Klonopin Or Valium?

[PTFC]

Re tapering off Benz@s, has anyone had any experience of The Dr Ashton Reduction method program using V,s only? Just asking out of interest as heard it works?

I have been doing it myself, with success, though it's more difficult at the lower end of the scale.

 

[amberleaf]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll be trying it shortly, peace & love xx

 

[PTFC]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll be trying it shortly, peace & love xx

Persevere, that's the key!  Sometimes staying at a dosage for a week or two longer helps also, race a snail as they say.

 

[blissopifree 2]

I have been doing it myself, with success, though it's more difficult at the lower end of the scale.

Your getting there PTFC,good to hear your VERY near your goal!.

Peace 

Bliss.....

 

[PTFC]

Your getting there PTFC,good to hear your VERY near your goal!.

Peace 

Bliss.....

Appreciated bliss! You've been a great help, and I won't forget it by a long way!

 

[blissopifree 2]

Same goes for you PTFC cheers.....

Peace

Bliss....

 

[Back2Good]

Not much to add. as this thread has some great information in it - I've been on (prescribed) Xanax, starting at 2mg per day (1mg twice daily) for 11 years now, and just this year, in January, my Doc raised my dosage to 3mg per day (1.5mg twice daily) because my tolerance had pretty much rendered 2mg useless at that point.  At various points in my treatment, when I described to my Doctor the Alprazolam "crash" I experience every now and again because of the short half-life of the drug, he's tried me on Valium and Klonopin - But as advertised, those two drugs, while they do last much longer in my system (especially Valium - My God, after a week of 10mg twice daily I felt like one of the walking dead), don't assist with my panic disorder (I went to my Doc initially because it had gotten so bad I had to pull to the side of the road at times in traffic when one hit me, and focus on my breathing for 15-20 minutes before I could continue on my way).

On the other hand, I found that along with the zombie effect of the Valium, there was an unmistakeable euphoria - I can see how one could enjoy that effect so much that they "chase the dragon" - Increasing the dosage as tolerance builds, until one day one realizes one is taking 5-7 10mg Valium per day and can't seem to get up in time to get to work in the morning.  It is a wonderful vacation drug, I keep a few Bensedines around for our annual vacation to Cancun and Playa, as 10mg of Bensedine with a Texas Margarita at dinner make for a wonderful evening (and Mexico has cracked down HARD on benzos - Used to be you could go to the consulting Doctor at a Farmacia and pay him $25 per prescription, we'd get 270 Roche Valium (10mg 3x per day), 270 Roche Rivotril (2mg 3x per day), and 180 Pfizer Tafil (2mg 2x per day) written up for $75, then just carry the prescriptions to the counter and get them filled - These days a Mexican Doctor won't even see an American tourist, unless it is the house Doctor in the $500 per night resort some folks stay in,  and he's going to charge you $200 for an "office visit", then write you a prescription for 50 tabs of ONE medication).

So yeah, if you plan to buy benzos in Mexico, don't - Bring your own with you, it is cheaper and much safer.

Klonopin never had that euphoric effect on me, but nor did it have the zombie effect - It just made me sleepy, and produced a "hey, I used to have a whole bucket of damn's right here on my desk, and now I'm fresh out - Sorry, can't give a damn today" effect, which, career-wise, isn't an effect you want.

Ativan does produce some euphoria for me, but clearly my Doc isn't going to prescribe me both Alprazolam and Ativan just so that I can get a buzz every now and then...And to tell the truth, since he already prescribes me 30mg of generic Restoril (Temazepam) for insomnia, If I have a tough day, a glass of wine with .5mg Alprazolam and 15mg Temazapam (half of my sleeping dose) produces just as much euphoria as 2mg Ativan does.

These drugs all pretty much describe what they are for on the package insert, and there's tons of information out there on the wide intertubes about this benzo or that, but what I've found over the years is that in general, they are all double-edged swords - They are very effective at treating the condition they are prescribed for, but the euphoric effect the patient experiences over the first week or two can lead down a long, dark road.  My Doctor has been very up front with me about the fact that after having been on Alprazolam for 11 years, I'm probably going to be on it for life (he's much younger than I am, so thank goodness he'll be around to prescribe it, along with my Temazepam).  What he, and many, many other Docs don't know, but probably suspect, is that once one is prescribed one benzo, if one has any curiosity whatsoever, they are going to want to compare it to other benzos, and since most of us read everything we can find before deciding to try a new drug, we probably know more about this class of drug than they do...They reference DSM and PDA when they have a patient they plan to prescribe a benzo for, we read this stuff manically, try different drugs, and in the end, if you're like me, you end up with a medicine cabinet that has what you're prescribed (plus an extra 500 tabs of each from an IOP because you never want to run out), along with a couple of other benzos (say, 200 or so pills of each) that you are not prescribed, but that you've tried and found useful for other situations - For example, I'll never experience euphoria or really feel anything at all from Alprazolam again, as long as I've been using it...But a Bensedine or a Rivotril (I'm hard-headed about my Rivotril - It has to be Roche, it has to be 2mg, and I prefer it to come in the original blisters with the packaging and inserts, from Mexico.  I'm aware that Swiss Rivotril are just as good as the Mexican ones, but the Mexican ones have NEVER let me down, so I see no need to use anything else...I'm never in a pinch for Rivotril, as I rarely use it, so I don't have to try other versions), with a beer, or a glass of wine, or a Margarita, used sparingly so that no tolerance to THAT benzo develops, is a fine thing.

Best regards,

- b2g