# How can I make clonazepam work faster?



## Ben12

So I explained to my doctor who I recently saw about the seroquel and how it's causing me some anxiety. So he's referring me to a new psychiatrist and he gave me 2mg of clonazepam to take at night which has been helping greatly. I feel comfortable taking the full 100mg. of seroquel with the clonazepam. No more missing doses. YAY!

Anyways I was wondering, how can I make the clonazepam work faster for me? Would taking it with food help it work faster or would it not?


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## puppy

Taking it on an empty stomach (2+ hours after eating and 1 hour before eating) would be faster than taking it with food. Taking it sublingually (letting it dissolve under your tounge) would be even faster, although you may notice that the duration is shortened.


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## Ben12

Thanks for the advice puppy.


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## RelinquishedHell

Dissolve it in a drink then drink it on an empty stomach. Try something hot like tea, because it's kinda hard to get those generic yellow tablets to dissolve. You could also try a supplement that also effects GABA like L-theanine. That mix worked well for me before I switched to Phenibut.


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## Ben12

Mines just a white 2mg tablet. It doesn't seem to be dissolving well sublingually, so I just had to swallow it.


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## RelinquishedHell

Ben12 said:


> Mines just a white 2mg tablet. It doesn't seem to be dissolving well sublingually, so I just had to swallow it.


Crush them up into a powder then dissolve them. Your lucky you have the 2mg tablets, I got the crappy 0.5mg ones and I would take a PRN dose of 3mg, so I would have to take 6 pills.


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## spartan7

beat your meat 10 minutes before taking it.


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## mark555666

Under the tong, let it dissolve.


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## istayhome

get a different benzo that works faster.


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## Ben12

istayhome said:


> get a different benzo that works faster.


How exactly would I go about that? And what benzo would work faster? Benzos are considered addictive in the eyes of doctors. Unless I had a seizure disorder how exactly could I persuade them to give me something better?


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## istayhome

Ben12 said:


> How exactly would I go about that? And what benzo would work faster? Benzos are considered addictive in the eyes of doctors. Unless I had a seizure disorder how exactly could I persuade them to give me something better?


Tell your prescribing doctor that Clonazepam takes a long time to take effect for you and you'd like to know if there is anything that might work faster.

I'm prescribed both Valium and Xanax, I have no seizure disorder and didn't have to persuade anyone. I was simply honest with the doctor.

If your doctor prescribed Clonazepam for you, they must think that a benzodiazapine is indicated so I don't see why they would be hesitant to try you on a different one. I've tried Clonazepam and found it completely useless so I told my doctor and he prescribed valium instead, which works very fast and is considered a long-acting benzo as well.

Just about every benzo comes on faster than Clonazepam. Alprazolamm, Diazepam, Lorazepam, Temazepam... many more. As far as I know Klonopin takes longer than any other commonly used benzodiazapine to take affect.


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## Ben12

Wow. So which one would you recommend?


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## istayhome

Ben12 said:


> Wow. So which one would you recommend?


I think it depends on the individual. I take 10 mg of Valium x 3 a day for GAD. They work very quickly and for me the active effects are felt for about 18 hrs. Since I take them everyday, I just have a constant amount in my blood so I don't experience inter-dose withdrawals or anything. For me they also work very well for panic attacks. I also take xanax as needed for panic attacks, acute anxiety, insomnia.

That's why I say if one benzo doesn't work well for you, explain to your doctor what you don't like about it and see what they suggest.

Some people don't find valium as effective as I do, some people find xanax more effective than I do. Ativan just makes me tired and doesn't reduce anxiety at all. Clonazepam does absolutely nothing, etc. You kind of have to talk to your doctor and hope they'll let you try something else.


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## osthus

*clonazepam/ benzos are life destroying*

hey guys,
just wanted to let you know. My girlfriend had been taking clonazepam for half her life. however, she just took 0.5 mg at a time. when we were in Europe she was running out of it and thought she could take a little less per day. As a result she thought she was dying, she couldn't breathe etc. The doctor in Europe said it was absolutely criminal to put somebody on this drug for a longer time, since it makes one addictive after 4 weeks and starts to enhance the symptoms. In Europe these drugs are just used for extreme epilepsy. Only in North America and England they are legal otherwise (lobbyism). My girlfriend learned that a lot of the things she had been struggling with were actually caused by the drug. For example panic attacks, which she had several of within one day at the end (and still has). She didn't use to have them before, but all these symptoms became part of her life so slowly that she didn't expect that the benzo could have been the reason (she thought they would help).
To get off clonazepam is on of the worst things in the world and and I don't wish it my worst enemy. Apparently it takes 2 and a half years. My girlfriend is one year in and I can tell you it was hell. In between she was suicidal. I don't want to talk about the physical symptoms. But we know why she is doing it. While she was on clonazepam she was just surviving yet never living. Actually her life had just gotten smaller and smaller over the ten years she was taking it. Yet once your on it you don't get off it. So we hope that afterwards her life can grow again.

there are many forums where they talk about benzo withdraw, yet here everybody was very optimistic (yet just newly on it), so I thought I had to give my part. I'm not an English speaker so forgive me for the mistakes I might have made.


