I have been dealing with anxiety for a few years, worse since having my son in 2012. Normally I can deal with it but this time it's bad. I can't work and all I want to do is sit at home (my safe place). I have been on Prozac 60mg once a day since July and Zyprexa 2.5mg once a day since October. I was doing good until I was put on progesterone to start my period. Monday will be two weeks since I took my last one of those and I started having this panic attack on Sunday knowing my husband was going out of town for two weeks. My dr called in Klonopin 1mg 1-2 a day as needed until I could see her. It has helped lessen the panic but it's still there and it made me sleepy. After seeing her yesterday she feels the problem is from the progesterone and it has to get out of my system. She feels my Prozac and Zyprexa are fine but wants me to do Ativan instead of Klonopin. I'm very scared and don't know what to do. I haven't been able to work and I need to. They tell me to focus but I can't. I'm afraid these meds will make me feel out of it but if it will help I would be willing to take it. I'm so scared and confused. I'm not eating and I feel like this will never end.
Ativan vs. Klonopin. Which is better for anxiety?
Question posted by hjblackburn26 on 3 Dec 2016
Last updated on 6 November 2018
Answers
The first thing to do is to take a deep breath because you're going to be OK. The second thing is to understand that the two medications work differently. Klonopin is a long-acting anxiety-reducer that basically works over a period of 12 to 24 hours. It is meant to lower your anxiety or keep anxiety attacks from happening. Ativan, on the other hand, is a medication that you take when you feel an anxiety attack coming on. Should you have this happen, you should go ahead and take per instructions and try to breathe deeply to calm your heart rate. The medicine will kick in fast. It will also will burn off within just a few hours so you're not left tired all day. The point of it is to help you through the panic attack, possibly be helping it stop, or by helping it to be less intense than in the past. It's impossible to say how it will affect you in terms of making you tired or sleepy until you give it a try, so you might want to try taking it when you're home and not driving or at work. Best of luck, Meggie
Thank you for the comment. I'm trying to take it one day at a time but I keep looking into the future and freaking myself out. I don't want to go back to work because I'm afraid I'm going to have another attack so I'm on edge all the time. My dr gave me an excuse on Friday for 2-3 days but I won't get paid for them as I don't have any benefit time. I took the Ativan yesterday and this morning but I don't like it. It only made me very sleepy and did nothing for my anxiety. I am so scared I don't know what to do.
Okay, so what I hear you saying is that you're having less of panic attacks and more of anxiety because your mind keeps whirring with "what if" scenarios. That leaves you with a constant, underlying sense of stress and unease that probably gives you insomnia yet at the same time you feel exhausted all the time. Does that sound anything at all like what you're experiencing?
I'm not throwing a diagnosis out there at you, but I had those symptoms, plus quick to get angry, and depression, and it turns out that all of this went away with a mood stabilizer. If you look them up on the internet, you'll see that the FDA originally approved mood stabilizers for bipolar disorder, but they're prescribed for SO many different conditions now. In my experience, mine (Lamictal) never caused me to feel tired.
If you ARE feeling the constant, all-day anxiety, the fast-acting benzodiazepines like Ativan, Xanax and Valium aren't going to help you much. You would need more round-the-clock coverage, which the Klonopin provides. Maybe it would have worked, but at a higher dose.
Can you describe your symptoms in more detail, and when you say the Ativan did nothing for you, do you really mean you might as well have taken a spoonful of sugar? It does sound like the sleepiness kicked in, so its purpose was served in some capacity - it stopped your panic and made you relax. If you do have insomnia, this might help you sleep.
You have said you're scared I think several times. What are you scared of? Work? Not finding a solution? The medication?
Yes, that sounds exactly like what I'm feeling. I get nauseous with what feels like a big ball of fear in my stomach. I can't think straight, my eyes glaze over, my lips tingle and all I want to do is cover up and forget everything. I try to keep my mind on other things but I can't focus.
I'm scared of the feelings never going away, of the medicine not working, of going back to work and having another attack. I'm afraid to leave the house at this point in fear I'll have a panic attack.
I'm very sorry for the delayed response in getting back to you. I was out sick yesterday with a thrown out back, but I'm back in the office today. I hadn't noticed in your original post that you said you were taking the Prozac/Zyprexa combo! OMGOMGOMG that exact same medication caused me to go completely manic, I had my claws in the ceiling, and I was going through your EXACT symptoms, and my Doctor suspected that it was the Prozac aspect of the medication that was doing it, as it can be VERY triggering (from a mania perspective) for someone who may be bipolar, or have those types of symptoms. I'm dancing with joy right now, because I KNOW that stopping this combination allowed me to stop experiencing the absolutely horrible effects you're going through. Talk with your Doctor ASAP and try to work on getting a better diagnosis. If he/she has you on Zyprexa, that's an atypical antipsychotic.
It could be that you're being given it because you have treatment-resistant depression, but what if you actually have bipolar depression, which typically presents itself as looking like depression, but with worry worry worry, can't make decisions, quick to get angry, etc. If you are, in fact, bipolar, I am going to advocate, again, for a mood stabilizer like Lamictal (Lamotrigine). My Dr. literally told me to throw my Prozac/Zyprexa in the trash, in the toilet, give it to the pharmacist - do whatever I needed to do, but don't EVER go ANYWHERE near it again! I am so excited for you. Do let me know if this helps???
I called my dr again yesterday because I had another bad anxiety attack. I ended up taking a 1mg Klonopin instead of the 0.5mg and it took the edge off better but I had a little dizziness. I had to leave a message for my dr and mentioned about seasonal depression/anxiety. They called back today and she still feels my regular meds are working and wants me to try Xanax since I had the dizziness. I've actually been able to do more today then I have in a while but while I say this I bite my tongue because I don't want to jinx myself. I haven't gotten the Xanax yet as I'm scared to change something since I'm feeling slightly better. I told them that and they still want me to try it. Idk what to do.
Give it a try :-) If Klonopin isn't working and neither is the other, the worst thing you can probably do is not at least try once. Your body is going to react differently to different medications, so don't give up hope yet!
Thank you for your advice. It's nice to have someone to talk to that has been through this.
I am here for you!!! Let me know how it goes. Wishing you all the best in the meantime. :-)
Thank you! You too!
I personally feel like ativan is quicker and 6x more effective than clonazepam. clonazepam helped a little but lorazepam kicks in almost instantly and calms you down a lot. A fast acting benzo is the way to go when you have severe anxiety. It does how ever make you really tired but you also feel extremely relaxed. You may feel some dizziness or drowsiness but I can promise you it is not scary at all because it completely irradicates anxiety quickly. Your anxiety will simply disappear.
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ativan, klonopin, anxiety, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder
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