Managing Anxiety & Panic Attacks with Clonazepam: My Experience

I have suffered from general anxiety for years, but within the past 6 months, my anxiety has gotten worse and I began to suffer from debilitating panic attacks. Because my symptoms were affecting my daily life, I decided to seek the advice of a psychiatrist to see if there were any treatments that might be good for me. Because of the nature of my anxiety, and because the frequency of my panic attacks was increasing, the doctor decided that I should try taking the prescription medication clonazepam (also known by the brand name Klonopin) to help with my anxiety.

Clonazepam is a fast acting anti-anxiety medication in a family of drugs known as benzodiazepines. While these drugs are extremely effective at reducing anxiety, they also have the potential to cause addiction, so it is very important to follow your doctor's instructions carefully when starting treatment with a drug like clonazepam. Your doctor will likely start you off at a low dose to see how you do, and then increase your dose if necessary. My doctor started me off at a dose of 0.5mg of clonazepam, twice a day. 

I was definitely surprised at how quickly the Klonopin affected me the first time I took it. Within a half hour of taking my first pill, I had a definite sense of calm, and noticed that I had absolutely no anxiety symptoms for the first time in months. The drug also made me feel a little "giddy," for lack of a better word. Based on how good I felt after taking the clonazepam tablet, I could definitely see why there was a potential for drugs like it to be abused and become addictive. 

I noticed a couple of hours after taking the clonazepam that I would become extremely sleepy. The first few days I was taking this anti-anxiety medicine, I found myself napping a lot. Luckily, the sleepiness and the initial "loopy-ness" after taking the pill quickly wore off as I became adjusted to the medication. I've been taking clonazepam daily for a few months now, and I can honestly say that it no longer makes me feel sleepy or "high" after I take it. 

Clonazepam has been extremely effective, however, at helping me manage my anxiety and stopping my frequent panic attacks. I've noticed that I'm much more calm since I started taking this drug, and I've gone from having several panic attacks per week to just one or two per month--a huge improvement for me! Overall, clonazepam has been a "lifesaver" for me, and has helped reduce my anxiety symptoms to a manageable level so I can get on with my daily life without being nervous and worried all of the time. 

Benzodiazepines like Klonopin and Xanax are not for everyone, and only your doctor can let you know if any particular medicine might be right for you. I feel like clonazepam has given me my life back, and I am happy that I found a doctor that was able to prescribe an anti-anxiety drug that worked for me. I don't think I want to take clonazepam forever due to the addictive potential, but it has certainly helped me get through a very "rough patch" of anxiety in my personal life.

The WORST Part About Benzodiazepines

I would say the worst part about benzodiazepine medications, like Klonopin, Xanax, and Ativan...is that they totally kill your sex drive.  Well, let me re-phrase that.  They lower your inhibition, so they can make you want to have sex.  You can even get an erection on Klonopin or Xanax (sorry if that is too much information).  But, try and try as you might, if you've taken just a bit too much of one of these drugs, you won't be able to have an orgasm.

It's weird.  You can get so close, but you won't ever be able to actually climax.  I actually found the same experience years ago in college when I was on Zoloft, which I stopped taking for other reasons.  It just amazes me how profoundly psychiatric drugs can affect sexual functioning.

Anxiety Ridden

The past few days have been awful.  I've been anxiety ridden beyond belief.  I can't stop thinking....about all the ways I'm failing....about how to succeed in life....and definitely about him.  Its like my brain wasn't wired with an "off" switch.

Thank God for Klonopin....it really has been my saving grace in terms of being able to function, sleep, and basically not just living one big panic attack.  Gotta talk to the shrink about staying on it, because I don't know what I would do without my "rescue medication."

For today though....fuck it.  I'm drinking wine and turning up and just forgetting about all this shit.  Until tomorrow, of course.

Klonopin Vs. Ativan: Which Works Better for Panic Attacks?

Millions of Americans suffer from panic attacks. Sometimes, a simple anti-depressant is the only medication that is needed to put an end to these debilitating episodes. For some people, however, stronger prescription medication is required. Since the 1960s, a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines are the "gold standard" used by psychiatrists to treat people who have panic disorders.

Within the benzodiazepine class, there are many different drugs like Xanax, Valium, Ativan, and Klonopin. Ativan, also known by the generic name lorazepam, and Klonopin (whose generic name is clonazepam) are two of the most widely prescribed drugs in this class of medications. Both drugs can be habit forming, so it is important to take them only as directed by a doctor. But which medication is better at managing panic attacks?

According to the MedLine drug database, Ativan is an extremely fast acting medication. After taking a dose, your blood level of lorazepam quickly rises, and reaches it's peak within just a couple of hours. This makes it an extremely good drug for treating spur-of-the-moment panic attacks. Because it is so fast-acting, many people report feeling relief within minutes of taking Ativan. Although Ativan works quickly, the effects of the lorazepam also wear off quickly, as the drug has a half-life of 8 hours or less in most people. This means you can take it, get anxiety relief, and then have it wear off without feeling groggy or drugged later that night or the next day.

This is a double-edged sword though. Because Ativan is so fast-acting, and the half-life is so short, some people find that their panic attacks quickly return and they need more and more lorazepam to keep them at bay. Many people have found that this is not the case while taking Klonopin. With clonazepam, blood levels of the active drug rise much more slowly, which means it can take a bit longer to achieve complete relief from an actue panic attack. Once the drug is in your system, though, it has a half-life of 30 hours or more. This means that the drug is still working for more than a day after you take your last dose.


For this reason, Klonopin can be better at controlling chronic panic attacks better than Ativan. Whereas people find they need to take more and more Ativan to achieve the same symptom relief, people taking Klonopin are often able to take a dose just once a day to acheive complete symptom control. If you only have panic attacks once in a blue moon, Ativan might be a great drug to help you combat them when they do come up. But if you are having panic attacks almost daily, klonopin might be the better choice for you. As with all psychiatric medication, only a physician can tell you if lorazepam or clonazepam are right for you.

Klonopin Knocks Me Out

So, my positive thinking didn't go so well today, and I ended up in a near panic attack by 4pm today.  My doctor has prescribed a very low dose of clonazepam (also known as klonopin) for panic situations, and occasionally I need to take a 0.5mg pill to feel better.

The Klonopin definitely makes me feel better and I am glad I have it.  But it really makes me sleepy and just ends up knocking me out.  I guess that is a side effect of all benzodiazepine medications, really...but it kinda sucks.  Sometimes it makes me more sleepy than others....tonight it sent me into a three hour evening nap.  Which of course means I probably won't sleep great tonight.

The good news is that it gives me time to work on other stuff...like my Partylite business and my vision board that I want to create.  But I might be a tired boy tomorrow.  Regardless, I'm determined to make tomorrow a better day.