Posted by edsangel on March 15, 2001, at 15:07:47
I am worried about my boyfriend, who just started taking Klonopin. He's been on Serzone for depression for 5 years, but recently changed to a more stressful job & started having more anxiety problems. Then someone broke into his car & the anxiety got worse, so his doctor is trying him on Klonopin in addition to Serzone. He takes .5 mg in the morning & (I think) .5 mg, or maybe 1 mg. at night.
The Konopin is reducing the anxiety, but making him extremely sleepy & tired during the day, so he's taking a caffeine pill at those times. But that seems counterproductive to me - I know from experience that caffeine raises anxiety levels. He says it doesn't make him feel stressed, just more awake. But he drives a fork-lift all day, plus with driving, the extreme sleepiness worries me. And even without the danger factor, what kind of a life is it if you feel groggy about 1/2 the time? He's just been on it almost 2 weeks. I am wondering if his doctor could reduce the daytime dose to .25 mg, or maybe split it: .25 when he gets up & another .25 later. His doctor also considered changing him from Serzone to Wellbutrin if the Klonopin didn't work, but the side-effects I've read about sound like that would make him more nervous.
I'm also very worried about him being on this stuff at all. I've heard so much about addiction or withdrawal, that he may need to take more over time. He's not in any kind of therapy to learn how to better react to stress, which I wish he would try.
Anyone have any advice?
poster:edsangel
thread:56589
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010310/msgs/56589.html