3.5 months off Klonopin

I was on 2mg of klonoping every night for 7 years initially prescribed for insomnia.  I've been off the benzo's now for just over 3.5 months cold turkey.  Is there anyone else out there with a similar story to mine who was on a high dose of a benzo for over 6+ years?  Some of my withdrawal symptoms have been extreme fatigue, anxiety/agitation, cloudy memory and thinking, depression, hopelessness, intrusive thoughts, gastrointestinal disturbance, shakiness/dizziness, weight gain and no motivation.  Just wondering when it starts getting better as these last 3 months I have been bedridden.  What can I do to expedite my recovery as it seems like a very slow process thus far? 

You jumped from 2mgs clonazepam after 7 years CT? Without tapering down? First of all why? Second of all in no way is this telling you to do this and take away from the progress you made the last three months of being Benzo free however from that high of doseage if it were me I’d reinstate them taper down to least 1mg or 0.5 or even 0.25 or maybe even lower before jumping. You must have balls of steal to cut cold turkey from that high doseage

Wow, I agree. I’m sorry you are in this situation, I think a slower taper might be necessary to gradually heal your brain.  Bacopa has helped me and might give you some relief, just start slow, your brain is probably extremely sensitive.  Also, very small doses (less than recommended) of theanine throughout the day,  melatonin at night.  Magnesium also helps me but not everyone.  Keep us posted, best wishes.

My situation is probably a little unique as I did a $10,000 procedure called rapid benzodiazepine detoxification (RBD) using flumazenil to get off the 2mg of clonezapam i took for 7 years.  It is the gold standard in Europe to get people off benzo's and is becoming more widespread here in the states.  I did the procedure here in Denver, CO as there aren't many places in the country you can actually do it. So when I say cold turkey from such a high dose it was because of this RBD (rapid benzodiazepine detoxification) procedure I did. I never could have gone cold turkey from 2 mg of klonopin, over 7 years, without this RBD detox procedure I did.   

 

 

Wow ten thousand dollars. Hope insurance fronted that bill, however procedures or not it’s obvious based on your symptoms that your CNS took too much of a rapid shock from the sudden lack of medication it was so use to it but I have no answer to your symptoms. But wish you the very best. Keep us updated. God bless

Oh! I keep reading about that.  Would you recommend it?  How much do you think it has cut down your withdrawal symptoms? I’m so curious to know everything about that process. I read it resets your receptors and completely pushes out residual Benzos.  Sounds great and scary at the same time.  Hoping it works!

Nope. The RBD detox using flumazenil here in Denver was completely out of pocket as insurance didn't cover it. 

Unfortunately 3 months off is very early for most.  Especially for a cold turkey.  I did Dr. Coleman's Flumazenil treatment too.  It might help, but I still had 10 months of very bad withdrawal from 3 months of use.

 

Not trying to scare you, but withdrawal is unique to everyone.  Some people heal fast, some not so fast and some very slowly. 

 

Cold Turkeys usually make symptoms more intense and withdrawal can last longer?

 

I wouldn't put a time line on when you think you should be better or you'll just be disappointed if it doesn't happen. 

 

No one can predict when your WD will end with any type of accuracy.

 

It is what it is and it ends when it ends.

 

But I wouldn't expect much this early...but who knows, maybe you will heal very quickly?

 

But it will end, given enough time.  Time is the healer.

 

You can do this.  Be strong and one day you'll cross the finish line!

I would definitely recommend the procedure.  I am still experiencing severe withdraw symptoms, per my first message, but was able to go cold Turkey off 2mg of klonopin taken for 7 years b/c of the RBD detox.

If you can afford it.  Insurance didn't pay for mine and it was about $7,000 2.5 years ago.

What it allowed you do is go CT without any risk for seizures...not sure if it worked for me?  It may have helped me to heal quicker?

Thank you so much for all the responses guys.  So incredibly helpful being on this forum. 

I was on 2mg of klonoping every night for 7 years initially prescribed for insomnia.  I've been off the benzo's now for just over 3.5 months cold turkey.  Is there anyone else out there with a similar story to mine who was on a high dose of a benzo for over 6+ years?

 

I was taking clonazepam for 8 & a half years.

The last few years taking 8 mg to as much as 24 mg per day.

Tired to keep it down to 8 mg though.

ct'd 3 times over the course of 6 weeks then over and done.

Yes I felt some of the things you went threw but I didn't find it all that bad.

I've been off of them for over 14 months.

Keep fighting.

