κλονοπίνη (κλοναζεπάμη) βοήθεια

Hi guys, brief description about myself:

I'm 19, from England and I suffer with something called derealisation, and anxiety and depression... The depression has gotten a lot better since 3 years ago when it all started. However the dreamyness/anxious mind still remains... I haven't really had a panic attack for 6+ months.. well a panic attack to me is where I lose control, and have what I can only describe as a seizure... It's scary stuff.. Each time I think I'm going to die whenever I have one.. But having said that it's been so long since I've had one.. But I still get all the little symptoms? Like racing heart, jittery leg.. can't keep still, EXTREMELY tight chest.. Like that's definitely the worst .. I ****ing hate how tight my chest goes... Anyway, I've been to a number of therapists and they all seem to think im fine? The thing its like a mask? To other people I seem completely normal, but in my head there's a war going on... Anyway.. Onto the point of this post..

I'm getting a tattoo done next month in memory of my grandad who passed away, but the thing is, just thinking about it gives me a tight chest? I know for certain at some point during that tattoo, I'm going to have a panic attack... I just ****ing know it.. I know you'll probably say like.. well you're convincing yourself you're going to have one... no, the thing is I've massively improved with my anxiety and derealisation.. and I notice that on a day to day basis... like I used to never be able to get in a car with someone as a passenger? I don't like the feeling of not having control of a situation.. but like.. I can do that now.. So I've massively improved... but there's still like certain situations.. I know for a fact, I wont be able to go through with it without having a panic attack.. and my panic attacks are next level.. I wouldn't wish them on my worse enemy. tbh I'm surprised im not dead yet from them. But anyway, I found this drug online, klonopin, which is supposed to help with anxiety and certain people say its helped with their derealisation too? which is amazing. This sounds like a magic pill to me lol, why didn't i discover this years ago? .. So I went to my dr asking for it andddd nope... not a chance.. My age is the issue apparently... He doesn't want a 19 year old relying on a drug like that? but the thing is.. my anxiety/derealisation has improve MASSIVELY .. like I have it all under control? I can deal with it on my own from day to day.. i have done for the past 3 years.. Its just situations like.. getting a tattoo or flying.. or going to theme parks.. I ****ing miss rollercoasters! but I just cant do it anymore!.. man... ****ing mental illnesses... anyway.. I'd only take klonopin when i literally had to? It wouldn't be daily, it wouldnt even be like once a week.. it would just be when I knew I was in a situation where i was gonna have a panic attack.. which is pretty rare nowadays, like i said, havent had one for 6 months... but its like.. There are still situations where I know for a fact will trigger one.. Will klonopin help me with this? ...

I just want to be able to get back to my old self again.. I feel like i've made it 80% of the way there on my own without any medication or any therapy... it's this last 20% thats the hardest.. I feel like If I just had something to help me? I don't even remember what normal feels like anymore...

[MODERATOR EDITED OUT REUEST FOR SOURCES ]

- Seren

My advice would be to not get the tattoo.

Well you could always do it the old school way and just take some shooters before going

Just make sure you know what you want beforehand so you don't wind up with "MOM" on your forehead or something crazy!

Disclaimer... you shouldn't drink before you get a tatty, it's just what we used to do before meds haha

I would have to agree with @απόφοιτοι. Isn't there another way to honor your beloved granddad? Perhaps a memorial in a park like a tree or a bench that many people can see and honor him by.

I use clonazopam, but it doesn't take away my panic attacks, it just makes them milder.

My attacks started when I was on my way to a university interview in London. I was 18. Thought I was dying. I lived in absolute terror of them for years, often afraid to even go to the toilet!

Eventually, at about 28 I realised that these things weren't going to stop (though your case might be different) so I simply faced up to them.

They occur daily. They aren't pleasant, but I find them more annoying than frightening now.

I hope things work out for you, but as someone who used to abuse benzos - this only made the panic attacks worse. It's an easy trap to fall into.

Καλή τύχη.

I have severe anxiety issues, and Klonopin definitely helped me for a number of years. The thing about Benzodiazpines, though, is that they shouldn't be the first medication that you try (in MY opinion, at least). I don't know what other medications you've tried, but lots of doctors will want to only use a drug like Klonopin when the "safer" things like antidepressants don't work.
Like someone above mentioned, though, don't put yourself in situations that are going to trigger extreme anxiety. Getting a tattoo can be nerve-wrecking for people even when they don't have any anxiety disorders. My advice would be to only seriously consider taking Klonopin if you think you need it to deal with anxiety produced by day to day life. Besides, if you take something like Klonopin to deal with the anxiety of going on rollercoasters, I think you'll find that you really don't enjoy it the way that you want.

i have significant anxiety....mostly social anxiety......i have used clonazepam or diazepam on and off for the last several years......they help......especially the roche rivotril

but i have also started testosterone replacement therapy and found that it helps too......it gives me the "oomph" and the necessary "assertiveness" to deal with life's problems a little better

I'd only take klonopin when i literally had to? It wouldn't be daily, it wouldnt even be like once a week.. it would just be when I knew I was in a situation where i was gonna have a panic attack

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And this what almost every single person who is dependent or addicted to benzos tells themselves in the beginning. It may start out that way, but keeping to that method becomes a very difficult task once the benzo bug bites.

