Under .125 Klonopin Club

I really think it must be. I never had the benzo flu before. Omg. Of all times to get it. I feel ok now.  It took about 3 weeks.  I hope it goes for you soon.  At least we didn't have covid. Sending healing thoughts. 

It has taken about three weeks for me as well, still have digestive issues.  Are you still tapering benzos?  I wonder if any others have had covid while tapering?

I have some digestive issue too l. It seems better for now.  There is a thread on bb somewhere , a covid one.  Some people had it in  wd. Awful.    I just have a pounding headache and sinus pain. Always something.

Greencup,

 

Do what you feel is best, no matter what with each dose down you getting closer. Best of luck, let us know how you are feeling.

Hi all- I hope it's ok for me to post in here... I'm down to approx .14mg clonzepam. My taper has become brutal. Am I just down so low that I'm having interdose wd? That and I am only dosing once a day. I've been told I'm not low enough and need to continue tapering but wow I am hurting. Will try to find some moral support in this thread. Thank you.

 

Hi all- I hope it's ok for me to post in here... I'm down to approx .14mg clonzepam. My taper has become brutal. Am I just down so low that I'm having interdose wd? That and I am only dosing once a day. I've been told I'm not low enough and need to continue tapering but wow I am hurting. Will try to find some moral support in this thread. Thank you.

 

I'm treating the low doses the same as the higher ones...when things become intolerable I hold until they smooth out a bit. My dose is lower than yours, but I still get blasted at times. I often think that there's no way I could have some of the crazy issues I have at such a low dose, but a friend of mine that's a lot "benzo smarter" than I am explained how the physiology works. It's very possible but not real common since most people didn't take mega doses of k for well over two decades. We're outliers on the bell curve, so we have to usually take longer to get to the finish line, but you and I will get there! Hang on tight  

Checking back in. I notice that nobody has been here in a while. It’s a shame, since this thread is filled with good information and advice. It really helped me get through my last .125 mg of K.

 

I’m at 9 months, 6 days of zero-Klonopin, and I’m just coming off a mini-wave. It lasted from Wednesday, 5/18 through this morning, Tuesday 5/25. I don’t know that it’s completely finished, but I know that I was able to sleep today from 6:30 am until 1:30 pm. The past week, I’ve had shortness of breath, air hunger, it was impossible to get into hypnotic sleep, and when I did nod off, it wasn’t restful - I felt like I had to complete tasks while I was sleeping just to stay asleep. It’s hard to explain.

 

Anyway, these were my worst symptoms during tapering. I’ve been doing so well since hitting zero-Klonopin. It’s been night and day versus what tapering was like. Over the last 9+ months, I’ve been getting smarter, much more active, far less depressed, and I’ve actually become grateful for my life. This has been a small blip, but one of only probably 4 since 0-K. I think it was a double-dose of CBD oil this morning that broke the wave. I haven’t used CBD in months prior to today.

 

If you’re at .125K, or lower, hang in there. Keep moving forward. Life is so good on the other side of this.

Hello Loveisalluneed!

 

Congratulations on getting off this stuff!! I have not posted since December, but I am down 70% of my original dose and hoping to be off at the end of summer.  So glad you are doing great! It is so nice to know life is better on the other side!!

 

Thank you for the encouraging words.  Can you tell me how many times per day you were dosing?

Good for you, sea salt! Slow and steady wins this race.

 

I was dosing 3x per day when taking the higher levels, toyed with between 1x - 3x while tapering early, then went to strictly 1x per day by .25 mg. Around .05mg, I finally started doing it right, and micro-tapered.

 

How are you doing it?

Jumping in here! I'm glad this thread exists. 

 

I'm about to hit the 0.125 milestone in a few days. I've been microtapering from 0.25 since December 2020.

 

The taper has generally been bearable. I've been able to work full-time, and I even got back to some of my freelance writing work. I exercise almost daily (nothing too hard -- just a brisk walk and then some weight-bearing exercises in my living room), and I've been able to socialize with friends. I got the Covid vax in April without issue.

 

And if this were 2 weeks ago, I'd be able to tell you that I was sleeping well too, but, ergh. I started getting restless legs, and my sleep has completely tanked lately. I'm getting 3 - 4 hours of broken, light sleep over the course of a night.

 

I've also had the same sx since I made a too-big cut nearly a year ago -- POTS, tinnitus, floaters, jaw tremor. Even when I held at 0.25 for months, these didn't change. The POTS has improved somewhat, but I still get flare-ups. These are just part of my life now... sometimes I worry they will never go away.

 

With the insomnia happening now, I'm starting to have these desperate "I need to CHANGE THINGS" thoughts I have when I'm tired (insomnia is what made me go on K in the first place), like that I need to hold at 0.125 for a month, or I need to switch to Valium. But I think I just need to stay the course with the microtaper of K.

