XANAX TO CLONAZEPAM:

Greetings,

 

I have moved my intro. to this section of the forum which is where it probably should be.

 

I just picked up my script, and actually what my doctor request is as follows: He gave me a script for 0.05 mg. with 45 tablets. It says to take 1/2 tablet 3 times per day! That would be .25 mg. x 3 daily, going straight from Xanax 0.05 x 5 daily? Can someone suggest a taper program for me? I don't wish to make a complete switch all at once. He said he wants me to take the .25 because it stays in my system longer than the xanax, and that should be all that I will need to reproduce a 0.05 x 3 daily that he feels is enough for me. I have been on xanax 0.05 x 3 for some 20 plus years. For about the last 6 months I have had to take more, working up to about 2.5 mg. daily. My thought is that if I can get off the xanax, over to the klonodin, I can reduce the number of pills daily as it stays in the system longer.

 

Thanks,

Steve,

 

If I am reading that correctly and you switching from .5mg of X three times a day..which is 1.5mg of X a day....to .125 mg of K three times a day....which is .375mg of K...that is a huge drop....K and X are equal on potency so basically you would be cutting from 1.5mg daily to .375mg daily?  If I read that right...you probably are in for a rough ride....and some serious wd....

 

Even if you miscalculated that..and I think you may have...because half of a .5 is .25....you still would be swapping 1.5mg X for .75 mg of K....basically a 50 percent cut in your dosage overnight?

 

Can clarify this...it is late..and I may be reading that wrong..but if what I stated above..either scenario is correct...that may be a rough ride indeed....

 

TC

TC,

 

You are correct, I did mis-calculate. It should be .25, not .125. Anyway, my doctor's logic is that the K is longer lasting than the X, and that I should not notice the difference because of the longer life of the K? It is hard to argue with my doctor of 13 years, so what can I do? Since I usually take X @ .5 mg. could I take the K @ .5 mg. and not have withdrawals from the X as they are both benzos?

 

Thanks,

TC,

 

You are correct, I did mis-calculate. It should be .25, not .125. Anyway, my doctor's logic is that the K is longer lasting than the X, and that I should not notice the difference because of the longer life of the K? It is hard to argue with my doctor of 13 years, so what can I do? Since I usually take X @ .5 mg. could I take the K @ .5 mg. and not have withdrawals from the X as they are both benzos?

 

Thanks,

 

Hi, Steve.

 

I don't understand his reasoning at all.  Longer half life has nothing to do with the potency of the drug.  For instance, valium has a very long half-life but is far less potent than xanax.  In fact, .5mg xanax is equivalent to 10 mg valium!  And even if you stopped taking .5mg xanax and replaced it with the equivalent amount (10mg valium), you'd likely feel symptoms for a while until the valium had build up in your system.  Have you checked out The Ashton Manual?  Here's a link to the information about potency and equivalencies:

http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzcha01.htm#4

 

Hi Steve 

 

Just checking in...

Keep us updated with how you are doing and if you talked to your doctor about the crossover dosage!

 

 

Hope all is well

~Kim

 

 

 

 

Still doing research before I talk with my doctor. From the information on this forum it appears that Valium is the preferred crossover medication? I wish more people would offer their input and experiences???

Still doing research before I talk with my doctor. From the information on this forum it appears that Valium is the preferred crossover medication? I wish more people would offer their input and experiences???

 

Hi Steve,

im on xanax, currently 1.9375mg. Had to correct my dose yesterday cause i hit the wall with my taper. Anxiety was just too much. Im considering crossover as well, dont know should i take the K-way or the V-way. Pretty sure that cannot taper with xanax.

 

Im also confused with equivalents and dosages. Hope we both get help for this.

 

Wantalife

Hi Steve,

 

I dropped Xanax 1.5mg cold turkey after 1 year of use and replaced with an equivilent amount of Klonopin (1.5mg). The Xanax went real bad on me, and so it made no sense for me to take it one more day so I just decided to directly switch.

 

I don't normally recommend that - as when I stopped the Xanax cold turkey I suffered some pretty wild withdrawals for about 7 days while the Klonopin was building in my system. I finally stabilized on the Klonopin after a week or two and then was ready to taper. For me the Klonopin was a bit of a life saver because I was so incredibly tolerant to the Xanax and having severe interdose withdrawals; and taking more only made me feel sicker.

