Is this a reasonable taper? (RE: Xanax to Klonopin)

[[Buddie]]

Ok so..I was first prescribed Xanax when I was 16 years old (I'm now 25). The dosage I was on the longest was .5mg 3xdaily but in the past year has gone up to 1mg 3xdaily..so a total of 3 mgs a day. Today my dr and I both agreed it was time to wean off because i've been needing to use more and more and I just want to be "me" again.

Anyway...she took me off the xanax today and put me on .25mg of klonopin twice daily. Is it just me or does that seem like a very dramatic decrease? I was a MESS all day and eventually called her and said there is no freaking WAY i'm going to be able to get through this on only .25 twice a day. She raised it to .5 twice a day and wants me to do that for a week and then try dropping to the .25. Have any of you had similar experiences with this kind of taper (which to me seems really rapid) and did it work for you?

[[Buddie]]

Hello, I am an avid fan-reader of this website: crazymeds.us
There is quite a bit there about the benzo's:

here is a  quote from the general info list about the benzodiazepine information.

Benzodiazepines - technically mild anticonvulsants.(left frame.)

"9. Here are the dosage equivalents of benzodiazepines: 1mg Ativan = 0.5mg Klonopin = 25mg Librium = 15mg Tranxene = 10mg Valium = 0.5mg Xanax. If you need to suddenly switch from one to another because of a sudden bad reaction you're pretty much OK swapping any benzodiazepine for any other in case of emergency. Unless you've been taking Xanax for long enough to become dependent upon it. Then you're hosed. Xanax requires Xanax for discontinuation. You can try switching between brand and generic and that's it. "

So I guess you are stuck with your aprazolam, unless anyone here has had results doing it differently. I tapered off Xanax myself, very slowly taking more than double the time that my doctor advised, the lowest dose changes I titrated. ASk for help about titration here on the forum.
Iwish you heeps of good luck, and all the tenacity in the world to get where you want to be.
Love, E

[[Buddie]]

Ok so..I was first prescribed Xanax when I was 16 years old (I'm now 25). The dosage I was on the longest was .5mg 3xdaily but in the past year has gone up to 1mg 3xdaily..so a total of 3 mgs a day. Today my dr and I both agreed it was time to wean off because i've been needing to use more and more and I just want to be "me" again.

Anyway...she took me off the xanax today and put me on .25mg of klonopin twice daily. Is it just me or does that seem like a very dramatic decrease? I was a MESS all day and eventually called her and said there is no freaking WAY i'm going to be able to get through this on only .25 twice a day. She raised it to .5 twice a day and wants me to do that for a week and then try dropping to the .25. Have any of you had similar experiences with this kind of taper (which to me seems really rapid) and did it work for you?

Hi Seven,

I did have a doctor who tried to dramatically cut my dose by an entire .5 mg tablet, and this was too much of a drop for me. Unfortunately she would not raise my dose back up and let me taper down slower, so I had to bite the bullet and get through the withdrawal. You may need to explain to her that you need to taper at a slower and reasonable pace that you can tolerate. It might help to write down your plan and how you'd like to taper and present that to the doctor. I know it helped some when I did this so that the doctor could see I had a plan of action. You could also refer to the Ashton Manual as an example: http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/

[[Buddie]]

Hello 7,

Welcome to Benzobuddies.

3mg xanax is equivelant to 3mg klonopin according to Prof. Ashton and others for the purposes of tapering off. And it does sound like she is taking you off much too fast. We usually suggest an aprox taper of 10% every week or two.

But as far as being switched from xanax to klon for tapering, this is fine, as long as it is an equivilant dose. Klonopin, in most cases, is better than xanax for the purpose of tapering, as it has much longer half life which may help ease some withdrawal symptoms 

[[Buddie]]

Ok so..I was first prescribed Xanax when I was 16 years old (I'm now 25). The dosage I was on the longest was .5mg 3xdaily but in the past year has gone up to 1mg 3xdaily..so a total of 3 mgs a day. Today my dr and I both agreed it was time to wean off because i've been needing to use more and more and I just want to be "me" again.

