I cut my dose today! Is this still considered a high dose? Seizure risk?

Hello all. This may be a very ridiculous question but I am just curious about dosages. When I started this process I was up to 2.5 mg Xanax and 4mg Valium. As of today I am down to 0.875 mg Xanax and .5 mg klonopin. No Valium anymore. I understand that compared to many even the 2.5 wasn’t a high dose. But mentally to me I feel such a sense of relief being officially under 1mg!  I mean I’m still having symptoms beyond belief and feel horrible, but something mentally satisfying about knowing I’m under 1mg. My question is would my current dose still be considered a high dose?  Also, I’ve come this far with no seizure, which has always been such a fear for me. Now that I am getting quite a bit lower am I still at any risk for a seizure or should I just get that thought out of my head?  I plan to still have another 4-6 months to finish off my taper. But every time I get brain zaps or anything I think it’s an impending seizure. Am I still at a risk or should I get that out of my head and try to focus on recovery? 

I think half of my symptoms are from pure fear and terror of this process killing me. If I can have the assurance I will survive then maybe I can work towards letting go of the fear and hope to minimize at least some of my symptoms.

 

Again I’m sorry if this is a ridiculous and crazy post and question. It’s just on my mind tonight. Thanks for any replies!!

Hey Patdick,

I can't speak to seizures but I know an admin and other more seasoned members will reply soon. I do however, want to congratulate you on your progress... so much to be proud of... really inspiring. I don't *think* you're at risk for a siezure in terms of the valium low dose but I will let others reply to that in more detail. Best wishes... -F

Hey Patdick,

I can't speak to seizures but I know an admin and other more seasoned members will reply soon. I do however, want to congratulate you on your progress... so much to be proud of... really inspiring. I don't *think* you're at risk for a siezure in terms of the valium low dose but I will let others reply to that in more detail. Best wishes... -F

 

Thank you!!  In my mind I feel like with how far I’ve come if I was going to have a seizure I would’ve had it by now, but again I don’t know and that fear is still there. I just have a pattern of being absolutely terrified of every single symptom I have. It’s a real struggle to feel something and not panic over it for me. I’m working on it. But I feel like if I can get that under control I might not be quite as bad as I am right now.

Hello all. This may be a very ridiculous question but I am just curious about dosages. When I started this process I was up to 2.5 mg Xanax and 4mg Valium. As of today I am down to 0.875 mg Xanax and .5 mg klonopin. No Valium anymore. I understand that compared to many even the 2.5 wasn’t a high dose. But mentally to me I feel such a sense of relief being officially under 1mg!  I mean I’m still having symptoms beyond belief and feel horrible, but something mentally satisfying about knowing I’m under 1mg. My question is would my current dose still be considered a high dose?  Also, I’ve come this far with no seizure, which has always been such a fear for me. Now that I am getting quite a bit lower am I still at any risk for a seizure or should I just get that thought out of my head?  I plan to still have another 4-6 months to finish off my taper. But every time I get brain zaps or anything I think it’s an impending seizure. Am I still at a risk or should I get that out of my head and try to focus on recovery? 

I think half of my symptoms are from pure fear and terror of this process killing me. If I can have the assurance I will survive then maybe I can work towards letting go of the fear and hope to minimize at least some of my symptoms.

 

Again I’m sorry if this is a ridiculous and crazy post and question. It’s just on my mind tonight. Thanks for any replies!!

 

Hi Patrick

 

I want to assure you this withdrawal process isn’t going to kill you, but, there is the issue of finding the least painful way through this.

 

I see you’ve made the switch or cross from diazepam to clonazepam just over a month ago, and I wonder if you’ve given yourself enough time to adjust and stabilise before tapering again?

 

When I switched (directly) from clonazepam to diazepam, albeit, from a 19 day c/t of the clonazepam, it took 3 months to come out of acute withdrawal, to stabilise, before I definitely knew I was ready to taper. I suffered so much in that 3 months that I just knew there was simply no other option for me, but to hold.

 

I completely understand your desire to forge ahead with your taper, however, as I’ve expressed previously… I am concerned that because you may not yet have experienced those deeper levels of suffering, you may be heading for a nasty shock. I’m not saying this to scare you, but just to try and make you aware, sometimes we have no choice but to put our impatience aside, ride out our symptoms until they settle back to a baseline level (stabilisation) before resuming our taper.

