blissmiss
Member
Reged: 08/10/04
Posts: 124
Loc: Connecticut, via Illinois, Mis...
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Does anyone have any experience with switching from one benzo to another, with no lag time inbetween? Am switching form klonopin to Valium, equal dosing, next week. Any suggestions would be helpful, and thank you.
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BigC
Journeyman
Reged: 02/19/04
Posts: 57
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Hi Blissmiss,
i don't know what the protocol is for switching from one benzo to another, but i would strongly encourage you to check with a pharmacist on this. Benzos, as you probably already know, are very serious medications, and you would certainly want to be prepared with any relevant information you might need from someone professional. If you're doing this through OPs, you may not get all the information you need about the proper protocol. Sorry i couldn't offer any more helpful info. Good luck to you, and be safe!
BigC
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bos
Newbie
Reged: 10/22/03
Posts: 34
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this may not help you, but I have had better luck with valium than with klonipin.
BTW cant be the same dose, valum comes in 5mg and 10mg
klonipin comes in .5mg, 1mg, and 2mg.
Personally, I would rather have one 10mg valium than 10 2mg klonipin.
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rkjones
Member
Reged: 02/13/04
Posts: 159
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I would check with a pharmacist as stated above. Are you doing this yourself or is a docotr who is aware you take the valium aware and switching you? When my docotr switched me he had me taper the valium and the last few days worked a small dose of klonopin in and the valium out.
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blissmiss
Member
Reged: 08/10/04
Posts: 124
Loc: Connecticut, via Illinois, Mis...
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Thank you for your responses. It's sounds as though I may wish to begin to taper now, before I begin the Valium. And yes, I am doing it myself. My doctor has told me my social anxiety should be treated by psychotherapy, not medication. An approach I have found useless.
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Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?
John Keats 1795-1821, British Poet
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caramello51
Board Addict
Reged: 09/28/02
Posts: 311
Loc: Alaska
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Quote:
An approach I have found useless
and a LOT more expensive to boot...  
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tlynnburk
Journeyman
Reged: 02/01/04
Posts: 88
Loc: ohio, USA
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Please check with your doctor first or maybe a pharmacist.
Teresa
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Trampy
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/02/02
Posts: 1230
Loc: Southwest U.S.
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Quote:
Does anyone have any experience with switching from one benzo to another, with no lag time inbetween? Am switching form klonopin to Valium, equal dosing, next week. Any suggestions would be helpful, and thank you.
It goes the other way. In general, short-acting benzos being discontinued are substituted with long-acting drugs with Klonopin being the longest-acting in common use.
If a person tapers down to a steady 0.5 mg/day of Klonopin without anxiety, the natural halflife can give some patients a natural taper down to zero that is relatively painless. Not everyone can do that and they would need to go down to 0.25 mg a day before stopping.
Valium would also be a bad candidate for a "weaning down" drug, because of its euphoric properties. Klonopin much mo betta. Just taper the Klon ... and get something for any insomnia.
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sunflower29
Member
Reged: 04/13/04
Posts: 150
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I'm also planning a switchover from klonopin to valium, and I was under the impression Vs have the longest half-life. Are we both mistaken?
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timberland
Enthusiast
Reged: 07/10/04
Posts: 236
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Quote:
I'm also planning a switchover from klonopin to valium, and I was under the impression Vs have the longest half-life. Are we both mistaken?
Let's see what Trampy the "pooh-bah" says, but the literature say:
Valium: half-life of 20-70 hours; its active metabolite, though, desmethyldiazepam, has a half-life of up to 96 hours
Klonopin: half-life of 30-60 hours; no active metabolite.
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Trampy
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/02/02
Posts: 1230
Loc: Southwest U.S.
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Post deleted by Trampy
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emtp3
Journeyman
Reged: 08/12/04
Posts: 70
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You can read my post under:
Re: Klonopin (clonazepam)?
It has some good reading on this subject.
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Fighting the "DOOM Dealer"
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Trampy
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/02/02
Posts: 1230
Loc: Southwest U.S.
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Yes, it has some good reading from academics who should know about the subject. Unfortunately, much of what's on that thread is not helpful to a person who is choosing between Valium and Klonopin for tapering. Everyone who has taken both drugs should be aware that the academics' data and conclusions given there are misleading and erroneous.
You're better off listening to people with experience instead of people who got their information out of the laboratory.
Prof. Ashton is just plain wrong. There are many differences besides their halflives in comparing Klonopin to Valium. The claim that there is only one GABA receptor and all that matters is halflife is bunk. Also, the stated halflives there have no correlation to actual drug effect.
Klonopin and Valium certainly DO work on different subtypes of the GABA receptors. How so? Well, for starters, Valium has muscle relaxant properties that Klonopin does not have. Valium is also much more of a euphoric drug. Now how can that be? Obviously, the drugs are quite different.
The GABA system is much more complex than what Prof. Ashton is aware of. Also, there is some type of modulation mechanism at play that seems to work differently for the two drugs. If someone is using Valium for GAD, will their anxiety be controlled with dosing once or twice a day? Of course not! But that works just fine with Klonopin.
I'm not sure which neurosystem would be controlling the acute benzo accomodation (which is different from chronic tolerance), but the GABA system might be interacting somehow with the CCK system. Pure speculation there ...
Trampy
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CARLITOS_WAY
Enthusiast
Reged: 06/27/04
Posts: 218
Loc: WASHINGTON, USA
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I have been using Benzo's for over 30 years..have tried most of them all(11).....have observed others using and over medicating on them. It seem's that some have a profound different affect on some as other's. Ativan with most anti-anxiety effect(but very short half life). I see Xanax and Valium with the most sedative effect, Valium with a more half life, but I've seen people (few) prefer Dalmane, tho marketed as a hynotic(sleep) has a longer half life than all you have mentioned if you include metabolites. Klonopin may not have a secondary metabolite that is effective, tho just because another benzo has a long lasting metobolite, the strength of it may be much weaker than the original, and sound like it is effective for a long period ..is not. Also, a Benzo may work for several years, and then lose some of it's effectiveness, and changing to another is a lot of time a quick fix, for your tolerance, but the switch will not last long unless it is the one for you! Regular users should look for the ones that are effective for them, with a long effective life and those on a need to use basis, a short effective life. Just my 2 cents worth, maybe a little more. In closing I have seen Klonopin have the least craving and still produce the effect needed for anti-anxiety medication. (Ativan for short term)
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emtp3
Journeyman
Reged: 08/12/04
Posts: 70
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Actually Trampy it must be your selective reading, I found it a very interesting article, and may I add only one article of many that are out there.
I agree this article does not cover all effects of benzo's, nor have I found any that have, this article only covers one small part of it, like most articles.
But being a Benzo user for only 10 yrs off and on, I personnaly agree with alot that was said there and I also understand it can be different for different people, that includes any drug.
In no way have I said that article is the only bible on Benzo's, and another point the article is only explaining one part of the drugs not 2nd, 3rd or even 4th effects that these drugs may differ in, and how these drugs effect different people which no one can document.
As for the article I beleive there is alot of good info in it, and I believe you are in error of your judgement.
But this is only my opinion.
Goodluck.
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Fighting the "DOOM Dealer"
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