 

Gonna keep reading through this thread!

 

I am having all the same symptoms.  I have been dry cutting 2.5% of the dose weekly.  It has been tolerable but I know as I get lower I will need to micro taper.

 

None of this is fun that is for sure.  Keep moving forward!!

seasalt, good luck as you continue to taper. Doing 2.5% consistent weekly cuts is amazing progress!

 

I have run into a lot of positive stories this week about people who felt awful when tapering and then began to feel better in the first few weeks / months off the benzo. Here's hoping that this is a common result for those of us on these long slow tapers.

Today is the day that I officially hit 0.125 Klonopin! This is a HUGE milestone for me as this is where I tried to cut to last summer and all hades broke loose. Insomnia, chest tightness, nighttime panic attacks, hot "flashes" that lasted for hours, bizarre cold sweats from my palms and feet, tachycardia, limb numbness, and eventually nerve pain in my legs so bad that I could not walk. I went to the hospital 3x -- the first two times, I specifically asked if what I was dealing with was benzo withdrawal, and the doctors and nurses told me no. Oof, the amount of money, time, and stress those short answers caused me. Sure, the benzos had no effect, but let's keep testing you for collapsed lung...

 

Dealing with this in covid times -- especially during a covid surge in my area, around the time when the noted symptoms of covid were expanding to include basically everything -- was a real trip. I had paranoia and health anxiety for months. Especially when I lost part of my sense of taste! No test could convince me I did not have covid. (The taste issue? Turned out to be because I was taking too much zinc. Once I quit my zinc supplement, my taste came back.)

 

The 3rd time I went to the hospital (for tachycardia), I told the doctor I was there because of benzo withdrawal symptoms. He advised I go back up to 0.5, a dose I had not been on since early 2019! I'm glad I didn't take his advice. I believe I had already updosed back to 0.25, where I sat for months while healing (sort of) from the cut to 0.125, and considering what to do. Finally I embarked on my slow water taper, starting on Christmas 2020.

 

Anyway, it has taken me nearly a YEAR, but here I am, back at 0.125. And functional! I walked 2 miles around my neighborhood yesterday. I went out to dinner with my family to celebrate my son's last day of school. I've read 40 books so far this year. I went shopping last week, I saw friends, my father-in-law is coming to visit today and I'm not going to be in bed the whole time.

 

I won't lie, the distance between 0.125 and 0.0 feels very big to me right now. But I'll get there. These past few months have shown that I can do it.

Spin The Klono,

 

Congratulations!!  Yes, this is a HUGE milestone for you (for anyone honestly)!  I completely relate to the multiple ER visits and all the symptoms you have listed.  A dear friend that I have only talked to via phone told me today that I sound very different than I did six months ago.  More energy, positive outlook and collected thoughts, it meant so much to me to hear this.  I hope this is encouraging to others.  I have many bad days, but I know I am doing better as I get lower.  For us it feels like ground hog day but I believe we are all healing as we go.

 

I am so glad you DID NOT listen to the doctor and up your dose!  Sometimes you just have to listen to that gut instinct.

 

Please know that .125 and 0 is ABSOLUTELY obtainable and just around the corner for you!  I'm on your heels at .17...Please keep me posted on your progress, we can celebrate together!

Spin The Klono,

 

Congratulations!!  Yes, this is a HUGE milestone for you (for anyone honestly)!  I completely relate to the multiple ER visits and all the symptoms you have listed.  A dear friend that I have only talked to via phone told me today that I sound very different than I did six months ago.  More energy, positive outlook and collected thoughts, it meant so much to me to hear this.  I hope this is encouraging to others.  I have many bad days, but I know I am doing better as I get lower.  For us it feels like ground hog day but I believe we are all healing as we go.

 

I am so glad you DID NOT listen to the doctor and up your dose!  Sometimes you just have to listen to that gut instinct.

 

Please know that .125 and 0 is ABSOLUTELY obtainable and just around the corner for you!  I'm on your heels at .17...Please keep me posted on your progress, we can celebrate together!

 

Great job to all!!  One step at a time. You'll ALL get there

Just wanted to drop back in and give an update:

 

My wave ended last Friday, and I had seven consecutive hours of good, hard sleep. It was glorious. They say you never catch up on lost sleep, but I don’t know if I believe that, as I’ve been sleeping 8-10 hours every night since, going to sleep as early as 7:00 p.m., without using Benadryl or melatonin, and it’s the most restful sleep I’ve had in years.

 

Spin and Seasalt: congrats on your progress, and please keep moving forward. After reaching zero Klonopin, I have endured a few waves, but nothing anywhere near what I was going through during withdrawal. Proud of you both!

Thank you for the encouragement, it is so nice to know it gets better!!

Hey folks!

