when considering benzos like xanax and klonopin...you need to consider the halflife of it. xanax has a half life of 6 hours which means half of it is excreted from your body in 6 hours...in other words..half of it is left in your body after 6 hours of taking it. klonopin (clonazepan) has a long half life (the longest)of 24-30 hours.

appreciate your time and effort in reading my so called problem.......thanks guys.....wish us all luck:)

When I expressed my fears of withdrawals and side effects of taking Paxil, he said: "Remember, the side effects you are reading about are those peoples side effects, not yours." I think he is right. If you have any questions you should talk to the dr. and don't worry about withdrawals until you are ready to go off of the medication. All it will due is cause undue panic. -Misty

Me too, wouldn't you just like to have a light shine down on you and vanish all the anxiety away????

hi trish and chimp, thanks so much for the support and info you guys sent me. how am i doin??? well i went to my doctor everything was ok still had to continue clonazepam. well i must admit that its workin for me again. felt a bit calmer than without it. well maybe its part psychological knowin that am back with clonazepam that makes me feel calm again. i really dont know....anyway i still feel anxious or nervous at times i think i just have to get used to it. no matter how many more anti depressants or medicines i take i dont think there is a cure for anxiety. these meds just help us in the meantime but effects dont last that long. i just wish all my worries and fear go away in a blink of an eye...wheeewwwwwwy!!!! thanks again guys. appreciate it.

Hey RST anytime. Sorry about the lingo. SSRI antidepressants work by helping you to retain high serotonin levels, which is believed to be one of the major chemicals in your brain which makes you feel happy. Many people who suffer from anxiety and depressive disorders have low serotonin levels, and we can have difficulty lifting ourselves up. This is why when you are depressed, anxious or panicking it can be really hard to try and talk yourself out of it. SSRIs can really help with this kind of condition as they help you to feel better in the mid-longer term. Not a solution for everyone, but they can be very helpful. Im finding my SSRI is working really well, and I would recommend it if I knew that it would have the same effect for you. But i dont. So talk with your dr about it. Another note on xanax in my case, is it made me feel really low after a while. That isnt the case for everyone but definitely for me. I would still use it for sure (and have some in the cupboard) if I had a really bad attack, but I try to save it only for those situations, which I hope are no more often than once every few weeks tops (now that I have SSRI, therapy and am feeling a lot better). I definitely felt withdrawal when I stopped xanax and it wasnt a good feeling at all. Clonazapam will take longer but it will pass. How are you going Rst anyway? Have you seen a dr about it, have you assessed your options?

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor- Most not all Anti Depressants fall into this category, Paxil, Prozac, etc.

thanks for your post guys. was just wonderin what does ssrpi mean?

And I had the opposite effect with SSRI, upon taking my first pill I was thrown into a panic attack within hours of it. There are people who have a hard time withdrawing from SSRI's too, they experience brain zaps, etc. I was on Paxil for 3 yrs, they start you off or should slowly, but watch, the doctors always want you to increase your dosage, and some experience a pooped out effect after being on it, only to start being switched thru trial and error another SSRI. I lost my sex drive on the medicine, and it hasnt come back, I have an unsteady gait from it, and I havent taken the medicine in almost 4 years. On the other hand, I have been on either Xanax or Klonopin for over 10 yrs, without constant increases in dosages. Meds affect people so differently, but rst sounds as if your having rebound anxiety from stopping the Xanax abruptly as chimp stated. Trish

Hi Rst, I havent tried clonazepam, but it is a benzo not unlike xanax. Benzos are typically addictive and you need to watch out for that. They are very effective - when you are anxious or panicking nothing will work faster in the short term than a benzo, but they dont actually help make you better and they can make you worse over time. I was on xanax for the first 2.5 months of being treated for panic disorder. Ive now been off it for a week, and whilst i was craving it the first 2-3 days it got easier and now I have no noticeable desire to use it or any withdrawal symptoms from it. I had some withdrawal intially - felt a little more anxious than normal, but I am going up on an SSRI as well so it was hard to tell whether it was early side effects from the SSRI or withdrawal from the xanax. Clonazepam has a longer half life than xanax - about 30-40 hrs i believe (as opposed to around 10), which means when you take one of those babies it will take a minimum of about 30 hrs to pass through your system. It also means it should be effective for at least 24 hrs. The disadvantage is that you will experience withdrawal for longer, but probably not as severe withdrawal as you would get from xanax (though it would be shorter). The big problem with benzos is tolerance. Much like alcohol, the more you use them, the more tolerant your body becomes to using them, and then you need larger doses to get the same effect. This can lead to serious dependence and withdrawal. The other problem with panic in particular is response - if you are on a benzo and take it as required when you panic, you can become depedent on it to deal with the panic attacks, With clonazepam this is less problematic as you might just have it once a day, but its still something to think about. If you are taking it to deal with anxiety or panic, you might want to talk with your dr about other options like SSRI or even tricyclic antidepressants. The good thing about SSRIs in particular is that your body doesnt build up tolerance to them. Also, arguably they do help correct the problem as they help you to retain serotonin and stimulate some other parts of the brain which can cause depressed and anxious thought. Any