I am only taking 1 mg at night, and not every night.I'm debating whether to say anything more to you about the benzos and the withdrawal(s),because I don't want to upset you;however,I know that Ativan withdrawal is a nightmare and can be protracted so please think about taking this benzo since you did have the syndrome coming off of the Klonopin.
JudithC
This is the end of the thread.
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