Anyone try splitting their clonezapam dose (2x/day instead of 1) while tapering?

Has anyone tried to split their clonazepam dose--taking it two different times a day instead of only once--to avoid  problems with "interdose withdrawal?"  My daughter has only taken her clonazepam once a day, right before bedtime. However, even at her full, original dose of .5mg, she seems to be consistently more depressed and anxious/angry/emotional in the afternoon or evening as the dose is wearing off. The closer it gets to the time to take her meds, the worse she usually gets. I am wondering if it would make any sense to split her dose and give her just a little bit of it in the afternoon when she gets home from school? Has anyone found that to be helpful?  I know that clonazepam can make you sleepy, but maybe if I only give her, say 1/4 of the dose then, it wouldn't make her fall asleep at dinner, LOL. (It was originally prescribed to help her with a serious insomnia problem (along with anxiety and depression).

 

Just wondering if anyone has found this to be helpful with this particular, or similar, medicine, in their tapering plans?

Thanks.

Yes, K typically needs to be split up.  I don't know anyone here who can dose it once a day.  The most typical is probably three doses (1/3 of the dose every eight hours).  Evening things out like this can be quite beneficial.  You might first try splitting it into two doses 50/50 every 12 hours and see how that works.

Yes, K typically needs to be split up.  I don't know anyone here who can dose it once a day.  The most typical is probably three doses (1/3 of the dose every eight hours).  Evening things out like this can be quite beneficial.  You might first try splitting it into two doses 50/50 every 12 hours and see how that works.

 

:thumbsup:

Good to know that it is commonly split up. I had thought it might make one too sleepy, since it was prescribed for insomnia for my daughter. I gave her a tiny chip of her pill this evening because she was having one of her usual "emotional meltdowns" that she usually has about this time. She seemed better within minutes--I don't know if that was too soon for the medicine to have the effect, or maybe it was a  "placebo" effect (or the fact that she had had some food??), but we shall see how it goes. I will definitely split the dose up somehow then. I am hopeful then, that this may be the answer, despite her insistence that the medicine has nothing to do with her depression --it is all her circumstances, she says,-it is all because she has no good, really close friends ) (I know to a teenager that is a huge deal, but if that were the only problem many of us had, we would consider ourselves to be in good shape! )

I'll let you all know how it goes.  Thanks again.

Good to know that it is commonly split up. I had thought it might make one too sleepy, since it was prescribed for insomnia for my daughter. I gave her a tiny chip of her pill this evening because she was having one of her usual "emotional meltdowns" that she usually has about this time. She seemed better within minutes--I don't know if that was too soon for the medicine to have the effect, or maybe it was a  "placebo" effect (or the fact that she had had some food??), but we shall see how it goes. I will definitely split the dose up somehow then. I am hopeful then, that this may be the answer, despite her insistence that the medicine has nothing to do with her depression --it is all her circumstances, she says,-it is all because she has no good, really close friends ) (I know to a teenager that is a huge deal, but if that were the only problem many of us had, we would consider ourselves to be in good shape! )

I'll let you all know how it goes.  Thanks again.

 

My Xanax was prescribed for insomnia. When I spilt it into 5 doses, it was not overly sedating. In fact, I don't remember being sedated at all from it. I just remember being relieved. Valium and Librium are benzos that are more sedating, but even those tend to get less sedating over time.

 

Yes, your daughter's circumstances contribute to her mood. Social isolation is a known depressant. But the benzos contribute, too. When you start them, they give relief, but the longer you are on them the more your brain fights against them. And when you are withdrawing (which I think she is doing every day as they wear off), they make you worse. Tell her the meds are a magnifying glass that make her problems look bigger than they are. The problems are real (validate) and the drugs super-size them. Of course, being a teenager does that, too! You just have to keep being the wonderful mom you are being and repeating over and over that you know this is hard but that this is temporary and will get better. Hard words for a teenager to believe, so she will need to hear them a lot. And remind her that you will never stop loving her and will stick with her no matter what. And when she disagrees with your decisions, you tell her you have to do what you think is best because you can't violate your conscience and do something you think is bad for her.

 

Ah, the joys of parenting. Mine are in college and still not fully formed adults! But I do see signs that they will be soon.

 

BTW, my daughter is very prone to having emotional meltdowns when her blood sugar is low!

Yes I would split it up.. I dose 2 times a day and always have

I tried to split my dose 50/50 two times a day but could not stabilize. I take .50 mg at night only. Others on here have split doses before they started their tapper so I thought I would try. I was so spaced out, had more anxiety, and could not think only to name a few. I tried the switch for almost three weeks and could not stabilize so went back to once and day and am now finally starting to stabilize. I don't know how this will affect my tapper but will wait and see. I am stable enough know to start my tapper. I am first going to do full dosage in liquid for a couple of weeks before I start reducing. I guess the split dosage does not work for everyone. Wishing the best for your daughter....

I took mine twice a day also.  I had very little problems with inter dose withdrawal.

 

Stay strong!

sharkey

Thanks, everyone.  I did go ahead and try splitting her dose up 3x a day. I did it slowly and did it into unequal doses:  1/4 dose in the morning, 1/4 after school and 1/2 at night. I have done this for almost 2 weeks. The first week I did it with the pill, and the second week with it dissolved in milk, getting ready to try tapering again. She seems a bit tired during the day, but I can't tell if it is from the medicine or just her usual lack of sleep (staying up late for homework, having to get up early for school).

 

She seemed to be doing well and I started tapering again on Sunday, trying a micro taper of 1/5 ml each day. Today, she forgot to take her after-school dose until 4:30 (instead of 2:45) and boy, did she have a melt-down.    I think the meds are finally kicking in now!

 

Thanks for sharing, jaja12, that it doesn't always work. (I wonder why not, though, if it does seem to work well for so many?)

 

Thanks.

Daughters,

 

I am a bit confused as to why it did not work for me too. I was okay to sleep at night with .25 mg but the morning 25 mg dose was dreadful. I was tired and felt so spaced out all the time. I could not even focus to pay my bills. I have been taking the same does at the same time for about 6 years so maybe that is why. However, I have a very sensitive system that reacts to many medications including supplements.

 

I am glad to hear it is working for your daughter......I wish her the best!

Good if it works, but I could never split up my once-daily dose.

I guess it depends on what your body is used to... If you're used to taking it once a day maybe it's best to stay there.  I have always dosed twice per day.  That being said any changes in doses will take your body some time to get used to it.

Hi again, everyone. Well, I realized that, despite what my daughter said, she was getting too tired from taking part of her dose in the morning.--( I did try to transition it slowly, also, btw.)  She needs to be "alert" as possible to tackle her senior year classes (such as calculus-yikes!  ) I'm sure that the sleepiness from the clonazepam is aggravated by her not getting enough sleep the night before, since she typically stays up late the night before doing homework and has to get up so early, so adults without homework might not have that issue complicating things!

 

What seems to be working now is taking 1/4 of her dose when she gets home from school , about 3 pm, and then 3/4 of her dose right before bed. (Her original dose schedule was one pill right before bed and that was it.)

 

So maybe those who could never transition to taking it multiple times a day, but would like to, could try tweaking a bit and try uneven doses and uneven times, like seems to be working well for my daughter. Just a thought, fwiw.