# How much clonazepam can I really take?



## mz_jess (Jun 11, 2006)

Hi :b

I am currently taking .10mg of clonazepam twice daily to deal with anxiety at work (total of .20mg daily).. although this is beginning to not be sufficient any more...

The bottle, and my psych has advised me to take only one tablet (.5mg) at a time and only upto three times a day. I've gone over this dosage a while ago.. because it wasn't really helping at all..

my question is, _how much can I take daily without getting really ill ?_

or.. would I be better off going onto a different type of benzo, like Xanax?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.. as I cannot see my psych for another month, and i'm going a tad crazy. :sigh

thnx,

Jess :


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## arthur56 (Jul 31, 2005)

10 mg would be 20 of your .5 tablets, what are you actually taking?
point 1 would be a small piece of one tablet
20mg a day is very high and will lead to dependancy problems but not usually illness
all benzos are much the same, IMO
the psych should be teaching you new ways of coping with the anxiety by relaxing, etc


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

i dont think she knows how to convert. Two 0.5mg tablets =1.0mgs NOT 0.1mgs.


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## foxtrot (Feb 17, 2007)

Noca said:


> i dont think she knows how to convert. Two 0.5mg tablets =1.0mgs NOT 0.1mgs.


yes, im pretty sure mz_jess is prescribed up to 1.5mg daily but is using 2mg daily.


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## Speak Easy (Jun 27, 2006)

mz_jess said:


> _how much can I take daily without getting really ill ?_


Only you can be the judge of that. Obviously, any dose exceeding a certain amount (let's say 4.5mg) may be considered a little high, and worth thinking about lowering. However, at 2mg, you don't have much to worry about. However, what does worry me, is that you aren't feeling effects from the 2mg. I think you may wanna consider not taking your Klonopin daily, but instead, more on an "as needed" basis. This way, you will conserve your Klonopin, while concurrently lowering the chances of developing tolerance, as it seems is happening to you now. Building up tolerance to 2mg if you've been taking it everyday isn't really a novelty. Instead, it should be expected. How long did you say you've been taking this dose for? And how long have you actually been on Klonopin? It's important to be careful with tolerance, for obvious health reasons, but also because some docs won't go over certain doses, and then, they will just wean you off of your benzo and cut you off. IMO, I'd rather have a script but take the benzo sparingly, rather than not having a script at all.



mz_jess said:


> would I be better off going onto a different type of benzo, like Xanax?]


Definitely not. Since it seems you're looking for an all day sort of anxyolitic effect (for work), you would be popping lots of Xanax to achieve this, and will build up tolerance much quicker than you are with Klonopin. Xanax is a fast-acting, short-lasting benzo, whereas Klonopin is completely the opposite (slow-acting, long-lasting). Take into consideration that most people will feel Klonopin's effect for anywhere from 4-8 hours, whereas Xanax effects will last about 1-3 hours.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

Speak Easy said:


> [quote="mz_jess":3cc38]would I be better off going onto a different type of benzo, like Xanax?]


Definitely not. Since it seems you're looking for an all day sort of anxyolitic effect (for work), you would be popping lots of Xanax to achieve this, and will build up tolerance much quicker than you are with Klonopin. Xanax is a fast-acting, short-lasting benzo, whereas Klonopin is completely the opposite (slow-acting, long-lasting). Take into consideration that most people will feel Klonopin's effect for anywhere from 4-8 hours, whereas Xanax effects will last about 1-3 hours.[/quote:3cc38]

You must keep in mind that there are individual differences. While all benzos are much the same, some people will find that one works better than another for them. I, for example, don't care for Klonopin and use Xanax instead. My psychiatrist says he doesn't even try to guess which will work best for any given patient because "he's usually wrong". I know a woman who can't stand Xanax, but think Ativan is great -- to me they're both the same.

Yes, Xanax does require more frequent dosing. I don't view this as a problem myself, though I know some people would go nuts taking a pill 4 times a day. As for Xanax lasting 1-3 hours, I'd have to disagree. If that figure were accurate I'd need 8 to 24 doses per day, which obviously I don't.


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## Thunder (Nov 5, 2003)

You can get ill. .5 x 3 a day = 90 a month. .5 x 4 a day = 120 a month. Unless you have a script for 120 a month that last week of the month might get a little rough because you will be out of K wishing you had stuck with the instructions.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

mz_jess said:


> my question is, _how much can I take daily without getting really ill ?_


As has already been pointed out, you risk feeling like crap if you run out of pills before you can refill due to taking more than prescribed.

