What's a safer choice, Valium or Klonopins?!
Question: Please don't lecture me on how all benzodiazepines are addicting and dangerous, I already know the risk. Anyways I've been prescribed Valium for a few weeks now but may want to try something else. Valium seems to linger too long and leaves me feeling burnout. What are the differences between Valium and Klonopins and what are the advantages/disadvantages?
Answers: Please don't lecture me on how all benzodiazepines are addicting and dangerous, I already know the risk. Anyways I've been prescribed Valium for a few weeks now but may want to try something else. Valium seems to linger too long and leaves me feeling burnout. What are the differences between Valium and Klonopins and what are the advantages/disadvantages?
It is hard to give you a clear answer, unless you are more specific about the reason you were prescribed valium. Was it as a sleeping pill, or anxiety, or as muscle relaxant? Or something else?
If your overall problem with valium is that it lingers too long, then you likely need a benzodiazepine that has a shorter half-life, valium has one of the longest half-lives and it also has an active metabolite(it breaks down into another benzo in the body, that is also active) that is long acting.
There are shorter acting benzodiazepines, such as ativan, oxazepam and alprazolam.
Just talk to the doctor that prescribed the valium, tell them that the valium lingers too long & leaves you feeling burnt out & they will be able to prescribe a shorter acting product.
The advantages of a shorter acting benzodiazepine, is that they will not linger as much, and shouldn't leave you feeling so burnt out, The disadvantage is that the shorter acting benzodiazepines are thought to be more addictive than the longer acting ones.
different people respond differently to drugs, you will have to try it and see how it affects you. Drugs are made for a reason, sometimes people need them, and if you need them and you take them according to your doctors directions, there's nothing wrong with that.
Valium has a longer biological half-life, so its slightly less addictive and longer acting. Both of them, however, are long acting (compared to some other benzodiazepines). Specifically their half-lives are 20-100 hours and 18-50 hours for diazepam (valium) and clonazepam (klonopin), respectively.
You never even said what you take them for, so its hard to get too specific for you. If anxiety is your problem, then you want a shorter half life (xanax would be kinda like the benzodiazepine gold standard for anxiety with a halflife of around 11 hours). Keep in mind shorter halflife can mean greater risk of dependency.
Klonopin has a much longer half life than valium which is used as a muscle relaxer more these days than as an antianxiety med.
To get the best info on the advantages and disadvantages particularly to you I would suggest calling a pharmacist so you know the info you are getting is correct and specific to your needs.
I dont know about Klonopins but Valium will knock you out. My grandma had surg and got it and she would wipe out. shed be on the chair with her head bent mouth open and snoring. she took it while having a cat scan and we had to have 2 nurses help us get her into the car. when we got home we couldnt even get her inside. we left her their for awhile then opened the window pushed her over then poured her into the wheel chair. and had to pick her up to put her into bed.
Valium is usually used to sedate you, whereas Klonopin is actually an anti-seizure drug but is used for anxiety. I have been on Klonopin for years after I went into the hospital to get off Xanax. Xanax, which is usually the choice for anxiety, it is much more addicting then these drugs. I won't lecture you and I take Klonopin too for many , many years. I can think clearly and sleep better. You know your body and how it reacts better than anyone. Try the Klonopin but give it time and start with a half a milligram and see how you react. If it has to be increased, then it will happen over time. Just make sure a doctor is treating you. My regular family physician prescribes mine. With any drug, it's a trial and error to find what suits you best with the least side effects. Klonopin helps me and I am at 2 mg ( a high dose) but it doesn't seem to effect me that much. I played volleyball and other sports, I drove just fine and the only thing I have noticed about Klonopin , for me, it makes me salivate more. That's a small price to pay though for a drug that helps you. Best wishes and hope you can get the right drug that helps the most and meets your needs.
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