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Who here has successfully tapered off Klonopin 0.5mg in 100 days?


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This is my initial plan. I want to liquid titrate using my current dose of .5 mg Klonopin in a 100ml solution, eliminating 1ml or 1% per day. If I do not deviate from the daily reduction I will be done in 100 days. I have been at this dosage for 19 years and have almost never deviated from it other than to take an extra .25 dose a few times to self diagnose what I suspected were tolerance withdrawal symptoms that have been getting gradually worse over the last four years.

 

I appreciate the warm comments of support seen in this community but please limit your comments on this thread to those of your experience using this exact plan with this exact drug. I know a lot of people use this taper plan but I have not been able to read anywhere how it went for them.

 

Thanks in advance for your experiences and opinions. :-)

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I think part of your plan is good and part is bad.  It is wise to liquify K as it is a difficult drug cut in pill form, but becomes easy when it is liquid.  BUT... it is not a good idea to try to predetermine your taper schedule as when symptoms are encountered it forces you to push through and this is never a good idea.  You will end up sick and you won't save any time as when you get to zero you will be sick longer on the other side.

 

Although ultimately what you can handle is individual to you it is not likely that .5mg K can be tapered in 100 days.  Loosely I'd expect more like 6-15 months for that.  At 19 years use I wouldn't push it.  But with the right taper you can feel well during that time.

 

Sorry.  I know this is not what you want to hear.  The test of patience is almost as hard as the symptoms themselves.

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I understand and thanks for the response and guidance. I don't doubt you at all but it's so hard to think that far out when the Dr. Says I should just be able to just quit.. (Yeah right. Not happening) It also seems the 1% cuts would become more severe as the dose lowers according to the math. Am I correct there? I'm wondering if the better plan would be to start at 1% daily cuts and feel my way along from there, especially as the dose gets lower? I'm sick of being sick (plagued with chronic fatigue, anxiety, internal tremors, and muscle pain for the last year..) just want it behind me.. But I'd rather do it right the first time. Would love to hear from others that had the same thing in mind.
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It's shocking how poorly understood this problem is by doctors.  My doctor was better than most.  He said it would take me at least a year.  He was right, it took me 2 1/2.  And that was even too fast.

 

What you're describing is a symptom led daily taper.  I'd look into this.  There are lots of people doing these and they seem to do very well, can work and live life during the process.  You already plan to liquify which is perfect.

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I wish there was a "like" button for your posts SG57. You speak with confidence and experience. That is very obvious. Thank you again for your insight. I've always been a believer in goals. I suppose that's why I came up with the 100 day taper, as a goal, though I've read enough to believe there is a very real possibility that it could easily take twice that long or longer. The most important thing for me right now is to begin a taper program. Period. It's easy to just keep on with the same old dose as the weeks and years go by and I keep feeling worse and worse. Time to jump out of the proverbial slowly simmering pot of water as I now can tell the boiling point of no return is not that far away..

I'm a single dose in the morning person. Would you recommend the same schedule when switching over to liquid? A year ago when I really began having bad troubles with fatigue and pain my doc told me to split the dose between morning an night. A week later I went to the ER at 8:30 AM for the first time with convulsions that lasted about an hour until it finally stopped after laying there on the bed waiting for blood work to come back. The ER doc told me all looked good health wise and asked "what are you withdrawing from?" I said "nothing" which as far as I knew was the truth, and was released. She knew I was on Klonopin but didn't mention it as a factor. A few days later I had a similar convulsive episode one evening after work. I immediately went back to my full dose in the morning and haven't had that happen again, though I have constant internal tremors and fatigue that get worse as the day progresses. That day in the ER and the doctors casual and insulting comment started me researching benzo tolerance and withdrawal and the education began. Now I have finally decided I have to take it into my own hands.

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Mister HH - Just one quick note - you have a plan which is great but benzos withdrawal doesn't follow any plan so please be flexible.  For example you are going to liquid which is great and allows you to taper a small amt - but the liquid must work for you - most people cross over to it just fine but know that  you must hold on the liquid until your body adjusts to the change and not begin your cut until you do.  For some people the liquid doesn't work the same as the pill - who knows why - so they get very bad symptoms on the liquid and can't do the liquid titration.  This doesn't mean you give up you just try something else and everyone here will help you in your taper.
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Understood. Thank you for that. I will admit to being a little apprehensive about switching to liquid for the reasons you just mentioned. I found it really strange that I had such problems simply splitting my dose last year. With the half life of Klonopin being what it is, I wouldn't think it would matter. Maybe it was just bad timing as that period was the worst I've ever felt, regardless of dosage timing. I think stress played a role.

