Anafranil is a drug commonly prescribed for the treatment of OCD.
I have not received a formal diagnosis of OCD, but I’ve been showing a number of related symptoms for awhile. Looping, “racing” thoughts. Weird, repetitive movements and tics. I don’t experience anxiety or engage in ritualistic behavior, which is probably why I haven’t been diagnosed with the disorder. But the thoughts have become worse and actually hurt, if that makes any sense. I tried Intuniv, an ADD drug, for three weeks. Nothing changed. So my doctor has decided to try me on the old stand-by Anafranil. I took my first dose last night. Other than being sleepy, I don’t feel any different (and didn’t expect to so soon).
It seems like everyone who takes this drug has benefited from it, which is good. But the side effects don’t sound like fun. Besides weight gain (which I hope doesn’t happen…but it wouldn’t hurt me to gain a few pounds so I’m not too worried about it), one can experience breast lactation and enlargement. I know I’m a woman so that means I am supposed to want to bigger breasts, but I don’t. I especially don’t want big leaky breasts. And I hope the sleepy feeling goes away. I didn’t go to work today (holiday) and I purposefully kept myself awake. I’m proud of my endurance, but don’t know if I can continue the fight every day.
So…anyone have experience with this drug? Good, bad, neutral? Unlike most of the other drugs I’ve tried, I’m really going to try to stick with this one and try not give up after a few weeks. Because if it at least helps me control my movements, I can very slowly taper off of the clonazepam and eventually be free from its addictive though helpful clutches.
That was the second med I was on after Prozac. It did absolutely squat, but since my shrink didn’t believe me and insisted I get my plasma levels checked I’m guessing that isn’t a normal response.
It did however make me very nauseous if I took on an empty stomach, so at the very least I had to drink some Metamucil or Citrucel if I wasn’t hungry.
The old tricyclics are pretty good drugs for many if not most people most of the time.
Racing thoughts could be the manic phase of bipolar, but I don’t know enough about it to say for sure. My first guess would have been ADD. I don’t know why they killed that theory after prescribing only Intuiv since that is primarily a blood pressure med. ADD is normally treated with stimulants (the best of which IMHO is dexmethyphenidate = Focalin). At the very least they should have tried Strattera, which while it isn’t a stim either, I think it has a better track record than Guanfacine (again, not sure about that though). Strattera probably has a better side effect profile than any of the stimulants as well.
It was what I first used for my OCD, but as soon as Luvox came out, I was switched to it. Luvox worked a lot better, and has fewer side effects–including little to no hypnotic effects in most people. (Anafranil also acts as an antihistamine).
That said, I should also point out that the breast thing is quite rare, and is actually something you are supposed to stop the medication for. Weight gain can be controlled, and somnolence does decrease to the point where it’s just useful to help you sleep. But don’t expect any OCD drug to work in less than 4-6 weeks.
Also, good luck getting off the Klonopin. That’s what I was on 15 months ago, and I’m still not really well. You’d better take longer than a month to get off if you don’t want a horrible ordeal. Look up the Ashton taper, and consider it the fastest you can go. And do not do it until you are 100% stabilized on your OCD medicine.
While I respect every person’s unique experience, I would be careful about making generalizations from that experience.
For example, my experience with both Luvox and Klonopin is completely different than Bigt’s.
Luvox made me so horribly depressed and enervated that I quit my job with virtually no notice since I couldn’t bear going in to work any more. Aside from physical pain, I think it was very nearly one of the worst experiences of my life. I’ve never wanted to kill myself but that made me understand how some people could want to.
I’ve used Klonopin and had no problems using it or stopping it. However I was never on it for an extended period of time. I never liked it because it had such a long half-life and it never helped with the truly psychotic type of anxiety I tend to get. I have however been on Ativan for years and I regularly forget to take with no untoward effects.
Benzo’s are one of those drugs where the dose really does make the poison. If you have been on a high dose, which I guess would be 2-4mg or more IIRC, then I would follow Bigt’s advice and be very careful about coming off of it. However that is only a rule of thumb from someone with no medical training. Some people can tolerate a higher dose and have no withdrawal while others will suffer withdrawal from a much smaller dose.
As an example, I once took Ultram, which supposedly is non-addictive. I was taking the minimum of 50mg/day. I couldn’t stop taking it. I had to get a prescription for hydrocodone so I could stop taking Ultram. Stopping the opiate was no problem though.
I realize some people get off Klonopin easily, but I’m of the opinion that it doesn’t hurt to go more slowly than necessary, and going too quickly can hurt a lot. Especially with Klonopin, which takes a little while before you notice what’s wrong.
I also had my first withdrawal from Klonopin only taking 0.5 mg at night only for a couple years, after stopping for less than two weeks. Studies actually show that there is no dosage correlation–the variance between people is greater.
It’s really as subject where physicians in the U.S. really don’t understand the subject at all. Sure, the FDA says to only let people on it for a month or two at most, but doctors will go longer, despite the studies saying they should do otherwise. And when they do try to take you off, they usually go too quickly. (Heck, half of the people with problems have doctors that told them they could just cold turkey. Some didn’t even know that 2mg was a high dose!) That’s why I mentioned it. I just really don’t think you can be too careful with Klonopin or other benzos. It doesn’t hurt to be overly cautious.
