# From Setraline/Alprazolam to Venlafaxine/Clonazepam



## Guest (Apr 12, 2006)

Hello there,

After almost one year, I will be switching shortly from a Sertraline (Zoloft/Serlain) and Alprazolam (Xanax) cocktail to a Venlafaxine (Effexor) and Clonazepam (Klonopin/Rivotril) one. Sertraline worked fairly ok for me after a long and difficult kick-off, but never solved my anxiety and DP/DR problems. It did lift my mood --and I didn't even suspect I was a bit depressive before but I can feel the difference now-- and also caused sexual dysfunction, but not much more to my sense. As for Alprazolam, it works wonders but I tend to build up tolerance after a while and then face nasty paradoxical effects (had this twice).

I talked again to my psychiatrist about the research at Maudsley and he agreed to try something else. He is willing to try Lamotrigine (Lamictal) but warned me against the side-effects of anti-convulsant drugs and will only make a decision once he gets the results of a blood test and sees how I react to Clonazepam, which is slightly anti-convulsant. His idea is that Venlafaxine should work no worse than Sertraline and probably better, while having less side-effects, and that Clonazepam is less prone to tolerance and addiction problems, with its longer half-life. I will be taking 75 mg Venlafaxine and 1 mg Clonazepam every day, to start with. Whether I start taking Lamotrigine or not (and stop Clonazepam or not) will be discussed next time we meet, in a month's time.

Has anyone here been on this cocktail before? How long can you expect Clonazepam to work at a certain dosage before tolerance kicks in? Any undocumented side-effects?

I'll keep you posted on the progress!
Cheers

Uncle Seb


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## comfortably numb (Mar 6, 2006)

Ive been on both venlafaxine and clonazepam but not at the same time.

When i was on venlafaxine i was diagnosed as having GAD. I had dp/dr as well but i just didnt know what to call it. Venlafaxine sucks in my opinion for anxiety. It actually made me worse. It seemed to make my dp/dr worse as well especially the first couple of days i was on it. Everything looked unreal and i was very spaced out. I felt totally out of myself.

Side effects wise venlafaxine sucks majorly. It made me totally lose my appetite and it completly ruined my sex life as well. It also gave me headaches.

I put up with this drug for about 2 months then i decided to quit cold turkey as i was told that it didnt produce dependance. The withdrawals where so horrible that i can barely describe them. I had those brain shocks everytime i moved my eyes, i felt totally spaced out and i had nausea on and off. This lasted about 2 weeks i think.

I am now on clonazepam 2 mg a day. Ive been on it for about 2 and a half months and its totally changed my life. My anxiety is almost totally gone, no panic attacks and my dp/dr is almost totally gone. I still get the occasional bit of dp/dr but without the anxiety it doesent seem to bother me. I have no real side effects off this med. The only thing to worry about is the dreded benzo dependency. There supposedly one of the worst and dangerous type of drugs to come off. But i have a hard time believing that there any worse to withdraw from then venlafaxine. Also some people find clonazepam and other benzos addictive so you have to be wary of that.

My advice though is that venlafaxine should be the last medication you try. It has the worst withdrawal effects out of any of the antidepressants. I personally would try a anticonvulsant like lamictal or another type of antidepressant before i tried venlafaxine. Id even go with a maoi drug before id try that again.


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## gimpy34 (Aug 10, 2004)

Yes, Effexor has terrible withdrawal when you go cold turkey but so do SSRIs. I have had the pleasure of quitting Celexa and Effexor cold turkey and they were equally as bad.

Effexor is more effective for GAD, probably because it increases levels of norepinephrine (and dopamine slightly) which is supposed to improve concentration and motivation. So, I guess it helps anxiety through being able to concentrate on other stuff. It is also effective for panic disorder as it increases serotonin. But, in my experience, Effexor made my panic disorder a little worse. If you are taking Klonopin, you should be OK with that, though.

Anyways, try it, and see how what happens. The Venlafaxine/Klonopin combo really isn't too much of a departure from Zoloft/Xanax but it could possibly improve things.


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