 

After getting to 0.125, my sleep really tanked. I held my dose for 2 weeks to see if my sleep would improve, and it has. I was having some nights of 2 - 3 hours sleep before. Now I'm pretty consistently at 5 - 6 hours -- I get about 2 hours in my first cycle of sleep, then I'm awake listening to audiobooks and trying to calm down restless legs for about 2 hours, and then I eventually go back down for a few more hours. I wake up in a cortisol surge around 7 -- cold sweats and a weird feeling all over. But even after that, sometimes I can doze for another hour or more. I started tapering again, and I'm around 0.121 now.

 

I can't be too mad about the sleep issue because I was getting such good sleep before. After 2+ months of terrible insomnia last summer, I got back to a solid sleep pattern in late September. I had wonderful, almost normal, sleep from October - May. I did not take a single night for granted. I don't panic about sleep anymore... I know it will come back eventually.

 

Mentally and emotionally, I am doing fairly well. Sometimes I rapid-cycle through emotions and anxiety levels about various events going on in the world. Sometimes I have these spurts of mania where I want to change EVERYTHING about my life. One of the things I'm trying to work out is what is an appropriate / expected anxiety response to a particular event and what is not. I know I need to find a therapist to talk to about this, but until then I am journalling about it. Some days I feel like the right response to coming out of a pandemic, dealing with benzo WD, and following all the changes and upheavals in the world IS wanting to sell my house and move away and just have a different life. I worry about people who are just chill all the time.

 

I've been able to do a fair amount of post-vax socializing lately and it's been a lot of fun. I have felt like me. I even took the lead and planned a karaoke night with some friends in a few weeks. I love karaoke.

 

Sometimes I get incredibly frustrated with my most persistent symptoms. My tinnitus has been VERY present lately. Some days I can hear it over the TV. And my eye floaters... ugh, I hope someday I will be able to have a clear field of vision again. I've been pessimistic, lately, though. I feel like I am going to have these forever. I haven't had a break from them since they first appeared last year.

 

POTS also gets in the way sometimes. I was out shopping last weekend when I had a sudden surge of tachycardia and chest fatigue. I had to go sit in a dressing room for 20 minutes before I felt OK enough to get up and finish what I needed to do. There's no consistency with the POTS anymore. Today I was on my feet in the kitchen for about 50 minutes before I had any issue, so that was good. My gluten-free scones turned out really well, too.

 

Ultra2007 and Loveisalluneed, thanks so much for the encouragement! Loveisalluneed, that's amazing news about your sleep.

 

seasalt52, I noticed in your sig that you've been progressing in your taper! Excellent! Hope you are feeling well.

 

 

WW,

 

That is great your sleep has returned!  I am a believer in listening to your body holding when necessary, there is no doubt you will get through soon.

 

You have made great progress!!

Today I'm at .104 mg Klonopin!

 

My sleep is in the garbage again. I don't know if there's much to be done at this point. When I held at 0.125 for 2 weeks to improve my insomnia, it helped some, but beginning to taper again knocked it right back to where I was. I have a twitching muscle in my left leg that keeps me up. Last night was awful -- I finally got to sleep around 5, and then I had to be up at 7:30 to take my kid to day camp and then go to my office for some meetings. I have no idea how I powered through that, but somehow I did. I made plans with friends for both Thursday and Friday nights ... hopefully I'll be able to make it. Socializing has really helped me through this mess.

 

I'm at a point where I'm feeling really impatient to be off this stupid drug! But any temptation to go faster is stopped when I remind myself how awful I felt when I cut too much a year ago. I tried to go from 0.25 --> 0.125 and that was way too much for my system. Going slowly is definitely key for this last bit.

 

 

Congratulations!

 

I’m wondering if most 0.125mg folks dose once a day or twice a day.

I broke out to twice a day dosing about 5 months ago (when I was at 0.2mg per day) and it helped SO much. I’m wondering at what point (if at all) to drop back to once daily?

 

What do you all find to be better?

 

(0.183mg per day split every 12 hours currently)

 

Thanks!

Hey Treelover! Congrats on your progress!

 

I only dose 1x per day and have my whole taper. I can definitely see the wisdom in dosing 2x per day... I am just loathe to change anything about my taper at this point.

I am dosing twice a day and have been since the beginning of my taper.  I am down to .08 and plan to dose down as far as possible, the eliminate one dose.  Not there yet..

Congratulations!

 

I’m wondering if most 0.125mg folks dose once a day or twice a day.

I broke out to twice a day dosing about 5 months ago (when I was at 0.2mg per day) and it helped SO much. I’m wondering at what point (if at all) to drop back to once daily?

 

What do you all find to be better?

 

(0.183mg per day split every 12 hours currently)

 

Thanks!

 

I triple-dosed daily from the very beginning all the way down to my last very, very tiny dose. Maybe it was psychological, but I just decided to stick with what "worked". Hang tight!

I plan to do the same!  Thank you for posting this, I really need to hear that others have done the same.