As for Luvox–different SSRIs react differently in different people, and some people can’t take them at all. But they are the OCD drugs with the least side effects. I’m actually taking Celexa now, since Luvox was pulled from the market after Columbine–because, if the shooters took it, surely it must’ve caused their behavior :rolleyes:
ETA: And, while Ultram should never be called non-addictive, it is usually less addictive–but, as dzero notes, not in everyone.
This right here is how anafranil made me feel. I also took its cousin, tofranil, for a while. That one did nothing for me one way or the other. Now I’m taking Paxil & Remeron and they work great for me. I don’t have OCD. I have chronic depression and avoidant personality disorder. So my case is different than the OP and my results were different too.
It’s really just a crap shoot how a person will react to one medicine or another. But when you find the right one, it’s tremendous. Obviously my results won’t be true for anyone else.
Stay in close touch with your doctors while you try it, monstro. Best of luck to you! I hope it suits you!
I’m on a relatively high dose (3 mg) of clonazepam, but BigT is right. The time you’re on the drug matters more than the dose when it comes to how hard it will be to get off it. And I’ve been on it for about a year and a half. That’s a long time for a benzo.
I was originally prescribed Anafranil two years ago, when things were a lot better. When I read up on the side effects, I decided it just wasn’t worth it. But it appears things are deteriorating for some reason. That is what is concerning to me. Could the clonazepam be causing brain damage? The psychiatrist even got me tested to see if I have PANDAS, and they found my strep titer to be elevated. But the doctor didn’t know what that meant. (So why did he make me get the titer in the first place?!) The thoughts are clearly out of control, but I’m still in denial about the movements. The intellectual part of me, the part that’s read up on basal ganglia disorders, says the two go hand-in-hand. But the skeptical part of me thinks everything is psychogenic. That’s why I’m not looking forward to seeing yet another neurologist–who will no doubt make me get yet another MRI. And it will result in the same diagnosis. Nothing organic.
I usually have no problem getting out of bed, especially if my thoughts are racing. But it took a while for me to get up this morning. It could be Anafranil, or it could just be that all the early-rising I’ve been doing for the past month is finally catching up to me. I don’t know. Some drugs do a number on me, side effect-wise, while others (like clonazepam and Wellbutrin), have had minimal side effects. This is the first tricyclic that I’ve ever been on. So I don’t know what to expect.
Sorry to bump this thread, but I wanted to just to say that anafranil has put a cease and desist order on my scrambled thoughts and bizarre movements. Actually after just a couple of days I started to notice a difference, and I’m on a low dose! It felt really good going to the grocery story the other day and not shuffling down the aisle like a Parkinson’s patient. I wanted to run like a little kid.
crossing my fingers that I won’t have to go up in dosage.
I didn’t notice the bit about movements when I first read the thread; do you have any feeling for when the movements started and whether there’s any correlation with anything?
Could they be related to any other medications you’re on? There are medications which can trigger unusual movements; to the best of my knowledge Klonopin/clonazepam is not one of them (in fact it’s used sometimes to treat Restless Legs Syndrome), but there are many drugs which affect the dopamine system. I had a doctor push me to try Reglan last spring for some stomach issues, despite its link to tardive dyskinesia (longer-term use) and RLS (immediate side effect). I took one dose, as expected it negated the RLS medication I had taken, and I threw the rest away.
The “Parkinson’s patient” line similarly caught my eye - is that because of the movement issues?
Do discuss these symptoms with your doctor(s).
Best of luck with tapering off the clonazepam! There’s at least one thread on the Dope from someone who had a long slow fight to get off of it but he managed to get off of it. An RLS specialist once told me (when discussing why Klonopin wasn’t a good choice for me) that it can be a toughie! Take it easy and go slowly, as others have said.
They started in my early 20s…way before I had even looked at any drugs. However, I’ve discovered that if a drug has tardive dyskinesia as one of the side effects, I’m very sensitive to it. That’s why I stopped taking Abilify, even though it was helping my tics. Once my mouth started puckering, I got off of it with a quickness.
I’ve been taking clonazepam, which is often prescribed for tic disorders, but it’s effectiveness seemed to be wearing off for the past several months. Really, it was the racing thoughts that were killing me more than the movements, and clonazepam wasn’t helping with that at all. I’m also on Wellbutrin. I think it has improved my mood, but I do think there’s a possibility it was making me more agitated.
Yes, and the parkinisonism is more problematic than the tics. Shuffling steps, freezing in place, rigidity in my arms and legs, intention tremors, and akathesia. Catatonia-like behavior. While I have been on Anafranil, I can sometimes feel like I’m about to start limping or walking slowly, like I’m a wind-up doll that needs to be cranked up again, but now I can correct myself before it happens, if that makes any sense at all. The only thing that seems to be recalcitrant is my weird hand posturing, like clenching my hands into inwardly turned fists. But even that has improved a little.
I don’t know what the half-life of the drug is, but I can start feeling symptoms returning right before I need to take my bedtime dose.
Getting a diagnosis has been 5+year long battle. I don’t think I’ll ever get one. All I can guess is that something screwy has happened to my basal ganglion since I’ve become an adult. It’s not surprising, given my family history. It’s just manifested itself in a weird way in me.