Now to answer your question: Klonopin is approved for treatment of panic disorder up to 4 mg a day, and up to 20 mg a day for epilepsy. So, the dose can go sky high without causing harm (other than such high doses would put most folks to sleep till they got used to it). It's really not an issue of benzos making you ill. It's an issue of you running out as you don't have enough supply. The toxic dose for any benzo is so sky high that nobody is ever going to reach it by accident, unless they can accidentally take hundreds of pills, so you're safe on that front.


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## Speak Easy (Jun 27, 2006)

UltraShy said:


> As for Xanax lasting 1-3 hours, I'd have to disagree. If that figure were accurate I'd need 8 to 24 doses per day, which obviously I don't.


How long would you say the effects last from one dose?


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

Speak Easy said:


> UltraShy said:
> 
> 
> > As for Xanax lasting 1-3 hours, I'd have to disagree. If that figure were accurate I'd need 8 to 24 doses per day, which obviously I don't.
> ...


I dont think Karl is taking into account the time he sleeps unless he really does pop xanax while hes sleeping.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

Noca said:


> Speak Easy said:
> 
> 
> > UltraShy said:
> ...


OK, let's say I sleep 8 hours a day. That leaves 16 waking hours, so 5 to 16 does per day at that rate of Xanax only last 1-3 hours.

As for how long Xanax lasts, I take it when I feel the need for it so it does vary considerably. I might take a few pills within a couple hours if I'm all wound up. Other times I might go much of the day without taking a pill. I have noticed that Xanax seems to have a much longer lasting effect when taken in a large dose (like 4-6 mg). I guess on average a dose might last me about 5 hours.


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## korey (Apr 25, 2006)

UltraShy said:


> I have noticed that Xanax seems to have a much longer lasting effect when taken in a large dose (like 4-6 mg)...


:ditto And I don't really know why Xanax is like that, either. :con


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## korey (Apr 25, 2006)

As for the original question, I came across a quick Google search for the LD50 (lethal dosage) of Klonopin (in mice, ha), and it was listed as >4,000mg/kg of body weight. So to make you sick, let's dice up the number to 1,000mg/kg of body weight (25% of the lethal dosage, which would be enough to cause severe sickness (among other things), I imagine). Let's assume you weigh 150lbs which is about 68kg. 68kg x 4,000mg/kg = 272,000mg, or #136,000 count 2mg tablets of Klonopin. I doubt that many could fit into your entire digestive tract (from entrance to exit). Besides, even if you had access to that much Klonopin, you could sell it and live off the profit in peace at home :b.

Realistically, though, I don't think there is an amount of Klonopin that anyone is going to be prescribed for SA that could ever make them severely ill. As I think others have pointed out, you'd probably pass out and sleep for a while before becoming sick.

Xanax is what works for me, but it does require multiple daily dosing for particularly bad SA-provoking situations. Lately, I've been taking only 1mg during the day to ensure no withdrawal occurs and then a couple mg's at night for sleep. Once I start an upcoming job and eventually return to school in the fall, I will probably be back up to 4mg-5mg per day. It's not troublesome, though. It depends on you and what you're willing to do, I guess.


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## Speak Easy (Jun 27, 2006)

Yes, Karl, and I agree that at a higher dose it would work that way. But you must take into consideration that most people are not gonna go above the 1-2mg dosage area. I don't believe that at 1mg, Xanax would produce_ noticeable _effects for longer than 1-3 hours. But that's just from personal experience, so everyone's experience could obviously be different


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## paddywack (Dec 11, 2013)

I always wanted and did take more than the specified dose of clonazepan (1/2 mg 2x day) because I really didn't feel any effects, I wanted to feel good and these just didn't cut it. This probably had something to do with taking xanax for a couple/few years (don't remember, ha) on a daily basis. (1-2 mg pr day) xanax gave me a much better overall feeling of well being and confidence, an easy one to want to take forever! 

I'm happy to say I'm currently off all and any benzo although I do miss the relaxed and overall good feeling from them. Anxiety as we all know is a ****** but what's far worse in my book is getting off of benzo's.....that's a mfkr!!! (I guess there comes a point for everyone to get off the stuff?) For me I think I'm better off dealing with my anxiety straight up rather than go thru on and off battles with the meds. Like many have and will say they are a temporary bandaid, but a nessesary one in most cases. It's definetly a catch 22. Hard to live with 'em, hard without. 

Peace


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

Here's how much I really took due to fear over seeing my doctor:

Staring December 10:

1mg Klonopin @11:30am
2mg Klonopin @3pm
2mg Klonopin @7:30pm
2mg Klonopin @9:40pm

December 11:

4mg Klonopin @2:05am
4mg Klonopin @2:45am
4mg Xanax @ 3:30am
2mg Xanax @9:30am
2mg Xanax @12:40pm

That seems to be 24mg in 25 hours. There was some drinking of wine during that period as well. Yes, I'm that f'ed up and yes I'm still fully alive.


