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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by kaseyintrouble on July 20, 2006, at 19:43:32
First, I just want to Thank those of you who took the time to reply to me. I am going on a 30 day withdrawal from Klonopin. I wrote earlier that I have been on it since last December and when it stopped working my dose was upped to 3 mg from 2 overnight and I became depressed. I started going off it almost 2 weeks ago and the first week the depression was horrible. However, the depression went away once I got down to the base dose. I am now going down every three days and should be off by mid August. The sleep is the only problem I have now. I just wanted to tell everyone that I am a psychologist and really would like to educate psychiatrists, who prescribe meds, what they can do to people. I am actually very mad that I was put on such a drug and at a dose that is high, but he said was not! He must not know that 3 mg a day for a 110 pound woman is way too much. Do they every consider weight or does that even matter?
Posted by ciaolavida on July 20, 2006, at 19:50:49
In reply to Klonopin, posted by kaseyintrouble on July 20, 2006, at 19:43:32
It doesn't seem like they really consider weight. I'm 150 and he told me to take 2 mg a night then up to 3 in the day as needed. That seems like a lot to me but right now I kinda need it. I'm just afraid to get off of it.
Posted by Phillipa on July 20, 2006, at 21:01:26
In reply to Klonopin, posted by kaseyintrouble on July 20, 2006, at 19:43:32
Have you checked the withdrawal board? That's where the thread on withdrawal are. Love Phillipa
Posted by blueberry on July 21, 2006, at 15:53:59
In reply to Klonopin, posted by kaseyintrouble on July 20, 2006, at 19:43:32
I was in the hospital recently and while there they wanted me to take 3mg klono. Yikes. Before going in, I had been taking just .125mg twice a day. I would break a .5mg pill into quarters. The first 1mg pill they gave me in the hospital, I told the nurse that was 8 times as much as I had ever taken before. She said 3mg a day was actually a low dose. Yikes.
Anyway, I had the option to refuse. I got them to reduce it to .5mg at bedtime, with .25 available twice a day if I wanted it. I got by with .5 at bedtime. As soon as I got out, I reduced it to .25, and now I'm cutting that down. I may need some longterm, but if I do I really want to keep it under control.
Posted by bassman on July 22, 2006, at 8:14:39
In reply to Klonopin, posted by kaseyintrouble on July 20, 2006, at 19:43:32
Weight is a funny thing. I had to reduce my Klonopin dose from 1 mg to 0.5/day because it caused depression (who knows, maybe even the 0.5 is causing some depression) and I weigh 210 lbs at 6'2". I have a 120 lb female friend that takes 6 mg/day! I took 1.5 mg/day for about 4 weeks (the least the pdoc recommended) and it caused depression and constant sleepiness. While you're educating that pdoc, you might throw in the occurance of depression with some people, too. :>} Best luck with the withdrawal-I didn't find withdrawing from Klonopin to cause any symptoms at all if I withdrew reasonably slowly. So don't be a hero and withdraw too quickly and suffer (what's a couple more weeks in the great Plan of Things?)-it's not worth it!
Posted by Squiggles on July 22, 2006, at 9:09:24
In reply to Klonopin, posted by kaseyintrouble on July 20, 2006, at 19:43:32
Good luck with your withdrawal.
The shorter you have been on this drug,
the easier it is to withdraw -- even
so -- you just can't go too slow.I have a hunch that when Roche made the
drug, for epileptics initially, the pill
was justifiably large enough to cover
this really serious condition. So, a small
0.5 mg pill at the usual minimum may look
like a small amount to the doctor who
is not aware of benzo equivalences. However,
once it started being applied for various
non-epileptic conditions such as muscle pain,
insomnia, anxiety, etc. the potency of the
drug was underestimated.Psychopharmacology is an art and a science.
Squiggles
This is the end of the thread.
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