Tired from klono, can't drink caffeine, help?!

[tifftoro]

This post has been promoted to an article

[VisualDude]

Klonopin is largely considered a 'management' med for HPPD (not a cure) as you know ("masking"). How much are you taking in a day?

I'm the odd duck here since caffine has no effect - can drink a triple expresso and take a nap. Nor are there any aggrivations of any symptoms.

Are you taking any other meds?

Usually the 'energy boosters' (like Nuvigil) don't set well.

What are your untreated HPPD symptoms like?

[dukkha]

Yes I totally feel you on the caffeine issue. It really doesn't sit well with me but I love loose leaf tea so drink minute amounts. Even though it perks me up, it leaves me feeling drained over the next few days and takes away energy from me over all.

But as to your issue ... if Klonopin is making you tired, you could experiment with the lowest dose you can get away with since you said it is necessasry. Also, how is your diet? Getting lots of greens throughout the day and solid protein in the morning is like letting your body run on high octane fuel. Regular exercise routines throughout the week can also give you sustained energy. You're body will start producing more energy than if you lead a sedintary lifestyle. Also there are vitamin combinations, essential oils, tinctures, herbal supplements and all sorts of stuff that can be energizing. So ... I'm essentially advocating the natural path to energy.

Dukkha

[tifftoro]

Thank you for your responses Visual and Dukkha.

Visual - I have been taking 1.5 mg (0.5 x 3) a day for nearly 5 years now. I have also been taking effexor for 6 years for OCD and depression. I have tons of anxiety even when taking both which is unfortunate but it's something I guess I have gotten used to. My untreated symptoms (without Klonopin) are severely bad. I have had HPPD for 11 years now but it didn't become unmanageable until 2008 after a bad night with too much drugs and getting a concusion.

My symptoms include severe static vision, severe DP/DR, tinnititus, electrical zig zags through patterns such as blinds or flooring, paranoia, anxiety, ghosting, things seem bigger or smaller than they really are, halos, etc. Also when I hear things that are at a distance they sound foreign and strange. An example would be some kids playing outside and they almost sound robotic. I could go on and on and I'm not sure if all are related to HPPD but I make one hell of a mess without Klono. Oh, lucky you for being able to drink coffee!

Dukkha - Considering how bad my HPPD is, I am already on a fairly low dose. I have never exceeded 2mg in a day unless it was absolutely neccessary. I have been a bit slugish lately as I have a lot of stress in my life and I have been staying in a lot. Regardless of that though I have been tired for as long as I can remember regardless of what I try. The reason I posted this was because I was hoping to receive some specifics as what to eat or what vitamins to take. Having HPPD makes me freakishly afraid to take ANYTHING (including vitamins) because I have no idea what kind of effect they will have on me. I took 5HTP once and it sent me for a loop! So I figured I better come to the people who would know from personal experiences. I guess I'm just afraid to aggrivate it in any way because of how severe my personal case is. If you could elaborte on any specific vitamins that would be wonderful.

Again, thank you both for your replies, it is greatly appreciated!

Happy 2012!

[VisualDude]

How does Effexor affect you. Since 5HTP made you sick, it would seem unusual that Effexor would not.

[John Smith]

Ive been lacking alot of energy as well, although it's a little better, im not on klon though, it stems more from my DPDR which i believe manifests fatigue as a symptom...Vitamin B12 has helped a bit, visual also recommended alpha GPC which 10 days in actually seems to be having a very good effect, all my symptoms seems slightly less so...

have you always had OCD/paranoia or did it just start with HPPD, ive been getting weird irrational thoughts as well

Also, do you have any visuals?

[tifftoro]

Hey guys sorry for the late response I have been really busy and honestly forgot to check back on. Ther reason that 5HTP made me sick was because I was already on effexor. A friend of mine told me that it was a vitamin that he would use after taking LSD. I was too careless to actually look into it. Effexor seems to help me in the area of OCD and severe depression. I don't think it works as well for me as I would like it to, but without I am a depressed germaphobe.

Boogres, how is the alpha GPC treating you now? For as long as I can remember I have had OCD and counsellors say it's from the way I grew up. Paranoia began after the HPPD onset in 2000. I coulnd't even smoke weed anymore because it felt like I just dropped 4 tabs of LSD or taken a pile of mushrooms.