 

I notice you’ve switched or crossed from 4mg diazepam to 0.5mg clonazepam, 0.5 being the equivalent of about 7.5mg diazepam, and whether that would help you stabilise faster… I’m not too sure, as there would still be the issue of withdrawing from the diazepam and adjusting to the clonazepam, and, it does seem to have only been about 4 or 5 weeks. Just keep in mind that the brain is always searching for balance, and if you keep making changes or reductions before you are ready, the brain never catches up, so you’re never affording yourself the opportunity to taper from a solid, stable base.

 

Your 0.875mg Xanax is the equivalent of 13mg diazepam, so yes… it’s still a high dose, but one hell of a lot better than the 2.5mg Xanax you were on (equivalent 38mg diazepam).

 

As long as you are tapering sensibly and not c/t’ing, you really shouldn’t be worrying about any seizures.

 

Honestly, I think your expectation to finish your taper within 4-6 months is quite unrealistic… incredibly fast, and fraught with danger.

 

All I would ask is that you reassess as you go… and if things get worse… find the patience within yourself to slow things up considerably.

 

We’re always here to support you.

 

Best of luck, Patrick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have done really well in reducing your dose. In terms of tapering you are still at a fairly high dose but you can put the fear of seizures out of your mind. No matter what your dose, if you taper slowly you should not have a seizure. We will not operate a website helping people get off benzo's if tapering results in seizures. I promise you none of us would be able to live with ourselves if we help people straight into seizures.

 

I have noticed for many of us in withdrawal  there is a component of unnatural fear. It's like we get fixated on something and we can't let go of that fear.

 

I also see you plan to be off in 4-6 months which has me a bit worried like WS said if you want to taper this fast. Not for seizures but for symptoms. I was tapering between 5%-7.5% every 2 weeks and it took me about 20 months to get off 1mg Klonopin. Klonopin and Xanax are the same conversion. The problem with putting a time line on it, is the pressure you put yourself under. The goal posts are likely to keep shifting or you struggle with severe withdrawal and it makes you feel like a failure. It's better to keep going with the flow and just see what your body allows.

Thank you both so much for your replies!  It’s just so overwhelming and half the time I’m in such a bad brain fog I can’t think right at all and all my mind tells me is I’m in danger, and get off the meds. I think part of it is the ups and downs of the Xanax. Trying to stabilize on it is so difficult because I’ll take it, helps for an hour or 2, then I have 3-4 hours of misery before I get my next dose. It’s just horrible. That’s why we tried the Valium, and now the klonopin. Trying to add low doses of a long acting to make this a bit more manageable. Also, I didn’t realize the .5 klonopin was technically higher than 4mg Valium.    I don’t like that. But what’s done is done I guess. The big thing for me is just making sure I’m safe as in no seizure, no heart attack, no stroke, no anaphylaxis, nothing insane that my brain constantly tells me will happen even though they never have. And making sure I’m able to maintain weight and at least some strength. As it is I’m down to just 500 steps per day average and I feel so so weak. I’m praying that the strength will come back. I just hate this whole process and wish I’d never once taken a benzo. My panic attacks were NOTHING compared to this.

Hi Patrick

 

I hear you… it can take a considerable amount of time to truly accept the situation we find ourselves in, and until we do, we often struggle with impatience as we grieve our old lives, but, we do eventually reach that place of acceptance and develop the patience needed.

 

You’ve had a few changes lately, and it has only been just over a month since you reduced your Xanax dose at the same time as you switched from Valium to clonazepam, so you’re probably even still going through a recovery/adjustment period. There would’ve been a withdrawal from the diazepam taking place while you were adjusting to the clonazepam. It’s not as simple or straightforward as doctors think it is. They may be all benzodiazepines, but they’re very different benzodiazepines.

 

The best way for you to maintain weight and keep your strength up is to find your baseline level of symptoms from which to taper, rather than constantly being in a heightened state. If you’ve been pushing your taper too hard and fast, it can take some time (through holding) for symptoms to gradually settle down and return you to some semblance of normality. If you’re constantly destabilised, it makes sense that your symptoms would (to some degree) bleed through sooner and with more intensity after dosing the Xanax than they would if you allowed yourself to stabilise.