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## WineKitty

I cannot in good conscience recommend benzos at all since I am dealing with an addiction to them but will say Klonopin is not meant to be fast acting, that is one of the main differences between that and Xanax. Unlike Xanax though, Klonopin has a much longer half life, which I consider to be a better selling point. I have tried the sub lingual approach and empty stomach approach and it never seems to kick in any faster than 45 min to an hour. The trick is to stay on a regular dosing schedule or, if taking PRN, the second you feel even the slightest anxiety-- take it immediately.  I strongly suggest the former over the latter.


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## istayhome

osthus said:


> hey guys,
> just wanted to let you know. My girlfriend had been taking clonazepam for half her life. however, she just took 0.5 mg at a time. when we were in Europe she was running out of it and thought she could take a little less per day. As a result she thought she was dying, she couldn't breathe etc. The doctor in Europe said it was absolutely criminal to put somebody on this drug for a longer time, since it makes one addictive after 4 weeks and starts to enhance the symptoms. In Europe these drugs are just used for extreme epilepsy. Only in North America and England they are legal otherwise (lobbyism). My girlfriend learned that a lot of the things she had been struggling with were actually caused by the drug. For example panic attacks, which she had several of within one day at the end (and still has). She didn't use to have them before, but all these symptoms became part of her life so slowly that she didn't expect that the benzo could have been the reason (she thought they would help).
> To get off clonazepam is on of the worst things in the world and and I don't wish it my worst enemy. Apparently it takes 2 and a half years. My girlfriend is one year in and I can tell you it was hell. In between she was suicidal. I don't want to talk about the physical symptoms. But we know why she is doing it. While she was on clonazepam she was just surviving yet never living. Actually her life had just gotten smaller and smaller over the ten years she was taking it. Yet once your on it you don't get off it. So we hope that afterwards her life can grow again.
> 
> there are many forums where they talk about benzo withdraw, yet here everybody was very optimistic (yet just newly on it), so I thought I had to give my part. I'm not an English speaker so forgive me for the mistakes I might have made.


Huh, I think it is absolutely criminal to DENY benzos to someone suffering from severe anxiety. I have been on benzos daily for going on three years and my symptoms have greatly improved. I have no doubt that had I not received proper anxiety relief from benzodiazapines when I did, I would be locked up in the state mental hospital.

Withdrawals can be miserable and very difficult for some people but these are by no means the devil drug that the occasional poster says they are.

All one needs to do is look at the poll that is a sticky thread at the top of this forum regarding which medications people find to be effective and you will see that benzodiazapines are the most highly rated class of drugs out of them all.


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## zk7

iM ON .05mg clonapzema 3 X a day. and believe me i can handle 1mg a day but the less im on it, everything gets worse, ON ALL FRONTS.

i think i need to be on it for eternal life which i have no problem with it

i just dont trust the docs who flip flops every year or if they change their minds


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## rustybob

istayhome said:


> Huh, I think it is absolutely criminal to DENY benzos to someone suffering from severe anxiety.


I agree with this statement, 100%. While I do understand that a generation of people got screwed over by the initial lack of knowledge of the addiction/dependence/tolerance/withdrawl issues of benzos, I'd say screwing over subsequent generations by denying them access to effective medications is just... wrong. The information on the risks is available to anyone with an internet connection, which you couldn't say 50 years ago when Valium hit the market. When one understands the risks, and the benefits outweigh those risks, I'd say it is harmful to the patient to deny them access to effective medications.


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## UltraShy

istayhome said:


> Huh, I think it is absolutely criminal to DENY benzos to someone suffering from severe anxiety. I have been on benzos daily for going on three years and my symptoms have greatly improved. I have no doubt that had I not received proper anxiety relief from benzodiazapines when I did, I would be locked up in the state mental hospital.


Ah, an optimist. I'd have guessed dead rather than loony bin.



istayhome said:


> All one needs to do is look at the poll that is a sticky thread at the top of this forum regarding which medications people find to be effective and you will see that benzodiazapines are the most highly rated class of drugs out of them all.


Doctors in general have vastly more concern for safety than they do efficacy. I've often said that if an MD were in charge of cutting down a tree he'd try a butter knife. Not at all effective, but totally safe. If you want effective you use a chain saw, but that's dangerous.

The problem is that too many doctors don't get that safety without efficacy is pointless. SSRIs are the medical community's butter knife. They're terrified of trying "dangerous" things that might actually work. Competent adult patients are treated like retarded children. Patients get to hear how "that's too dangerous." I'm a gun owner; WTF can you put in a bottle that has a higher level of lethality than a bullet to the brain?:stu


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## Embryo923

I've been on 1mg per day of generic klonopin for about a year and a half...i am starting to get a little freaked out hearing about this withdrawal stuff. Should I get off it asap?


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## WineKitty

Embryo923 said:


> I've been on 1mg per day of generic klonopin for about a year and a half...i am starting to get a little freaked out hearing about this withdrawal stuff. Should I get off it asap?


It is a ***** to get off of. I just successfully jumped about a week ago and had to taper for 11 months.

But the reason I got off the medication in the first place is because I was experiencing tolerance issues as well as side effects. Are you having any issues with the drug?


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## Embryo923

No issues with the drug, no. Nothing negative. It helps me relax and with my anxiety/panic.


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## watertouch

I found Xanax worked bether i was on 4mg/day of K-pin, Usually K-Pin is dosed half of that of Xanax or vs but i don't use 8mg Xanax daily... So its different for everyone, one has to try...


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