When You Become Tolerant to Clonazepam, Can You Just take another Benzo?
Thanks to the internet, patients now can access an abundance of information about their conditions and the drugs they are taking. While self-education is generally a good thing, patients should never forget that the internet is not a substitute for the advice of a licensed doctor. Yet, thousands of people will skip talking to their doctor and instead self-medicate. When it comes to benzodiazepine drugs like Clonazepam, self-medication can be very dangerous. One of the first things that the internet will tell you about Clonazepam is that it shouldn’t be taken for long periods of time because users can become tolerant to it, and thus develop a severe dependence if dosage is upped. This is straightforward enough but many patients will distort the fact and make a terrible mistake: they think that it is okay to just switch to another drug and they won’t become tolerant or dependent on Clonazepam. No, you cannot just substitute another drug for Clonazepam once you become tolerant. Tolerance does not occur to a specific drug. Rather, tolerance occurs to the effects of a drug. Clonazepam, for example, affects the GABA receptors of the body in order to make you calmer and sleep better. Other benzodiazepine drugs work in this same way. Even many nonbenzodiazepine drugs, such as “z-drugs” like Zolpidem, also affect GABA. If you develop a tolerance to any of these drugs, you will also develop a tolerance to Clonazepam. Of course, there are some differences between even drugs in the same class. While Clonazepam and other benzo drugs may affect GABA, they may do so in different ways or have different effects on other parts of the body. Because of this, you could develop a tolerance to Clonazepam and not develop such a strong cross tolerance to a different benzo drug. This still does not make it safe or okay to self-prescribe yourself a new benzodiazepine drug once you feel that you are becoming tolerant to Clonazepam.
When you take Clonazepam, the drug builds up in your body. Even if you stop taking the medication for a few days, it will still be in your system. Depending on how quickly your body detoxifies, you could still have trace amounts of Clonazepam in your body after weeks of not using it. If you use any other drug during this time, it could cause an interaction with Clonazepam. The combination of the two drugs could result in some serious side effects or even death. Never play doctor if you aren’t licensed and experienced: self-prescribing Clonazepam and other benzo drugs is not safe. If you notice that Clonazepam has become less effective in treating your insomnia, then you must let your doctor know at once. Your doctor will likely already have a few plans in mind for how to deal with your insomnia once the Clonazepam tolerance occurs. Don’t make the mistake of trying to substitute another benzodiazepine in place of Clonazepam.