I’ve also been on Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan, and Valium. For me Klonopin was best with Xanax as needed situationally. No fogginess.
Bitch to detox from, though.
But s/he said they’d been on it for twenty years. Unless I’m reading that wrong.
As to the OP, I’m an anomaly. I’ve tried all of the four, sometimes for years in the case of both Xanax and Valium, and not only did they not give me any of the symptoms described, but they didn’t help either. Plus, I’m totally impatient when it comes to discontinuing use, so I always go cold-turkey. Which I admit is incredibly stupid and I’d never recommend it, but fortunately, I’ve never had a single problem. And right now, I’ve been off any medication whatsoever for over a year and a half. Go figure. I hope you find something that works for you and a psychiatrist who is helpful. Being in that position is awful. Wishing you luck.
Yes. Over 20 years actually. I started out at 4 mg per day and I’ve maintained a 1.5 mg per day dosage now for a number of years. I guess I’m contrary. It never, ever gave me a ‘buzz’ or got me high. It did what it was supposed to do and that was get me to stop having panic attacks and maintain an even keel with regard to general anxiety disorder. I do believe that people abuse these types of drugs and I also believe that it is those people that are making it harder and harder for those of us who really benefit from getting and keeping our scripts for that medication. My current shrink is really hesitant to prescribe even the low dosage I’m on and that is a battle that I’m continuing to fight. I can tell you that I would absolutely, unconditionally not be alive if it weren’t for Xanax. So what is the harm in me staying on a helpful medication?
There are some people who seem to never hit the tolerance. But, the problem is, for those of us who do, you wind up much, much worse off than you were before. The reason I am mostly housebound was Klonopin, particularly trying to go off it when it stopped working and was leading to me being a lot worse than I’d ever been.
I’m only now enough over it that I could think I might be able to deal with it–although I still can’t go out of town since I still get very dizzy in car trips.
Honestly, I’m a bit pissed that someone who is not a psychiatrist thinks they have the right to be handing out a medicine like this. At least I got mine form a psychiatrist, and, to be fair, he did try to get me off once, but was following very stupid guidelines to not push the issue.
A doctor that is this unaware of the potential side effects should not be handing these out. Clonopin is far from the first line treatment for anxiety. An SSRI works wonders. Get thee to a psychiatrist.
Sorry if this comes off a bit disjointed, but I’m a bit angry.
People here are right that the potential for addiction is high, which is why you need to be very careful with these meds. Only take them when absolutely necessary and if you start to find yourself with a serious craving for it then start to trail your does down to zero.
An SSRI or even a tricyclic ant-depressant is the more important medicine because it fixes the long term problem where the benzos only address the short term. It can be hard though finding the one that works best for you, and the fact that it can take up to a month or more for the anti depressant to kick in makes the hunt even more difficult.
If any of your meds make you feel nauseous and sick try to take them with some Dramamine, that has worked wonders for me on the pills that did make me sick.
This advice won’t be helpful for you, SurrenderDorothy, because it sounds like you have some serious anxiety issues to cope with.
But for anyone else it might help, consider beta-blockers as a treatment for physical symptoms of anxiety.
Beta blockers are primarily used to treat angina and hypertension and they basically work by slowing your heart down. So if you’re like me and anxiety is primarily about a racing heartbeat, heart palpiations, sweating, etc., it can be a perfect treatment.
The benefit is that it’s not in anyway a psychoactive drug, so there’s no way for it to make you sleepy, foggy, or lethargic. That’s critical for me because I only have a problem with anxiety in situations where I want to be sharp, like interviews or public speaking.
The drawback is that all it treats is (some) physical symptoms of anxiety, so if you have more emotional issues with anxiety it won’t be enough on its own. I’d guess that’s most people.
I’m on Buspar, Prozac, and a beta blocker. Benzos don’t really work to take away my anxiety.
The Buspar made me nauseous for a while when I started taking it, but that went away.
The beta blocker now is for high blood pressure, though before I got high blood pressure I would take Inderal as needed when I felt really anxious. The problem was, I would feel anxious, I would get physical symptoms of anxiety, those would make me feel even more anxious, and a vicious cycle got started. The beta blocker would keep that cycle from getting established.
Look into cognitive behavior therapy. The brain can be retrained, but it takes some hard work. I also just heard a piece on Talk of the Nation Science Friday that indicates that even self-help CBT works well. Your “jingly thing” is a perfect example of how CBT can work for you.
It can be done, and because of the nature of what anxiety is, it needs to be done by the individual. Lots of help is available, and oftentimes cheaper than meds. Certainly, the side effects are better 
I’ve seen the opinion expressed on this board that Xanax is right below the anti-Christ on the list of worse things ever. However, I’d wager to bet those posters didn’t have the magnitude of panic I have had. My life was hell - worse. Xanax was the magic bullet. Of all the drugs I have ever taken, X did what it was supposed to do best. It’s almost impossible to have a full blown attack if it’s in your system. It allowed me to do the exercises I needed to do (progressive relaxation, etc) to ‘get fixed’. I was house-bound for a while and now I haven’t had a PA in over 20 years.
It’s got a very short half-life so as I mentioned above it was VERY hard to go off of, but I honestly don’t think I could have made it without it.
For people with a crappy serotoninergic system, X can be terrible, and give you long-term panic disorder.
Oh, you meant Xanax. :dubious:
I am on Tenex/Guanfacine, and was previously on Catapres/Clonidine. They are blood pressure meds which may work with anxiety. Especially the latter can be a little problematic with dosages as the half life is very short.
Perhaps you should read a bit more carefully before your ‘righteous indignation’ kicks into high gear.
Just like Annie Neville I’m on Buspar. It gave me a bit of a tipsy feeling at first and then went away.
I’m also on selexa and haven’t the faintest if it actually works, but I think it does.
For the nighttime I’m on trazadone to help me fall asleep, which I couple with OTC sleeping pills and generally sleep well at night, although I wake up groggy as hell.
I am on Inderal 10 mg twice a day down from 40 mg. It helps…a lot. My doctor calls it a “homeopathic dose”.
Another citalopram user checking in. I take it right before going to bed because it helps me sleep (hey! bonus) and if I take it and then stay up, I’m kind of a zombie and don’t remember what I said/did by the next morning, although I act sober. I’ve also found that taking it after an evening of drinking intensifies the memory issues. Other than that, it’s done wonders for me.