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Using CBD oil to taper clonazepam


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Does anyone have any experience using CBD oil to taper clonazepam? My psychiatrist seems to think I can do this easily with very little problems. I startedoff on 1.25mg of clonazepam/day and tapered down to about 1/6 of a clonazepam and had to go up to 0.5mg when I took prilosec for 2 weeks (doctor's orders) without knowing about the liver enzyme issue. I then got back down to 1/6 of a clonazepam AGAIN, using gabapentin (pretty low dose) for about 9 months and had to go back up to 0.5mg of clonazepam after a bad reaction to the gabapentin led me to stop using it abruptly.

 

It's been 2 years of this taper stuff after being on the meds for about 2 1/2 months. Now, a new holistic psychiatrist I'm seeing seems to think I can get off of 0.5mg of clonazepam in just three months using CBD oil. I don't know. I know slower is better. Just wondering if anyone out there has any experience with this. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Benzos seem to just make you worse over time. Wish I would have known how habit-forming they are if taken daily.

 

Thank you!!

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I’m looking into this too... interested to see what ppl say.

Also considering CBD to treat my chronic pain and Lyme disease... so three birds one stone?

I had the chronic pain before benzos but they’ve made it a million times worse... 😳

 

Are u in the US? It’s illegal here in Aus but luckily lots of avenues to access safe stuff ppl are making for medical conditions to help ppl ‘underground’

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Speaking solely for myself, I have found CBD oil to be an absolute Godsend for me in my taper (down to 1.4mg of Valium now and looking to dump the stuff by end of summer). I have an extremely high stress job in the financial services industry with two young girls, so for me being functional takes precedent over the amount of time it takes me to taper.

 

I can’t speak to being able to taper any faster because of CBD oil, but I can definitely say that it has helped me with sleep and combined with lower Valium, has me feeling a lot more like myself. I dose about 15-20mg nightly and it calms my mind and allows me to relax as I meditate before sleeping. The effects are subtle, and my experience may not be your experience, but it has substantially helped me. My sleep quality has improved, which I also believe is essential in being able to heal from this poison more quickly. In my opinion, it’s worth a shot to see how you respond. I’m happy to expound a bit more if you have any specific questions.

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I tried taking one drop of a high-quality raw CBD/CBDa oil (about 1 mg) sublingually morning and night for a couple of days recently while tapering Valium (currently at about 0.8 mg/day). Despite the low dose, I could feel a nice calm each time after 30 minutes or so. However, on the third morning before I took the morning dose of CBD I woke up and felt like my head was spinning... not a nice feeling. I skipped the CBD and just took my regular morning dose of the Valium. After a while the spinning feeling stopped and I was OK again.  I haven't taken the CBD oil since, and haven't had the head spinning reoccur.

 

I talked to the CBD folks, and at first they suggested that I INCREASE the dose of CBD... I told them that idea was kind of a non-starter. Then they suggested cutting back to one dose of the CBD per day, or maybe one every other day. That seemed to make more sense, but I haven't restarted the CBD oil yet. I'm thinking that the CBD oil might be useful after I finally jump from the Valium in a few months (to deal with any symptoms after the jump), but I'm pretty spooked to try it again now while still tapering. 

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks!

 

Dan

 

 

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I tried taking one drop of a high-quality raw CBD/CBDa oil (about 1 mg) sublingually morning and night for a couple of days recently while tapering Valium (currently at about 0.8 mg/day). Despite the low dose, I could feel a nice calm each time after 30 minutes or so. However, on the third morning before I took the morning dose of CBD I woke up and felt like my head was spinning... not a nice feeling. I skipped the CBD and just took my regular morning dose of the Valium. After a while the spinning feeling stopped and I was OK again.  I haven't taken the CBD oil since, and haven't had the head spinning reoccur.