Some of thoughts can be quite strange and disturbing when my anxiety is high or I have drinken too much caffeine. I feel extremely weird as if I am in the truman show and I am the star... As if everyone are actors who know who I am. I also have the most intense dreams imaginable. My boyfriend thinks it's from the HPPD because I can dream something one night and the next continue back into the same dream. I always remember them and I do have a ton of nightmares as well.

My visuals can extremely bad if i'm not on klono. I still have them being on it, but they are just less intense. My static vision can get so sparkly and bad that I can't even walk down a set of stairs and I have better than 20/20 vision. I see 2 dimensionally and get ton's of tracers and ghosting. Also the air looks like gas does on a hot day and things like couches breathe. I have auditory problems as well if I miss a dose or am behind on taking it. Things that are far away sound almost like Charlie Brown's "womp womp womp." people talking or televisions are all muffled almost sounding like robot gibberish. Sounds weird I know. The worst though is DEFINETELY the DP/DR and when I get it I get it BAD. I mean I can't even tell time! I can look at the clock and see that's it say 6:45pm but I have no concept of what it is or it's existance at all. I feel extremely unreal like I am living in a virtual reality world or a world that imitates the REAL one... I know, I don't get it either. Seriously klono has saved my life. It's still not all gone but it WAY better and my life is manageable now.

Well Boogres let me know if you relate to any of this and how the Alpha GPC is working. Thanks for your advice and concerns.

[John Smith]

Wow tiff, I'm sorry your symptoms definitely sound like amongst the worst ive read about...At the time my DPDR was at its worst, was immediately after an opiate and bud and klon and alcohol fueled bender to excess, daily 24/7 for 2+weeks and when i ran outta money I had all these symptoms that I had no idea existed, the DP was the worst (DR came later for me, although it had already reared its head once when I was high and definitely made my memory worse)

Id go around my hometown in a friends car and I'd have no idea which roads were which even though theres only like 5 main roads and ive lived here for 10 years, and then Black Dog by Zep came on the radio and i had no concept of what the song was, I knew it was by Zep but this just really got me down because Zep 4 is one of my fave albums of all time, ive literally listened to the song 1000 times, and I just couldnt name it at the time. When DR set in, id feel like i was seeing things, but i wasnt processing what they were, like id see and house or something and immediately forget about it...it was just THERE, but not being registered, hard to explain...

And funny you mention the truman show! My first (what i see now) bout of DP, pre hppd, still in my awesome shroom days, i was high in my shower staring at the wall and i started to see a little town of like gnomes in the tiles and the wall, in my head, became not a wall, but some sort of projection device and I actually wondered whether there were people behind it playing these images tryin to trip me out like in the truman show...shoulda been a sign i guess...

About the dreams, yeah i get em super vividly too, this morning i took a nap, and i was actually awake while asleep it was weird, i was seeing this robert deniro movie (in my head, that's never been made, as if i were writing it, and pre hppd id always wanted to write a screenplay so i just kept telling the dream, gimme a good plot, a good plot, cmon!) and it'd alternate between that and seeing the blinds as if i were awake, and then these scenes and the blinds, it was my first lucid dream...

It got trippier before that though, i do get dreams about my symptoms getting worse alot, and in this one, my field of view was slanted and i was just walking around my slanted apartment, and then I looked at my hands and they were deformed as hell, like baby arms, missing 2 fingers, and I remember thinking after the original bout of anxiety, oh well i guess this is a new symptom of mine, and it was a real moment of clarity, like im getting over mindin about HPPD as much, and I am, and then I realized in my dream, nah i must be dreamin, and sho nuff (THANK GOD) but for a second i did feel a discernible trace of ACTUAL anxiety.

Thats my rant haha, id def recommend alpha gpc, im takin it 3 times a day with a meal...it's slow progress, you won't notice anythin right away, but it might help you some, best of luck to you lady!

[Lucid206]

benzos and psyche meds of any type should not be looked at as a cure, more of a mask... to get over benzo sleepiness take clonazepam at night(itll last threw the next day just without the drugged feeling)

[Lucid206]

benzos and psyche meds of any type should not be looked at as a cure, more of a mask... to get over benzo sleepiness take clonazepam at night(itll last threw the next day just without the drugged feeling)

[HBB]

I've been struggling with tiredness myself. I take a lot of 5 hour energy, but I know it's basically terrible in some way I don't know of or care to know of.

It sounds crazy, but when I get sleepy, I've just started going jumping jacks. Like about 20 of them. It works. Just keep doing them till you're awake. Pretty scientific isn't it.