 

Lucky me? Wow awesome to hear that, how was your side effects when you first went off them compared to your side effects now? Do you currently experience anything negative or do you feel like you were before ever being introduced to Benzo? Because 8 to 24 mg daily intake then CT with zero to nil side effects, yes def luckyme

Lucky me? Wow awesome to hear that, how was your side effects when you first went off them compared to your side effects now? Do you currently experience anything negative or do you feel like you were before ever being introduced to Benzo? Because 8 to 24 mg daily intake then CT with zero to nil side effects, yes def luckyme

 

My first ct resulted a massive additional pain in my head.

I have a 24/7 pain that started back in March 1996.

That's over 22 straight years.

So I took 8 mg clonazepam and the pain went back to my normal bad level.

CT/d again. Lasted another week but had to take another 8 mg again because of muscle twitching.

The twitches were gone the next day.

Stopped again the following week after reading that Tizanidine can cause hair thinning.

Vanity? Yes OK.

But my head has 3 horseshoe shaped scars.

Indentations from having a "BOLT" screwed into it for the purpose of ICP monitoring.

Two of them.

Two valves under my scalp and visible tubing under my skin.

As far as I can tell I haven't been able to identify any negative effects of taking all that clonazepam for all those years.

If I lost access to the Tizanidine I could go back to taking all that clonazepam again without worrying about it. 

So my memory would be a little bamboozled again but that wouldn't matter to me.

LuckyMe.

 

 

Hello Offbenzos4good,

Could you please share with us what happened during your treatment at CI Denver. What where your treatment days like? How was the fumazenil administered and what adjunct drugs were used during and after your rapid med detox. Very curious about the entire experience/treatment process.

Many thanks for your sharing your experience!

So I completed the benzo detox at the Coleman Institute here in Denver at the end of October 2018.  The procedure was adminstered through an IV they put in my stomach alongside a battery operated pump for the flumazenil.  I had to go in once or twice to change out the flumazenil bag for a new one.  They pumped the flumazenil in me for roughly 10 days.  Throughout the duration of the treatment I felt very sick (flu like) the entire time.  I experienced panic attacks and many other symptoms as it was very intense.  I am still taking olanzapine and clonidine which were prescribed to me in October during the detox. All in all I think the procedure helped because I went cold turkey from mg on Klonopin every night for 7 years.  Now I am roughly 110 days out from when I did the detox and still pushing through some heavy withdrawal symptoms, extreme fatigue being the worst of all the symptoms for me.  I keep hearing from different people that time is the biggest healer throughout this journey so just taking everything one day at a time as my brain and body continue to heal from this nasty drug.   

Don't reinstate is my opinion. Get used to feeling lousy. Try to read books and cook and resume ADL's. You will feel better over the next few months.

Offbenzos4good, Thank you for the honest reply and description of your experience! I am thinking about doing the medical detox with Coleman institute. I am slowly gathering info and doing as much research as possible. Not sure if I’ll use Denver or Richmond if I do decide to do it. Haven’t read many reviews about the Denver clinic but it is closer to me than Richmond. So I have understood that the treatment process is 8 days so I was curious when you said 10 days. Why did they treat you beyond the 8 days??

I am currently on a 1.045mg liquid Clonazepam taper made with simple syrup. I was prescribed 12 years ago at .75 mg at night and stayed on that for 10 years. I began to slowly taper last year and reduced to .375mg. Then started using ashwaghanda to assist in cutting....stupid move. I hit serious withdrawals when I completed my taper. My dr had me reinstate, which I did thinking he knew what he was doing. He wanted me on .5mg 3x daily. I was so sick at 1.375mg I stopped and started tapering. He thinks I’m crazy for not up dosing but can’t get it thru his head that the Clonazepam was making it worse. I’ve had 2 psychiatrist tell me I have to have an antidepressant to taper safely but they make me sick too. Currently I’m pretty stable, but getting weaker as I go. I can still drive but only am able to do about 1/4 of what I used to do daily. I guess I really fried myself bc my first taper was nothing like what I’m experiencing this time around. I can only make very small cuts .010mg, where as before I was cutting .125mg at a time. I have become sensitive to most food so eating is hard. At the rate I’m going it will taking me years to get off this crap. There will be nothing left of me. I’m small and only weight about 120lbs.  I sleep 5-6 hours a night using my .75mg nighttime dose, 30 mg elixinol CBD oil and 14 mg of melatonin. CBD seems to keep me from having depression and helps with daytime anxiety. My daytime doses .170mg(am) and .125mg (4pm) leave me feeling stoned. I’m stuck and it sucks. I’m just on the Clonazepam and I’m so frustrated bc I can’t make any progress!! 1.045mg = 104.5 cuts weekly = 2yrs & 1 week.....if I can tolerate these cuts on a weekly basis which I can’t always do. That’s why I’m considering the flumazinel

Thanks for your time, hope you are doing better. Wishing you continued improvements!🤞🏻🤞🏻

Please keep us in the loop on how you are doing. Lots of us care!