 

 

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I wish there was a "like" button for your posts SG57. You speak with confidence and experience. That is very obvious. Thank you again for your insight. I've always been a believer in goals. I suppose that's why I came up with the 100 day taper, as a goal, though I've read enough to believe there is a very real possibility that it could easily take twice that long or longer. The most important thing for me right now is to begin a taper program. Period. It's easy to just keep on with the same old dose as the weeks and years go by and I keep feeling worse and worse. Time to jump out of the proverbial slowly simmering pot of water as I now can tell the boiling point of no return is not that far away..

I'm a single dose in the morning person. Would you recommend the same schedule when switching over to liquid? A year ago when I really began having bad troubles with fatigue and pain my doc told me to split the dose between morning an night. A week later I went to the ER at 8:30 AM for the first time with convulsions that lasted about an hour until it finally stopped after laying there on the bed waiting for blood work to come back. The ER doc told me all looked good health wise and asked "what are you withdrawing from?" I said "nothing" which as far as I knew was the truth, and was released. She knew I was on Klonopin but didn't mention it as a factor. A few days later I had a similar convulsive episode one evening after work. I immediately went back to my full dose in the morning and haven't had that happen again, though I have constant internal tremors and fatigue that get worse as the day progresses. That day in the ER and the doctors casual and insulting comment started me researching benzo tolerance and withdrawal and the education began. Now I have finally decided I have to take it into my own hands.

 

Thanks for the compliment. :)  It's a bit unusual to feel best on one dose of K.  Most people need at least two, but if one is where you feel best, then you do, so I would not change that.  Kind of a luxury to only have to dose once a day.  Even most Valium folks need two.

 

Kgirl makes an important point about adjusting to the switch.  Symptoms seem to happen more often than not.  What liquid form will you switch to?

 

I know it may not seem it, but you really are in a position to have a good taper.  Only .5mg K, you know to liquify, you know to daily taper, BB support.  If you do it right you could have an easy time and avoid all the horrendous stuff.  Live a pretty normal life and step of in good shape.  I think it's there for you to take.

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I certainly hope so. It is more than a little unnerving reading the absolute horror stories and rarely seeing someone comment about a relatively smooth taper, though I'm convinced it's possible with the right mind set. I figure I'll try milk. Pretty simple stuff it seems. I do plan on switching my full dose to liquid for two weeks before making any cuts. I can't imagine it could cause too many problems, other than psychosomatic.. As long as I am ingesting the medicine orally it should work basically the same in my opinion. I take it with an iced mocha (decaf these days) every morning anyway. Lol. I don't want to get caught up in paranoia and negative thinking as that will not help the process. I do appreciate words of caution though, which means folks reading this care. I am still interested in hearing from those of you who have come off my same dose after years on K. Best!
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Milk is a very good choice for K.  Make sure it is full fat whole homogenized milk.  The fat is the key.  And also good on holding for two weeks.  I don't know exactly why, but more often than not people do seem to experience symptoms when they switch from pills to milk, even though it is the same pill, so good to hold to adjust.

 

Patience is a huge problem.  It takes so long.  It's almost as if we all need to experience hell and have the fear of god put into us before we develop the patience needed for a proper taper.

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SG57,

I have read your posts for about a year, I have tapered .50 in about a year with a daily taper (thanks to your posts) I have eliminated most of my symptoms. This part of my taper is going smoothly. I have zero anxiety coming on this second half. I wanted to thank you for your posts and I don't see where there are any places to post a positive post for milk titration, especially a daily taper. I am at .001mg a day and loose about .03mg every 30 days. It is long, but since most of my symptoms are gone I have begun to get back into my life while still tapering. What a difference today is compared to a year ago!

 

Laura

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  • 1 month later...

Mister HH

 

I just wanted to know how your taper plan is going. I was on the same dose for about a year. I am taking this at night for insomnia and the anxiety that is related to lack of sleep. I started building a tolerance to this dose and decided I need to get off this benzo before I wind up in trouble having to take a higher dose to get the same effect. Started my milk titration about 2 weeks ago. I am using the 50ml cylinder and was reducing 2ml every 2 days. By the time I got to an 8ml reduction the wd symptoms started to kick in. Less than 4 hours sleep, heart palps, anxiety, elevated heart rate etc. After 4 days of this I decided to start all over and extend my time between cuts. I took my regular dose .50mg for a couple of days to stabilize. Started my first 2ml cut a couple of days ago. I will hold 4-5 days before making my next 2ml cut. Anyone else with  feedback on this plan or some suggestions to help me get through this will be greatly appreciated. Is there anything you can take to help with sleep while reducing(herbal or medicinal) That is my main problem with this tapering. Thanks for any advice.

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  • 1 month later...
Let your body guide you...might not take 100 days.  My brother c/t off K after being on it for months.  Not a single symptom.  None.  Wierd, yes, but everyone is different.
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