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## fineline (Oct 21, 2011)

klonopin will not make you ill at any dose.

but it will simply make you fall asleep, if your tolerance is low, and you take high doses. (as in, doses much higher than what you are prescribed) 

good luck! let me know how it goes.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

allornothing said:


> klonopin will not make you ill at any dose.


Before newer drugs came along it was used up to 20mg/day for epilepsy, which is way beyond what's used for anxiety/panic. With Klonopin the sky's the limit. You can't realistically take too much. You'll run out long before you OD. Now some nanny is surely going to scold me because I should tell you that doesn't apply if you're taking it with a dangerously large dose of oxy and washing it down with a liter of Jack. Well, duh! If you just take benzos alone the worst that will happen is that you'll suffer a nap.


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

You can take all the Klonopin that you can get your hands on and you might fall asleep. A stomach ache from being so full of pills is the only bad thing that will happen. Personally I have taken at least 240 mg of Klonopin at once to no ill effect.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

istayhome said:


> Personally I have taken at least 240 mg of Klonopin at once to no ill effect.


You put my record to shame.

Benzos are so harmless that we're forced to refer to the LD50 in rats and scale that up to human size, guessing that's what it would take to kill a person. We're forced to do so as no human has ever actually managed to die by benzo alone. You'd have to literally eat the bottle and chock to death on the actual bottle.


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## JH1983 (Nov 14, 2013)

I've taken 50-60 mg. of Klonopin in a day with no ill effects. I've never heard of anyone dying from benzos alone either.

Edit: By ill effects I mean health, I made plenty of bad decisions taking doses like that.


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

UltraShy said:


> You put my record to shame.
> 
> Benzos are so harmless that we're forced to refer to the LD50 in rats and scale that up to human size, guessing that's what it would take to kill a person. We're forced to do so as no human has ever actually managed to die by benzo alone. You'd have to literally eat the bottle and chock to death on the actual bottle.


That was when I was seeing my first Psychiatric Nurse. We were trying me on different Benzos. I was prescribed 8 mg a da y and I had no benzo tolerance. I called him a couple days later and told him that Klonopin had no effect on me. So he just told me to keep trying it and take as much as I wanted to see if I got relief. So Igot my months prescription and took them all day long just hoping that they would relieve my anxiety. over a quarter of a gram later and I still was panicking.


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## GiftofGABA (Oct 2, 2013)

istayhome said:


> You can take all the Klonopin that you can get your hands on and you might fall asleep. A stomach ache from being so full of pills is the only bad thing that will happen. Personally I have taken at least 240 mg of Klonopin at once to no ill effect.


That is insane. I wonder if you have a benzodiazepine receptor mutation.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

istayhome said:


> That was when I was seeing my first Psychiatric Nurse. We were trying me on different Benzos. I was prescribed 8 mg a da y and I had no benzo tolerance. I called him a couple days later and told him that Klonopin had no effect on me. *So he just told me to keep trying it and take as much as I wanted to see if I got relief.* So Igot my months prescription and took them all day long just hoping that they would relieve my anxiety. over a quarter of a gram later and I still was panicking.


I'm totally shocked to actually hear a health care professional say that. 99.999% would totally freak out over what you did -- taking 250mg-- acting as if you'd just consumed cyanide. Most would call that a suicide attempt. (It's the kind of half-a**ed attempt you see by those who haven't a clue as to what they're doing.)

I knew a woman who was sent to the hospital against her will because she "ODed" on 50mg of Ativan. She was fully awake for the full 8 hour unwanted experience, since, as we both know, not a damn thing is going to happen from taking 50mg of Ativan alone. 50mg wasn't even enough to give her a nap.


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## swim (Apr 4, 2011)

hobos at termini railway station in rome take at least 50 2mg rivotril pills a day, mixed with cheap red wine.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

swim said:


> hobos at termini railway station in rome take at least 50 2mg rivotril pills a day, mixed with cheap red wine.


Where the hell do that get all that Klonopin?

And why would you even need it when you're drunk?


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

UltraShy said:


> I'm totally shocked to actually hear a health care professional say that. 99.999% would totally freak out over what you did -- taking 250mg-- acting as if you'd just consumed cyanide. Most would call that a suicide attempt. (It's the kind of half-a**ed attempt you see by those who haven't a clue as to what they're doing.)
> 
> I knew a woman who was sent to the hospital against her will because she "ODed" on 50mg of Ativan. She was fully awake for the full 8 hour unwanted experience, since, as we both know, not a damn thing is going to happen from taking 50mg of Ativan alone. 50mg wasn't even enough to give her a nap.