I can see why your doctor wouldn't give any benzos to you, as yourself too call it the "magic pill", it'd be likely to start a slippery-slope to addiction. Take a clonazepam tab, and everything goes away, the attacks either disappear or get much milder. And you want that.

Hell, everybody would want that. But is it worth it to live your whole life on benzos? I'd say yes, but if you do change your mind down the road, just make sure you don't quit overnight. It's up to you, when I was you age, I used to get really bad ones, just like what you described, and in a few years as @ElectroNymph1 described it, now it's more like an annoyance, than frightening, even though I only have them a few times a month, maybe one or two.

I do take benzos every now and then, mostly for sleep, or if I really need to get my shit together for a job interview, I'd take a mg of Klonopin, just enough to keep my panic attacks from happening, but still not that much to knock me out.

ps: Don't get the tattoo.

Hi @Seren - I can totally relate to what you're going through. You're looking for a coping mechanism, and some of what may help for a one off event has already been mentioned, ie

Avoidance - don't do it
Medication - Alcohol (not too much) / Clonazepam which you believe may work

Other possibilities would include :

Desensitisation - although no good for one-offs (tattoo / interview etc). This involves repeating the process over and over, and is likely what you did for being a passenger in a car
Self help - Quite a lot you can look into here. Breathing techniques, self talk, meditation, giving yourself permission to feel the way you do, and thought diary are but a few techniques
Acceptance - Feel the fear and do it anyway

The only thing that may additionally help is taking back an element of control. Speak to the tattooist in advance - let them know you're nervous. Ask them would it be alright to take breaks if you needed them. Most would agree, if not find another that does. Just having the option to stop and get up may be enough to get through as you're no longer "trapped".

I don't fly, I don't go for blood tests, I'm never a passenger in a car, in fact there's lots I don't do. I also haven't had a panic attack in 3 years. We do what we need to do to get by.

I mostly avoid / medicate. If I had the choice I simply wouldn't go for the tattoo. However if you are going to do, then go for it or decide not to now. The fear of the event itself is usually far more scary and debilitating than the actual thing. The longer you leave it up in the air, the more needless anxiety you suffer.

I wish you the best of luck whatever you decide.

don't get the tattoo
if ypou want sources put in timr and effort, by then hopefully you will realize the tattoo is a bad idea.

Something I read ina book and it has mostly held me in good stead. A panic attack is like an alarm going off in your head and that alarm triggers off another alarm and then another until it is deafening or you brain is on hyper alert sending electical impulses that you can't handle. The trick is to say to the first alarm: your just an alarm I am going to do do my best to ignore you. If I ignore you I wont trigger the second or the third etc. It takes a bit of practice but it sure as hell beats Klon. I use it in gig situations and I swear it works. Things have been tough for me of late so I have had to resort to some chemical help but when I am through this I know it will work again,

@Seren

My advice to you, and I say it because you mentioned you are nineteen years old, put off getting that tattoo for a while. Find something else as a momento for you in memory of your Grandfather. Or, if you must, then decide to do so, but either or make the decision so the worrying and anxiety of wondering if can stop.

I'm not going to be a hypocrite because I have a few tattoo's myself, but I would erase them if I were able to now. You named a few things which are sure to set a panic attack off in you, so it would be best for you to keep avoiding those things, and this idea being one of them, not worth it.

Your Grandpa is surely worth it, but having to use a drug you otherwise wouldn't be isn't going to be, and I'm sure he would understand that. If you've made it 80% back to where you want to be without medication, that's a tremendous feat, so no need to risk losing all that progress by introducing a drug, even if you would only be using it here and there on an as needed basis.

The problem is, like any other drug, those once in a while "instances" which come up will begin to come up more and more frequently, it's just human nature that when a person finds they feel better after using a drug, they want to continue feeling better.

Your doctor is probably saying "no way" to you because he doesn't want to see you get addicted to the Klon, and yes, it does have to do somewhat with being nineteen,you've got so much more of life ahead of you.

