Xanax and Klonopin

hamiltonkrewe

Hello,
My name is Dave I’m a 44 y/o married male living in Illinois. My intro posts can ramble on pretty long so I will start with the condensed version first. I have been taking 4mg of Xanax XR and Xanax was not working for me like it did before. Actually it seems to do nothing but keep away withdrawal symptoms. My Doctor put me on Klonopin Wednesday. He wanted me to taper 2mg of Xanax then after 5 days be 100% on Klonopin. I was shocked but said I would give it a try. I took only 1mg the first day. I felt so out of it. Not right away it took about 3 hours or so. My stomach hurt, I was sweating I felt sick. I only slept a few hours.
I called the doctor Friday and he was out for the day. His nurse said to try taking half. I didn't Friday but thought I would give it another try Saturday. During the day I took my 3mgs of Xanax XR. At 5:00pm and 9:00pm I took half mg’s of the Klonapin. I could not fall asleep. Last I looked at the clock it was 2:45am. Then I did wake up. At 5:30 am when my wife gets ready for work. When I awoke. I was FREEZING and shivering. I was so cold.. I had to urinate and actually considered peeing myself because I was to cold to get up. I knew I needed my Xanax. Wife in the shower I took everything I had to get out of bed. Got the Xanax made it to the kitchen for some water. My wife came out and said “What's wrong?” I said I'm so cold. She said I was shaking. I told her I needed more blankets and turned up the furnace. I started feeling a little better and wanted her to go to work. It actually took a couple hours for this to pass. Today I just feel spacey and sweaty. Anyone ever hear of such a reaction to Klonopin? I told my wife this week I am going into out or if I have to inpatient detox.

As I lay in bed I had the oddest thoughts. I kept thinking of my childhood doctor. An older man who seemed to really care about my families health. It seems today's doctors are all young and out to make money. Their medicines don't really cure but make you dependent on them.

About myself. I was a UPS driver for about 14 years. Very stressful job. I began feeling ill sometimes almost like I was going to pass out. I never did but went to my doctor to find out the problem. They ran a bunch of blood test that all came back negative. He put me on Midran (?) something he took himself for headaches. I kept getting these strange feelings. He then said it looks like I have an inner ear infection and my mastoids were infected. After being on antibiotics for a few months and no relief I was sent to a neurologist where I had a MRI that came back negative. Then I was sent to an ear nose and throat doctor and when that came back negative was referred to a phsyciatrist.

I hated it. It was back in the day when you got an hour of psychotherapy with your prescription. He gave me a prescription for Elivil (?) I slept about 18 hours a day then when I woke was exhausted. After a few days stopped taking the medication. I took a 1-year leave of absence from UPS and felt great. The feelings I felt were panic attacks brought on by the stress of my job.

After a year I felt pretty good and ready to return to work. I worked about a month and fell off a dock and hurt my back. After 6 months of unsuccessful therapy UPS offered me a settlement to leave the company. I thought about the panic attacks from working there and gladly accepted the settlement to leave.

I worked odd jobs. My wife had a good job; we had no kids so I was looking for stress free work. One summer I had a lawn care business. Stress free and good exercise. Life was pretty good. Sure I had occasional anxiety but not the passing out feeling.

After years of fertility treatments my wife became pregnant with our daughter. She was going to be a stay at home Mom and I needed a job with benefits. I got a job at a local hospital waxing floors the heath benefits were great. I made an appointment to see a doctor for a physical. It was about 5 years since I seen a doctor. Busy place I seen his nurse practitioner. I told her my history and she asked? HAVE YOU EVER TRIED XANAX? I said no of coarse. She said many people take it to take the edge off. It sounded like she was saying some people have this deficiency and this cures it. She has a friend who was on it over 10 years. So she wrote a prescription 3mg’s 3 times a day. I felt good, much better then on elivil.

After working at the hospital almost 2 years we decided to move to Florida where my wife’s father lives. I knew I had to wean myself of the Xanax so had my final prescription filled and cut my doses each week and was off it 100% in less then 2 months. I thought I was done with that didn't need it. I started feeling sick.. Like I never had before. We were out driving and.WAIT I WAS HAVING A HEART ATTACK...So rushed to the ER took all these tests and was fine. It was a withdrawal from the Xanax. They gave me some and I was fine. I found a new doctor. Back up to 3mg’s and started a cleaning company. After a 3-year contract with the state of Florida I was outbid on my contract and dissolved my business.

That was 2 years ago. My wife went to nursing school and I stayed home. My health worsened. My wife began working as a nurse and I still didn't work.

We decided to move back to Illinois. My wife was waiting for her nursing license to be transferred to Illinois so neither of us worked. My condition became agoraphobic. I had seen a local psychiatrist. With no income we charged the first visit. He upped my dosage to 4mg’s and changed it to Xanax extended release. Very expensive. Generic $185 a month. My second visit he told me he was dropping me as a patient because I had no insurance and didn't want me to charge it. He agreed to refill my prescription until I could be seen at the community clinic that has a 6-month waiting list.

My wife started working but it took 90 days until she was eligible to purchase insurance. When she did I needed to find a psychiatrist. Who do I choose? The same guy who dropped me. I knew he easily prescribed benzos. I just needed to function. My appointment lasted less then 5 minutes. He gladly put me on Klonapin when he seen I had insurance.

I feel I have no choice but to detox. The Xanax doesn’t help and the Klonopen makes me feel so sick and may be causing me seizures or something.

If I was taking the short acting Xanax I could cut them in half. In Florida I got myself down to 1 1/2 mgs but taking Xanax XR they can’t be cut in half. It seems the doctor really wants the Klonopan to work.

Can anyone tell me about detox? I've never abused my prescription; I’m a family man. I haven't been to a bar in 20 years. I don't drink. I don't do illegal drugs. I never thought me to be like these people but I am. I would prefer outpatient but if I had to would do in-patient. What is it like? Any help would be appreciated

Thank You Dave