 

I talked to the CBD folks, and at first they suggested that I INCREASE the dose of CBD... I told them that idea was kind of a non-starter. Then they suggested cutting back to one dose of the CBD per day, or maybe one every other day. That seemed to make more sense, but I haven't restarted the CBD oil yet. I'm thinking that the CBD oil might be useful after I finally jump from the Valium in a few months (to deal with any symptoms after the jump), but I'm pretty spooked to try it again now while still tapering. 

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks!

 

Dan

 

 

 

Hard for me to give advice, but I can definitely relate to the sense of calm you describe about 30 min after taking it sublingually. I personally haven't experienced the dizziness from the CBD oil, but do you think there's a chance that it could also have been w/d related re Valium? It sounds like a one-off occurrence. By the way, congrats on your taper so far - sounds like you are doing really well, much of it due to taking your time.

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Speaking solely for myself, I have found CBD oil to be an absolute Godsend for me in my taper (down to 1.4mg of Valium now and looking to dump the stuff by end of summer). I have an extremely high stress job in the financial services industry with two young girls, so for me being functional takes precedent over the amount of time it takes me to taper.

 

I can’t speak to being able to taper any faster because of CBD oil, but I can definitely say that it has helped me with sleep and combined with lower Valium, has me feeling a lot more like myself. I dose about 15-20mg nightly and it calms my mind and allows me to relax as I meditate before sleeping. The effects are subtle, and my experience may not be your experience, but it has substantially helped me. My sleep quality has improved, which I also believe is essential in being able to heal from this poison more quickly. In my opinion, it’s worth a shot to see how you respond. I’m happy to expound a bit more if you have any specific questions.

Hey Nologic1986, can you please post a link for the CBD oil you are taking? I have decided to try it. Thanks for sharing--
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it helps but you have to be choosy as to when you use it, repeated use daily makes you tolerant and you need more to make it work. I found it helped periodically instead of daily and mostly before bed because I needed it to calm me before sleep.
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2mg daily clonazepam here.

 

It's my understanding that CBD oil is not compatible with benzo's. I have some, but decided against using it after doing some research. Correct me if wrong.

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I considered getting my green card for this very purpose but, in retrospect, it was a good thing I avoided it in this state. I found out that many doctors and even private psychiatrists won't prescribe benzos if you have a green card around here. In order to obtain my script for Klonopin, I had to submit two UAs showing that I wasn't using anything other than my prescribed medication. My doctor informed me that, should my drug test come back positive for any "illicit" drugs or other medications, they would put me on a rapid taper immediately.

 

I asked him what they did with people who had green cards and were technically prescribed CBD/THC and he stated that hospital policy was to turn down benzo or pain-killer prescriptions to those individuals. He was almost apologetic in his response as he supports the use of CBD and THC for medical conditions but he told me that it was becoming standard policy in this state to turn people away with green cards. He also stated that many people end up doing a bit of "doctor shopping" after obtaining their green cards as they're treated as pariahs.

 

I'm not trying to set any anxiety in motion here but I would consider researching local policies regarding cannabis use and benzo prescriptions as I do know that many hospitals and even private psychiatrists are starting to demand UAs before they will prescribe benzos.

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Readytobefree88, I use cbd and have had a very very good experience with it. While I'm not using it to taper lorazepam, per se, it has helped me a lot on rare difficult days, and if I had a poor night of sleep I'll use it at bed the next night.  It's relaxing for me in very small doses.  Some argue it's placebo at small doses but I am a lightweight, always have been, so less is more. 

 

Hope this helps.

-PH 

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CBD oil after I was out of Acute.  I know now for a fact that I would never have "needed" a benzo if CBD an option back then.  However; I am not sure that CBD while you taper or even during Acute is a good idea as I have seen too many instances of it messing with people's brain even more in that compromised state.
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  • 4 weeks later...
Update! The CBD oil is helping tremendously. I’m using it under the supervision of my holistic psychiatrist and plan to keep using it for a while once I finish my taper. After 3 failed attempts, I’m so grateful to have found it. I’ve tried different brands and HempWorx has worked the best for me. Never give up! I know I would have never needed a benzo if I found this sooner, either. But that’s life and we can only move forward not back. I’m very hopeful for the future.
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