how to taper klonopin: i’m a beginner!

so i was told to start tapering by 10%, i have never heard of this. my doctor had me taper from 2 mg klonopin to 1.5 mg klonopin and i did okay with that. i thought the next step would be 1.5 mg to 1 mg but that was brutal. i came on here and i am very overwhelmed. how do i even start? would it be 10% of 1.5 mg? if so how do i break the pill into that small of a fraction? any help is appreciated!!!

I do understand your feeling overwhelmed about how to taper because I felt the same way.  I tapered off Klonopin 3mg/day by breaking my pills into quarters until I got down to 0.25mg and when the remaining pill got too small to cut with any precision, I switched to a water taper that I made myself.  There are several ways to taper other than simply cutting pills - you can use liquid or jewelers scales and dry taper by shaving and weighing small amounts from pills.  You can also check into having a compounding pharmacy make a liquid for you to taper with.

 

I suggest you stay where you are and stabilize first and do some reading first on how to taper from benzos while things settle down for you.  Given some time and information, it should become clearer to you as to how you want to go about this.

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=9522.msg121458#msg121458

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=231828.msg2975127#msg2975127

I would start with a 10% decrease of whatever dose you feel stable on. The general rule I used throughout my taper was to decrease my new dosage by about 10% to 14% every two weeks. It doesn't have to be exact and you can increase or decrease the % as you go based on how you feel. The most important thing is going at a pace you can tolerate. At 10-14% my symptoms were uncomfortable for a few days but I usually felt ok to drop the dosage again by the end of the second week, if not then I waited another week. Uncomfortable symptoms are ok, but if they're unbearable you may be going too fast. The more familiar you get with the process the easier it will be to get a feel for how you'll respond to each decrease and when to make adjustments.

 

I cut the pill into quarters and used a metal nail file to shave the pieces down to a small dose. I used a knife to cut the pills because cheap pill cutters broke them or cut them unevenly but it can be really tricky to cut them correctly with a knife until you get the hang of it. I recently saw someone on this forum suggest a metal pill cutter that looked like it worked well. I'll link it below. Also some generic pills are more difficult to cut and file than others. If you find one that’s pretty easy to work with, you can try requesting that specific brand from your doctor or pharmacist, just keep in mind that pharmacies won't take pills back once you leave with them so I would ask the pharmacy to show me they had the right brand before taking them. Like mentioned above, a lot of people use a jewelers scale to get an accurate dose. I never had the patience to use a scale so I just set aside an extra pill and marked it with an ultra fine tipped sharpie then shaved it to my current dosage and used it as a guide to measure each daily dose I took. You can use something with a straight edge like the nail file to line up the pills and make sure they're even.

 

Here are videos of people using the pill cutter:

 

Hey Parad0x, congratulations on being benzo free! I hope you're doing great now.

 

What manufacturer did you use through your taper? Teva (yellow) or Accord (orange) or something else? I'm looking for anyone who had success with Accord. I've been having a really hard time.