He was a psych nurse who not only didn't play by the rules but he also didn't know much either. Klonopin truly has no effect on me. That's the main reason I took so much, and I noticed absolutely nothing. At the time he was giving me huge amounts of free samples of seroquel too. Like big bags full of it. He wanted me on 600 mg of Sroquel XR/day. I tried for a couple days, but I did not enjoy being a fat zombie.


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## fineline (Oct 21, 2011)

swim said:


> hobos at termini railway station in rome take at least 50 2mg rivotril pills a day, mixed with cheap red wine.


i suppose the idea would be to keep themselves in a benzo and alcohol induced stupor. this way, it is easier for them to accept the fact that they are homeless.

benzos, at even low doses, tend to make one not care what about their circumstances, hence making nearly *any* situation easy to live with. cant say that i blame the homeless man for using this approach to life. it is really sad though.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

allornothing said:


> benzos, at even low doses, tend to make one not care what about their circumstances,


Wish benzos worked so well for me.


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## CD700 (Apr 22, 2010)

benzos help my anxiety but make me more depressed 
One time I swallowed a bottle of Vallium just for giggles and I was relatively fine. I was walking around in auto pilot mode, even went to a job interview but I went at 9pm instead of 9am, so my awareness of time and that was not normal and It lasted for days.


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## swim (Apr 4, 2011)

UltraShy said:


> Where the hell do that get all that Klonopin?
> 
> And why would you even need it when you're drunk?


I suppose they've got a legit script or they take it at the sanitarium. Brand rivotril (no generic is available) is free here. They say it helps them committing petty crime.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

swim said:


> I suppose they've got a legit script or they take it at the sanitarium. Brand rivotril (no generic is available) is free here. They say it helps them committing petty crime.


Even free doesn't explain how they get 50 of the largest dosage size of a prescription drug every day. That's one hell of a prescription.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

CD700 said:


> benzos help my anxiety but make me more depressed


Benzos don't make me depressed at all, even in high dose. That's the whole problem -- they don't do much for me at all even in high dose.


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## zeusko87 (Sep 30, 2014)

klonopin is the gift of god, nothing can compare with clonazepam for severe social anxiety. xanax is better for panic attacks but not for GAD and social anx. the only problem with clonazepam is tolerance. it reduces my anxiety for 75-80%. but i just can"t understand people who are 2 years on same dosage, like 2 or 3 mg and they have never developed tolerance. i take 4 mg after just 3 months (stared with 1.5 mg). if there would" t be tolerance problems, klonopin would be almost perfect drug for me. soon i will try mix klonopin with lyrica. i hope this combo is good and lyrica should help with my muscle spasms, neuropathic pain and fibromyalgia.


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## will22 (Mar 28, 2011)

mz_jess said:


> my question is, _how much can I take daily without getting really ill ?_
> 
> or.. would I be better off going onto a different type of benzo, like Xanax?


Taking benzos daily will most likely make you ill. There's no loophole, and the doses that you are already tolerant to are high enough to make you ill. Taking benzos daily will definitely make you physically dependent. Now what does ill mean?

Do memory lapses, cognitive impairment, worsened anxiety over the years, anger issues, depression, possible urinary incontinence, and a physical dependence that makes it extremely hard to come off of sound like being ill? If so please find a doctor who can take you off the dose you are on at a slow pace. Keep in mind most doctors are taught it is best not to prescribe benzos everyday. Whether or not they follow that recommendation and warn the patient is up to how careless or paid off they are.

If you do decide to come off it and you are really on 2mg daily for more than a few months, the withdrawal can rival that of the worst illegal drugs if you come off it at psychiatrist recommended speeds. *DO NOT* cold turkey, you risk deadly seizures.

I'm baffled at the benzo dependents that are here in full force in support. Yes, benzos will make you a more depressed person if taken everyday. Even the creator of Valium mentioned that it made him depressed.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2005-10-02/news/0510020229_1_valium-leo-sternbach-miltown
The drug is constantly dampening everything. I know it's popular to say that pharma drugs effect everyone differenly, but Klonopin isn't LSD. It's a strong, very predictable drug



> or.. would I be better off going onto a different type of benzo, like Xanax?


Xanax would be much worse. It has a shorter half life, and therefore it has worse inter-dose withdrawals and is harder to come of off. Valium has a longer half-life and would be safer, but not much.

anyway, everyone dependent on benzos bookmark this, it'll come in handy in the future https://www.facebook.com/groups/112449132147409/


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