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Taper from .5 Clonazapam


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Hello, I am preparing to taper from .5 clonazapam once a day. I am in tolorance and have started to split my doses to 2 X per say. Hopefully that will help stabilize a bit before I start to taper.

 

I would like to do the daily titration taper. How much water do I use and how much do I pull? I would like to go slow so I can still work and manage my life.

 

Thanks

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There is a huge difference between 5% every two weeks and 10% every two weeks. What rate did you taper before? It's best to go at the pace that your body can tolerate.
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  • 3 weeks later...

 

Well the splitting of doses was a fail. I will need to stay on the on dose an night for now. I have finally stablized after trying split the doses.

 

My plan was to do a daily taper of 1mg per day with 300ml liquid. I am not sure what the difference would be with doing the daily taper versus the 2 week hold. I think it works out to 5% per month. Is one more manageable then the other?

 

Thanks...

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I'm sorry to hear splitting your doses didn't work out for you, but I'm happy that you're stable again. Whether you cut and hold or whether you micro taper is really a personal decision on what works best for your symptoms. Not everyone reacts the same and both methods have their own pro's and cons. A lot of people start out with cut and hold when they're at the higher doses and then do micro dosing when they get to the lower numbers.

 

You might want to look at Titration: FAQs

 

Your suggestion of 1mg in 300ml liquid will be approximately 8.33% per month reduction.

 

If doing liquid titration I would suggest you do a pill and liquid combination. Because Clonazepam forms a suspension not a solution I personally think it's better to take as much of your dose in pill format and then just titrate the rest in liquid format.

 

Let us know if you need more help.

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Jelly Belly,

 

I am able to get two .25mg tablets from the DR. So it is best to take one .25 mg then titrate the other .25 tablet. What would the calculations be for the one pill? My brain will not do math. I would like to stay close to 5% per month. I think reducing every two weeks may work better as I travel alot for work and I won't need to make the suspension so often. Maybe once I get to .25mg I will start the micro taper.

 

Hope that makes sense. Thank you for your help!

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Hello, jaja12. The fact that your doctor is willing to prescribe 0.25mg clonazepam tablets is good news! Are they the Orally Disintegrating Tablets (ODTs) available in the US? 

 

I agree with jelly baby about using a combination of tablets and do-it-yourself (DIY) liquid as long as possible. Per our Titration: FAQs, DIY liquids have not been professionally analyzed so we do not know their properties.  In contrast, we do know the properties of the solid dosage form plus your body is accustomed to it.  Consequently, the longer you can keep at least part of your dose in the known form, the better.

 

Your decision to start with a taper rate of 5% a month is sound. Generally speaking, it’s far easer to speed up a ‘too slow’ taper than it is to recover from a ‘too fast’ taper..

 

Below are several options for your consideration.

 

Each day you would take one-half of your current total daily dose in tablet form. You would ingest the remaining portion in liquid form.

 

Each day you would make a DIY liquid using a 0.25mg clonazepam tablet and 250mL of liquid (e.g. water or another option to consider is whole fat, homogenized milk).  The resulting liquid would have a concentration in the range of 0.001mg/mL (0.25 divided by 250).

 

To make a 2.5% reduction in dose every two weeks, on Days 1-14, you would withdraw and discard 12.5mL of the liquid, then ingest the remaining 237.5mL.  On Days 15 - 30, you would withdraw and discard 25mL and ingest the remaining 225mL.

 

Or, if you wanted to microtaper, you could withdraw and discard 1mL of the liquid on Day 1 then ingest the remaining 249mL; on Day 2, you would withdraw 2mL; on Day 3, 3mL until Day 25 when you would withdraw 25mL and ingest 225mL.  For Days 26-30, you would hold your dose constant at 225mL to give your body time to ‘process’ the reductions made on Days 1-25.

 

If all went well with a 5% per month taper rate, the next month you might consider increasing your rate slightly — or not.  In either case, you would need to recalculate your reductions using your new, current total daily dose (not your starting dose of 0.5mg). Do you have someone in the real-world who could help you with these calculations?

 

I’ll close by sharing an observation … members who find success with DIY liquids tend to follow certain practices.  These include: (1) conducting a trial of the liquid before making any reductions to evaluate how they respond to the change in dosage form (from tablet to liquid); (2) making smaller rather than larger batches; (3) being consistent in how they prepare the liquid (e.g. using the same gear, following the same procedure); (4) shaking the liquid well before using it to distribute drug/excipient particles as evenly as possible throughout the liquid; and (5) measuring reductions/doses as quickly as possible before drug/excipient particles fall out of suspension.

