Switching back from valium to Klonopin

i am having a real hard time being on Valium. All I want to do is sleep and it seems to make me nauseous. I'm on a pretty high dose, 30 mg a day split into 3 doses. My doctor has decided to take me off the valium and put me back on Klonopin. I seem to function better on that. How do I go about crossing over? My doctor said to just stop the V and start taking the K. He has prescribed 1 mg. Three times a day. I'm praying someone can direct me on the proper way to do this switch.

 

Thank You,

Jazzy

Humm............I may be wrong and I'm no expert but it sounds like he's doubling your benzo dose.

The Ashton chart has 0.5k = to 10mgs of V

Crossing back shouldn't be too much of a challenge as the HL of K is shorter but decent.

Navita65,

Thank You for your response. I intend to only take 1.5 Mg a day of the K as you are right concerning the equivalent. For me the Valium has not touched my anxiety and they have made me very depressed and nonfunctional. When I was on the K I didn't feel this bad. I went into a detox and they took me off K and put me on V and that was 8 months ago.

 

My plan is to taper off the Benzo's but I need to get functional again before I can even consider doing that.

 

Best Regards,

Jazzy

Jaddy: I had to cross back due to the s/x of the V it was a nightmare for me too.  I did it  by cutting out 2.5 mg or 5 mg  of Valium at a time, held a few days and then crossed another 2.5 mg or 5 mg V to K and on until I was back on the K.  I had to go back to 1.35 mg of the K my original dose.    I used the conversion of 20:1 for the Valium to K.  So 30 mg is 1.5 mg of K.  As I went back on the K (my original benzo)  I felt better,not great, but better.  Based on what some others told me I left in 2 mg of Valium (which was a small updose) and continued this  all the way down on my K taper.  I had to start tapering the K not feeling very well but I will say I did get windows on the way down. I started out doing cut and hold but if I had to do it all over again I would do a micro taper all the way off.  There is a micro taper support board if you want to consider this. But first things first.  It should take you about 2- 3 weeks to cross back then I would hold at minimum for 2 weeks, and if you need to hold a month  so be it and then back down off of the K.  I am glad that I tapered the K all Valium was unbearable for me. 

Dear Kgirl,

Thank you for your response. I'm trying to understand how you did this by reading your post. I'm a little brain dead plus I'm an old timer so it's hard for me to understand things some times especially the cuts on this poison. Here is how I understand what you posted.

 

First cut  cut 2.5 mg or 5 mg of V hold for a few days

Second cut 2.5 mg or 5 mg of V add 5 mg. Of K.

 

Is this right. Since I am getting I mg. Of K, would I just cut the 1 mg. In half and take that. I hope I don't have to use a scale. Tried the scale and just couldn't figure it out.

Okay what you do is this:

 

5 mg of Valium is equal to .25mg  of K

 

10 mg of V = .5mg of K.

 

So let us make this easy.

 

Take out 5 mg of Valium and replace it with .25mg of K - (take a .5 mg pill and cut it in 1/2 with a pill cutter - take one 1/2 today and the next 1/2 of this pill tomorrow).  Hold here for a couple of days.

 

Next switch:  Do the same take out 5 mg of Valium and replace with .25 mg of K - now you are taking .5 mg of K so that is one pill (I am assuming you have .5 mg pills)

 

Next:  Again you are now dropping another 5 mg of Valium (so you are down to only taking 15 mg of Valium) and you will be taking .75 mg of K - that is one .5 mg pill and 1/2 of a .5 mg pill. 

 

Keep going until you are on 1.5 mg of K. If your doctor agrees I know leaving in 2 mg of Valium helped me get off. If not don't worry about it  - you can get off of the K.

 

 

I  was able to do 2.5 mg of Valium to the K because I used a scale but you don't have to - and since you are going to end up on 1.5 mg of K it is easier to just do 5 mg drops to .25 mg of K.

 

  You are not ever lowering your dose you are staying at the same dose with a mixture of Valium and K.    My doctor did this with me - and she did not want me to switch from one to the other in one day - that would have sent me to over the cliff - you must IMHO switch back holding a few days at a time - you will notice when you start taking more of the K that you will start to feel better. As I said after you switch totally back - no cutting of the K - hold for awhile - and then go from there.

 

If you are using 1 mg pills for K you can still do this using a pill cutter - just cut your pills in 1/4's for the 1st switch to .25 mg  and take each quarter of the pill one day after another so you get around the same dose of the K every day. 

 

I hope this helped. 

 

 

Dear Kgirl,

You are an Angel  .

 

Thank You so very much, now I'm ready to go.....

 

Jaddy

Jaddy not an angel just someone who has been where you are - and that is what this board is for to help each other through this process. If I can get off of the K so can you.  Just take it one day at a time and before you know it, it will be over. Again I suggest you micro taper when you are ready.  Go to 2 boards the Klonopin support group - lots of great people there and the micro taper board for how to do the micro taper.  You can pick liquid taper or dry cut micro taper - I did the dry cut one. Decide which  one you'd like to do and then all you need is to get the supplies and you will be ready to roll when your cross over is done and after you hold a couple of weeks.  Even if you want to do cut and hold on K your cuts must be accurate so if this is your choice you should use a scale. Most people buy the Gemini from Amazon for about $20.00. 

 

I am hoping you feel much better once you cross back. 

Jaddy,i did a partial c/o from k to v so like Kgirl has mentioned maybe post in the K club lots of good people there and not sure how much I can help as I stayed with the valium but got off 4mgs klonopin !

Can Do,

Thank You for your response. I will go check the K board now. This is the worse trip I have ever been on.

 

 

jaddy

Hi Jaddy,

 

I don't post often but thought I'd chime in on this one to let you know I, too, had to cross back over to K because I couldn't tolerate the V.  As others note, it is possible to get stable again and slowly taper.  I'm doing a cut and hold with a Gemini scale and it works great.  I was able to catch some stability on the K.  You can do this!

 

WDI

They also make clonazapam in .25 and .125 tablets

Jaddy: I had to cross back due to the s/x of the V it was a nightmare for me too.  I did it  by cutting out 2.5 mg or 5 mg  of Valium at a time, held a few days and then crossed another 2.5 mg or 5 mg V to K and on until I was back on the K.  I had to go back to 1.35 mg of the K my original dose.    I used the conversion of 20:1 for the Valium to K.  So 30 mg is 1.5 mg of K.  As I went back on the K (my original benzo)  I felt better,not great, but better.  Based on what some others told me I left in 2 mg of Valium (which was a small updose) and continued this  all the way down on my K taper.  I had to start tapering the K not feeling very well but I will say I did get windows on the way down. I started out doing cut and hold but if I had to do it all over again I would do a micro taper all the way off.  There is a micro taper support board if you want to consider this. But first things first.  It should take you about 2- 3 weeks to cross back then I would hold at minimum for 2 weeks, and if you need to hold a month  so be it and then back down off of the K.  I am glad that I tapered the K all Valium was unbearable for me.

yóu had to reinstate?

Why was the V unbearable?

Why leave 2mg of V?