 

As for the equivilencies, In my experience, 0.5mg Xanax = 0.5mg Klonopin.

 

L'andy

Hi Steve,

 

Just checking in...

How's the research going? Have seen the doc yet?

 

Best Wishes

~Kim

Hello Kim,

 

No I have not decided which doctor to approach. I'm still doing research with the Ashton Manuel, as well as other places. One thing I'm wondering is, would it not be an easier transition going from the Xanax I'm on now, over to the same dosage of Klonopin (which is what my GP advised, but he adviced 1/2 the dosage I'm on now with no taper which doesn't make any sense to me) as opposed to going over to Valium? Before I approach any doctor I feel that I need to resolve this first? Also, many doctors will not prescribe Valium as readily as other benzos, so this could be a problem?

 

I guess at this point I'm leaning with a cross over to Klonopin .5mg to replace the Xanax .5 mg. x 3 with a taper taken from the Ashton Method. What do you guys think? Is a taper necessary? My GP says that it is not because they are very similar drugs, both being benzos. Remember, I have been taken Xanax for around 25 years.

 

Thanks for checking in Kim. Finally how is your taper coming along? And I'm wondering why you felt the need to purchase 2 copies of the Ashton manuel as opposed to just printing them out and having them bound at a Kinkos?

 

Wish you the best,

Also, many doctors will not prescribe Valium as readily as other benzos, so this could be a problem?

 

I guess at this point I'm leaning with a cross over to Klonopin .5mg to replace the Xanax .5 mg. x 3 with a taper taken from the Ashton Method. What do you guys think? Is a taper necessary? My GP says that it is not because they are very similar drugs, both being benzos. Remember, I have been taken Xanax for around 25 years.

Steve - many, many people here have crossed over/ tapered from klonopin. In my opinion, it would be best to slowly substitute an equal amount of klonopin for the xanax. Xanax is short acting, while klonopin has a longer half life and requires some time to reach appropriate blood levels and become stable.

equivalency chart:

http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzcha01.htm#4 

Tell him you are having interdose symptoms and would like to cross over to klonopin slowly.

take the equivalency chart ( i would highlight the xanax and the klonopin), and the Ashton manual, if you have it, to the doctor and explain to him this is the method you'd like to follow.

 

I think if he already approved a crossover, then a slower crossover shouldn't be a problem as long as he uses the right equivalency.

 

If he is still unwilling, maybe you could look for a new doctor.

 

This is only my opinion ...

Good luck 

~Kim

oops sorry steve...

 

My cross-over is going well, thanks for asking. As far as me purchasing two copies of the manual, well I had and still have some anxiety of leaving home by myself for any amount of time....I'm sure this will pass 

 

Best wishes for success

~Kim

I don't see a cross over schedule from .5 xanax to .5 klonopin listed on Prof. Aston's site? Does anyone have a sensible schedule that is close to her approach?

 

Thanks,

Hi Steve,

 

You can do this in 4 steps. Do you have 0.5mg pills for each benzo? You can just trade out 0.125mg(1/4 pills) of each, every week or so. Xanax and klonopin are considered equivalent in strength, according to Dr. Ashton, for the purposes of substitution.

 

week 1.....Take 0.375mg xanax and 0.125mg klonopin

 

week 2...Take 0.25mg xanax and 0.25mg klonopin.

 

week 3.....Take 0.125mg xanax and 0.375mg klonopin.

 

week 4....0.5mg klonopin.

Eljay,

 

Thank you for your reply. Yes I do have 0.5mg. of both pills. However I only have 45 Klonopin pills to try out supplied by my doctor. I understand what you are saying regarding dosage, but right now I'm taken Xanax as follows: .5mg at 9am, .5 mg at 1 pm, .5mg at 5 pm, and 1 mg at 10 pm (to sleep), for a total of 2.5 mg daily. The reason I take the X every 4 hours is because I have built up a tolerance to X, which is my reason for trying to switch over to the K with a longer half-life.

 

So my question is how would I divide this up pertaining to my present schedule? I don't wish to go through unpleasant withdrawals during this crossover.

 

Or if anyone else would help me with a schedule it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you so much for your help,

Can anyone else offer any input as far as a schedule goes?

