Clonazepam experience?? Looking for meds options

[SunnyAfternoonInWinter]

I've recently been prescribed clonazepam (klonopin) (I'm not in the U.K.) and it's been weirdly wonderful. I'd been struggling with PND but have had panic anxiety since my late teens. I feel calm, even when my baby is screaming, I don't feel panic at making phone calls to sort out issues. I promptly replied to emails without issues. I feel like this is what normal people are like, but I know it's an addictive medication. I was only given 10 pills and my dose is half a pill. I'm about to run out and won't be given a refill so I'm trying to work out what's next? Does anyone take this long term? Or is there anyone medication that would have the same effect?

To give an example before I was trying to get an ADD diagnosis so I could get meds to focus but maybe my issue has always been panic anxiety and I need meds for that instead?? I want to feel this calm and focused all the time!! I don't want to go back to brain fog and work panic.

[quote SunnyAfternoonInWinter]**@DGRossetti* @CurseMyTinyThumbs* I'm sure it won't shock either of you to know I'm in the US[/quote]
I had a good guess when I saw "Klonopin" ....

Clonazepam also used to be called Rivotril. Not sure what happened to that ...

That's awkward… I guess really you need to go back to your prescriber and express interest in trying something more sustainable than clonazepam, which as you know can be really effective for anxiety but only ever a solution in the extreme short term.

There are other medication options for anxiety and depression outside BZDs and SSRIs, but they all have their drawbacks — like we were talking about it earlier, there's drugs like pregabalin but they can still be dependency-forming as they're working on much the same brain systems as the clonazepam. Then there's beta-blockers, which mostly work by intervening in the physical part of the anxiety, so don't work for everyone, and have some medical contraindications. Also other antidepressants, but they have similar drawbacks to the ones you mentioned for SSRIs. And there are also some antipsychotics which some people take for anxiety, but the side effects on those can be life-changing if you're unlucky.

You could look into different therapy modalities, too, like ACT.

Good luck — it's a bit shit, isn't it?

Very shit. There's all these medications that could help but it's such trial and error that you could make yourself much much worse if they the doctors get it wrong which they will at least once.

@CurseMyTinyThumbs you know what really head spin, there's people that feel that all time except under extreme stress. That really threw me. That DH doesn't experience that level of daily panic.

there's drugs like pregabalin but they can still be dependency-forming as they're working on much the same brain systems as the clonazepam.

all of them mess around with the GABA pathways in the brain. Eventually causing the brain to effectively rewire itself permanently. At that point ... well it's game over.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4020178/
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3684331/

Sorry that I can't offer any alternatives or other help. But maybe posting this here could advise anyone else in the future.