 

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Libertas has given you an excellent foundation to get you going. Let us know how you feel about this plan.
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jaja12, it sounds like you ran into the same problem I did while tapering clonazepam - when I got to 0.25mg, the pills became too small to cut with any accuracy.  With a lot of reluctance, I switched to the water taper like you are considering and to my pleasant surprise, I found it easy to do and easy to tolerate.  All the best to you!
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Libertas,

 

Thank you for the great information;

 

Would Day 1 be removing 1ml and ingesting 249 as I am starting with 250ml of liquid? Also, given that it is best to ingest as much in pill form if would be worth considering dry cutting until I get to .25?

 

Or, if you wanted to microtaper, you could withdraw and discard 1mL of the liquid on Day 1 then ingest the remaining 224mL; on Day 2, you would withdraw 2mL; on Day 3, 3mL until Day 25 when you would withdraw 25mL and ingest 225mL.  For Days 26-30, you would hold your dose constant at 225mL to give your body time to ‘process’ the reductions made on Days 1-25.

 

I should be able to find someone to help with the calculations once I get to .25.

 

Again thanks for you help!

 

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Kate 8,

 

Did you dry cut until you go to .25? I am wondering if I should consider dry cut since it is best to take as much in pill form.

 

Thanks

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Yes, I did dry cut until I got to 0.25mg.  I did not want to switch to liquid but felt I had to because the cuts were getting too hard to make.  It turned out that the water taper was easier than I had anticipated and it got me through to the end.
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Kate08,

 

I see that you did 0.01 per day when you did the titration. Did it take you 50 days to taper from .5 K? That seems fast just wondering what your experience was?

 

Thanks,

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You are most welcome, jaja12.

 

Would Day 1 be removing 1ml and ingesting 249 as I am starting with 250ml of liquid?

 

Good catch! Yes. (Reminder to self: Do not post late in the evening when you are tired.)

 

Also, given that it is best to ingest as much in pill form if would be worth considering dry cutting until I get to .25?

 

The ‘best’ approach is the one that works for you.  Each of the do-it-yourself (DIY) approaches has pros/cons, risks/benefits, advantages/disadvantages. 

 

I should be able to find someone to help with the calculations once I get to .25.

 

Excellent!  Building a support system comprised of people in your life who can provide practical, emotional, or other types of support can make benzodiazepine discontinuation and recovery easier.

 

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One more observation …

 

Another key to a successful taper is to keep a daily taper journal.  It does not have to be complicated. Examples of data to collect include:

 

- The date

- Time(s) and amounts(s) of drug ingested

- Daily rating of your withdrawal symptoms (0 = no symptoms; 10 = intolerable symptoms)

- Daily rating of your functionality (0 = able to perform all essential daily tasks; 10 = unable to perform any essential daily tasks)

 

Review the data on a regular basis and adjust your taper rate and/or interval if needed.

 

(If you are a visual learner, you can graph the symptom and functionality ratings to look for patterns/trends.)

 

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Libertas,

 

I appreciate all the great information. I need to get a syringe and I have a Dr appointment today  :) I am so ready to get off these meds. One thing I had to do was to stop watching or read all the horror stories of others trying to taper. As you mentioned everyone is different and has their own experience.  I plan to go in with a good mind set  :) Thanks again!

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Kate08,

 

I see that you did 0.01 per day when you did the titration. Did it take you 50 days to taper from .5 K? That seems fast just wondering what your experience was?

 

Thanks,

 

I might have been somewhat unique in this process but I felt better the further I got in my taper.  I had a long run with benzos and had needed to let them go long before I did.  Yes, I did taper 0.5mg in 50 days and I did fine with that part of my journey.  Of course, you could use more water than I did and take longer to taper.

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  • 2 months later...
I'm in the same boat.  Once you get around .25 mg I think you have 2 options for accuracy - Liquid or Shaving.  I use a nail file for shaving, and it's working well so far.
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I'm in the same boat.  Once you get around .25 mg I think you have 2 options for accuracy - Liquid or Shaving.  I use a nail file for shaving, and it's working well so far.

 

I shave tablets as well.  I've been considering putting the powder from my shavings into capsules once I get too low to shave.

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I'm in the same boat.  Once you get around .25 mg I think you have 2 options for accuracy - Liquid or Shaving.  I use a nail file for shaving, and it's working well so far.

 

I shave tablets as well.  I've been considering putting the powder from my shavings into capsules once I get too low to shave.

 

That's a good idea.  I cannot wait until I'm at the point where it's too low to shave. 

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