How do I start - Please help!

Hi again,

 

If someone could help me in a direction to get started tapering, I would really appreciate it. It all seems so confusing. I don’t want to do too much to fast, and I realize going down a quarter from .5 is probably too much.

 

I could really use your guidance.

 

Thank you.

Serene

What is your current dose, how often do you take it and what size pills do you have?

 

Have you ever taken and discontinued benzo's in the past?  How long have you been taking benzo's?

 

How quickly would you like to do this, would you feel better starting out with a small reduction of maybe 5% or do you think you can do 10%? 

 

Rather than answering all of these questions every time, you can put some pertinent information into your signature so other members can see at a glance what your history and situation is.  Here are the instructions. Add your history/signature

 

Hi Pamster,

 

I have 1mg tablets that I cut into halves (.5). That is how I do it. The dr prescribing would give it to me this way so that I would have the prescription for a longer period of time. I cut the tablet in half with a pill cutter, but it crumbles and some halves are bigger than others. I’m probably not getting the same dosage each night, either a little higher or lower than .5.  I take my dose at bedtime. I’ve been doing it this way since I started benzos.

 

Yes, I have gone CT off Elival, back on it again after about 60 days. That was back in 2012-13. Then switched to Klonopin. About a year ago I tried to taper and I got to .25, but the withdrawal and fear scared me back to .5. I’ve been bouncing back and forth between .5 and 1.0 for a few years now.

 

I think I’d like to try a 5% reduction and see how it goes. Is that a lot in the scope of things?

 

Ok, I will work on piecing together my history. Thank you <3

Thanks for filling out your signature, I was out of town and left you hanging, I'm sorry.  You mention Elavil, I don't believe that's a benzo but you mention Xanax in 2012 did you stop that completely making you benzo free or is that when you got on Klonopin?

Thanks for filling out your signature, I was out of town and left you hanging, I'm sorry.  You mention Elavil, I don't believe that's a benzo but you mention Xanax in 2012 did you stop that completely making you benzo free or is that when you got on Klonopin?

 

Hi Pamster,

 

No worries and thank you. I hope your trip was a pleasant one I will work on my signature in more detail soon.

 

I stopped the Elival CT for about 60 days and then went on to Xanax. Elival (amitrypline) is not a benzo? I just googled it and it’s actually a tricyclic. I began Elival for nerve pain. I had the worst panic attack of my entire life and suddenly developed this very bad burning sensation on my tongue. It’s now recognized as Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS). After months of suffering and searching for relief, I discovered information online which suggested that low doses of Elival would help reduce the burn. Finding a dr to believe me and prescribe Elival was another challenge but I finally was able to get a prescription and it actually helped. I still have burning on my tongue but it’s minimal and usually triggered by strong/dark coffee like Starbucks or acidic/spicy food.

 

Wow, so my benzo use started at Xanax. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. <3

 

Serene 

That burning sounds miserable and unfortunately its a benzo withdrawal symptom so I hope it doesn't become one of your more noticeable problems. 

 

The reason I'm digging so deep about your benzo use is because past use can have an impact on your current situation, the body seems to remember and it can make withdrawal symptoms more intense so if you have used Xanax in the past, I think it would behoove you to start your taper out very slow, say at 5% just to get an idea of how you're going to react.

 

Its going to be a challenge to reduce your dose with the 1 mg pills, it would be better if you had the .5 or .125 pills instead, would your doctor be willing to prescribe those doses instead?  If he/she isn't willing then we should probably talk about reduction techniques like these.  Titration FAQ's

 

How are you feeling during the day, many of our Klonopin users will dose twice a day to avoid interdose withdrawal, are you feeling that before your next scheduled dose?