And as for being normal or not, we are all normal and abnormal depending on who's keeping the score, don't let what other's say or think and their judgments be your guide, you are you, and what's normal to you might be strange and crazy to the next person, that doesn't matter.

At the end of the day you really have to answer to only one person, and that's yourself.

try reading up Lexapro

Ο LeNoZ είπε:

try reading up Lexapro

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Lexapro is supposed to be "the" SSRI that eases anxiety. It helped my son, but I crashed and burned on it. Tenex works for very short term anxiety (concert performers, someone who is afraid of public speaking, etc.)

However, I wouldn't go on meds for cosmetic reasons.

@Seren. Here to echo what has already been said, mostly. Benzodiazepines are pretty much seen as a short-term, last-resort kind of thing. Most doctors will try you on SSRIs and medication like pregabalin before trying a benzodiazepine, and to be fair, it is with good reason. You simply can't be on them long-term since they are very addictive and the withdrawals can actually kill you. I'm prescribed 28 diazepam or lorazepam a month, and on occasion I top this up with medication I acquire from IOPs, but I'm careful never to go more than 2 or 3 weeks using more than once a day because I am well aware of the horror that is benzodiazepine dependancy and withdrawal. I was on 2mg lorazepam three times a day for nearly 2 years back in 2011-2013, and when I stopped needing them for anxiety and panic attacks - and I 100% understand the feeling that you are about to die during a severe panic attack, it is horrible - I stopped taking them. Big, big mistake. I had seizures and all sorts. It was hell. I had to taper down using diazepam in the end, under direction from my psychiatrist.

I understand your feeling of needing 'that magic pill', but this is probably exactly the reason why you got a big fat 'nope' from your doctor. I suffer derealization and depersonalisation as off-shoots of various psychiatric conditions, and I know how unsettling it can be, but if you have it under control like you said, why do you feel you need clonazepam? Why clonazepam in particular? Personally I found lorazepam to work better than clonazepam, but like all benzodiazepines, they are hideously addictive, not just physically but psychologically too. Having a 'magic pill' that makes your discomfort go away is a double-edged sword. It is all too easy to head down the slippery slope of only taking it when required, and then it will be to ease certain situations, and before you know it, you'll be taking it to go to the shops, or before hanging out with friends, and so on, and thus begins your addiction to a surprisingly nasty group of drugs.

I used to get anxiety attacks really badly. I was right in the middle of one one time saying to myself "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die..." heartbeat up, body going numb, hyperventilating, the whole nine yards. Suddenly I caught myself in what I was doing. I got mad and real at the same time. I said to myself "who cares if I die I'll be better off anyway than this sh...t". I managed to make myself believe that and haven't had a full on anxiety attack since. People always tell you that the fear is irrational but that meant nothing until I decided to really BELIEVE that my fear was irrational, not in my head but down deep in my soul. I don't know if that will help anyone, but that is my story.

I do like Chlonazepam as a sleep aid though. I am fortunate in that benzo's make me sleepy, so I'm not going to abuse them during the day, or even take them unless I'm trying to sleep. BUT, I took it every night for about 3 months then ran out. Let me tell you, having done that with valium in the past and no problem I didn't think it was going to be a big deal, but I did have withdrawals. For a couple of days I was "anxious" enough to feel it and I knew it was withdrawal from Chlonazepam. It wasn't horrible, but it taught me a lesson that I don't want to be taking it every day like that anymore. No way!

@Seren
May I suggest meditation?
If you decide to go the klonopin route, I would incorporate meditation in anyways. It's a nice way to "ground" one's self. It can ease the mind and spirit. When I was younger I used to think it was all bull. Started practicing here and there a few minutes at a time, at first. Can clear the mind.
Klonopin can cause depression, it's one of the side effects.

Good luck to you, keep us posted.

Το innatebp1 είπε:

@Seren
May I suggest meditation?
If you decide to go the klonopin route, I would incorporate meditation in anyways. It's a nice way to "ground" one's self. It can ease the mind and spirit. When I was younger I used to think it was all bull. Started practicing here and there a few minutes at a time, at first. Can clear the mind.
Klonopin can cause depression, it's one of the side effects.

Good luck to you, keep us posted.

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Seems like your post just confirmed to me that Klonopin can cause depression. Been on it 2 months and I feel more depressed. Going to see my doc to come off this and hopefully prescribe me another benzo that doesnt have this side effect.

Depression is a possible side effect of benzos/Clonazepam that doesn't get enough attention! It is a CNS depressant as everyone knows.

I think the depression is yet ANOTHER reason why coming off of benzos can be nearly impossible for some people! I never heard of any doctor telling patients the potential side effects, as well as tapering and withdrawal procedures, prior to putting the patient on a benzo.