Anyway...she took me off the xanax today and put me on .25mg of klonopin twice daily. Is it just me or does that seem like a very dramatic decrease? I was a MESS all day and eventually called her and said there is no freaking WAY i'm going to be able to get through this on only .25 twice a day. She raised it to .5 twice a day and wants me to do that for a week and then try dropping to the .25. Have any of you had similar experiences with this kind of taper (which to me seems really rapid) and did it work for you?

Welcome to BenzoBuddies, [...].   

I hope your doc is open to reason because I think you need a change of plan.  It sounds like she is just trying to prevent the chance of seizures rather than minimize withdrawal symptoms.  If you can convince her that you will get off the xanax but you need to do it much slower, we can help you work out a reduction plan.  One way is with .25mg xanax tablets which can be cut into 1/4's to make small reductions every week or two.  And I don't agree with the bolded quote by [...]; you can also taper by crossing over to an equivalent dose of klonopin and then taper slowly off.  The online benzo manual (The Ashton Manual) that [...] gave you the link for shows an equivalency of 0.5mg xanax = 0.5mg klonopin, which means you should probably be on much more klonopin than she put you on if that's the way you go.  Here is a brief description of the pros and cons of the three main methods for tapering:

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=9522.0

You will find much more about the substitution method in the Ashton manual.  Prof Ashton crossed her patients over to valium but docs in the US prefer klonopin.

[[Buddie]]

Hey 7,

I did a crossover from Xanax to Klonopin.   My Xanax dose was 1 1/2-2mg daily.  When I was switched over they initially put me on 1 1/2mg of Klonopin daily.  It wasn't until they increased my Klonopin dose to 2mg daily that I began to feel human again.  The dose is pretty comparable in my opinion.

I had a pretty easy taper from Klonopin.  If you need ideas for a Klonopin taper schedule, mine is in my signature if you click the link.  If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.

Good luck however you do this!   

Phyllis

[[Buddie]]

Thanks so much for all the info you guys. What's going on now is I'm taking .5mgs of klonopin twice a day for a week and then my dr wants me to cut to .25 twice a day for a week and then go from there. I took my first .5 around 9 this morning and will probably take the second one when I feel like i REALLY need it. I'm hoping to make it to 8pm but i'm thinking it'll probably be earlier. Anyway, suprisingly I'm not doing all that bad. Yes, my anxiety levels are up and i feel weird but it's NOTHING compared to cold turkey (which i've tried and was literally hell on earth). It's hard but it doesn't seem unbearable. Not yet anyway. I will keep you all updated.

[[Buddie]]

Thanks so much for all the info you guys. What's going on now is I'm taking .5mgs of klonopin twice a day for a week and then my dr wants me to cut to .25 twice a day for a week and then go from there. I took my first .5 around 9 this morning and will probably take the second one when I feel like i REALLY need it. I'm hoping to make it to 8pm but i'm thinking it'll probably be earlier. Anyway, suprisingly I'm not doing all that bad. Yes, my anxiety levels are up and i feel weird but it's NOTHING compared to cold turkey (which i've tried and was literally hell on earth). It's hard but it doesn't seem unbearable. Not yet anyway. I will keep you all updated.

Our motto is "slow and steady wins the race". Sounds like a rapid taper, just slow it down if symptoms become intolerable. 

[[Buddie]]

That is a dramatic drop  . There's no chance your doctor will be willing to slow it down? I'm glad your feeling well. Maybe you will be one of the people who can tolerate a rapid taper. I sure hope so!
If it becomes too hard I'd definitely slow it down and let your doctor know that it's too fast.

Keep us posted

Amanda 

[[Buddie]]

Thanks you guys. So far it's been manageable. Besides crying spells and being irritated at the slightest thing it's been ok. There hasn't been any panic and that's the one thing i was really afraid of, the panic and fear. In a couple of days I switch to .25 twice a day and am just really hoping i don't freak out. if i do i promise i'll tell my dr i need more time, i just really want out of the benzo cage asap...