Hello

Various benzodiazepines since 2004 for insomnia.  When switched to Clonazepam in 2012 (2mg in pm), my life in general started to deteriorate. In 2018 I discovered the Clonazepam was at the base of various health issues and began my journey to taper off. I did not have a supportive Dr., but he did agree to let me transfer to Valium (albeit an overnight switch and not transition) when the rebound anxiety tapering directly from Clonazepam became too much.

July 2018 - 1mg Clonazepam

August 2018 -0.875 mg

Sept 2018 - 0.75 mg

March 2019 - 10 mg Diazepam 1x day

April - Sept down to 6 mg 1x day

Oct - 4mg

Jan 2020 - 3 mg (held until Sept)

Oct. 2020 2 mg

Nov. 2020 1 mg

Dec. stopped but ended up in the ER 3 days later and back on 2 mg

Jan 21 - attempted to transfer to compounded liquid diazepam, but after a month was not doing well so back to 2 mg tablet

May 22 1.8

Jun - 1.7 (hold until Sept)

Sept - 1.6

Oct. - 1.5

Dec. - 1.4

Feb. 2022 - 1.3

Mar. 1.2

May 1.1

June .9

July .7

Aug .5 (I did not stabilize and continued to have worsening symptoms unlike any I had had previously and came to the conclusion that I would probably be better stoping completely, and I felt better as soon as I started tapering again--.5 was just enough to keep my withdrawal symptoms going)

Oct .3 for 6 days

Nov .2 for 6 days; .1 for 3 days

Nov 15, 2022 Done!!!

Hello Ann Baker, welcome to BenzoBuddies,

You can now search the forum and you can also reach out to others going through benzodiazepine withdrawal, its so important to have support and to understand how important tapering is.

We typically suggest reducing your dose by about 5-10% every couple of weeks but it's actually best to let your symptoms guide your taper, this will hopefully keep you functional.

I'll provide some links to help you navigate the forum but please tell us a little more about yourself.

Pamster

Colorado Consortium Benzodiazepine Deprescribing Guidelines

Planning Your Withdrawal (Taper)

Withdrawal Support (during your taper)

Chapter 3 Ashton manual, list of symptoms