 

Thank you,

Im currently switching Xanax to Klonopin. I have replaced one dose of X with K, then waited 2-3 days and replaced another and so on. My doctor said i could switch directly but i didnt want to, too afraid of sx.

 

U could do your switch like this for example (im sure u know that X and K are equivalent):

 

9am 0.5 X, 1pm 0.5 K, 5pm 0.5 X, 10pm 1mg X

continue this for a few days

 

9am 0.5 X, 1pm 0.5 K, 5pm 0,5 X, 10pm 0.5mg X and 0.5mg K

continue for a few days

 

9am 0.5 X, 1pm 0.5 K, 5pm 0.5 K, 10pm 1mg K

continue for a few days

 

9am 0.5 K, 1pm 0.5 K, 5pm 0.5 K, 10pm 1mg K

 

This is just a suggestion, i'm no expert on this nor a doctor. U can even have 5-7 similar days in your schedule before switching another dose. It takes a few days for K to build up in your system. I have found K to make me sleepy, a bit dizzy at times but nothing horrible.

 

If u have questions, u can PM me!

 

 

 

Wantalife,

 

Thanks for your suggestions! It looks good to me at first glance. What do the rest of you guys think about this schedule plan? I will also present something to my doctor and see what he says?

 

Thanks again,

Hi Steve,

 

How's it going?

The crossover schedule looks good to me. IMO, I would hold each crossover at 6 or 7 days to see how you feel.

that's just my opinion, (your mileage may vary  )

 

Good luck,

~Kim 

Hello Kim,

 

I'm doing fine, how about you? I have not started to cross over yet, still doing research. One thing I'm wondering, is it easier to cross over to Klonopin or Valium? I know V has a longer half life than K, but I'm wondering if it is harder to cross over to V? Has anyone had any experience with this question? I need to know before I approach a doctor with all of this??

 

Thanks for input,

Hello Kim,

 

I'm doing fine, how about you? I have not started to cross over yet, still doing research. One thing I'm wondering, is it easier to cross over to Klonopin or Valium? I know V has a longer half life than K, but I'm wondering if it is harder to cross over to V? Has anyone had any experience with this question? I need to know before I approach a doctor with all of this??

 

Thanks for input,

 

Hi Steve,

i'm currently switching to klonopin from xanax. My xanax dose has been 1mg XR and about 1mg regular. Last week i switched the regulars: afternoon dose on monday, morning dose on wednesday and evening dose on friday. I had some wd symptoms from xanax and one night i had to take 0.125mg extra xanax cause i was so anxious. Klonopin feels somewhat different, i have been tired and more depressed, but its possible that it will pass. Switching wasnt too hard to do, so no reason to be afraid of it.

 

I still have the XR's to switch and i'm quite nervous about it, cause my body has so used to it after about 5 years of using it. Don't know when i'm gonna do the switch (one 0.5mg XR pill at a time), maybe soon.

 

I didnt want to crossover to valium because its too different (not so effective?) a benzo. In other words it would have been too scary. Xanax and klonopin are quite similar and its easy cause 0.5mg=0.5mg.

 

Hope u get something out of my experience and good luck when u deside to do your crossover (whether its to k or v) 

Hi Steve,

 

I can only speak of my experience of the crossover to valium. There is some difference between xanax and valium, as with other benzos. Since I've been on xanax for over 20 years, my body is pretty much use to it's actions. I've found the valium to be slightly more sedating than the xanax, and had to decrease it by 5 mg daily. But other than that, it is tolerable. I'm thinking that this (sedation) will even out over time, as with any other drug that you initially start taking. I chose valium, because of the Ashton protocol, and thankfully was able to find a doc to prescribe it. Here is the article from Ashton:

http://www.benzo.org.uk/ashvtaper.htm

 

Unfortunately, I've heard it is hard to find a doctor to prescribe it here in the US. I was lucky to find one to work with me.

 

I have not completely crossed over yet. Right now, I'm only on .25 mg of the xanax, along with the Valium (45mg/day). Next week will be the total crossover. Remember everyone is different and will probably have different experiences. It's not a one size fits all.

I'm sure you'll read both pros and cons concerning both Klonopin and valium.

 

Good luck - you can do it 

~Kim