Tapering: Teacher

Hello,

 

I have been dry  tapering for the nine months and am down from 3mgs of Klonopin to 2.25mgs. I have been taking my time with this taper as my last two attempts have failed as I cut down too quickly. I have been on Klonopin for 10 years now and have been at 3mgs per day for around 5 year. I have had the usual withdrawal symptoms but the day-day stresses of being a teacher and coach have exacerbated them.

 

I had a difficult student swear at me the other day and I calmly sent him down to the office. I was irritated at the time but that incident became an intrusive thought that kicked my anxiety into full gear later that day. I know this was due to the benzo withdrawal as I have had many students say far worse to me over the years. I rarely take my hydroxyzine to calm down but I ended up popping 100mgs to sleep that night. There have been several other minor incidents where the anxiety and irritability have been exacerbated by the withdrawal.  On a side note I don't allow the irritability or the anxiety to affect my demeanor with my students. Although I'm sure they can tell when I'm not feeling well because I'm more quiet and reserved. They'll ask why I'm quiet and I simply tell them that I have a headache which is generally true as it's the first withdrawal symptom that hits me.

 

if it wouldn't be more prudent to taper more quickly during the three months I have off during the summer and stabilize during the school year. I know that I won't be able to jump off during a school year..

 

Thoughts?

Could you possibly fill in your signature in profile--It helps./?

How often are you dosing?

Are you getting interdose anxiety in spite of the longish half life?

I think you have done quite well to lower your dose with a stressful job.--Its not a race but a further taper in the holidays makes sense.

Klon is not a drug we use in the UK but you have come down from the equivalent of 60 mg to 43 of Valium which is some feat.

Your antihistamine at night is so important and fortunately you can take it or leave it- !

Are you doing any relaxation therapy? 

Good luck--KLON specialists will be along soon.

Dickie

 

Im a teacher and coach as well and I feel your pain. It's difficult when you have to put on a happy face every day and have to teach a group of students that are counting on you. I worked through my entire taper and jumped Oct. 24th. Starting a daily liquid micro taper and holding when necessary made the process much smoother. My advice is to taper as slow as necessary. I often times would make cuts on Tuesday or Wednesday, because my symptoms usually increased 2 or 3 days after a cut. That allowed me to rest and stabilize over the weekend. For me, the stress and difficulty of wd made incidents with students seem minor compared to the difficulty of withdrawal, so I didnt stress nearly as much as I did before withdrawal. I also used more sick days in the last two years than ever before. I also spent time meditating and relaxing much more than I ever have. It really helps to calm you. I downloaded a meditation app and used it to guide me. I would spend 30 min to an hour mediatating each evening when I got home. Again, the DLMT and meditation (breathing excercises) really helped me. There's a book called Don't Sweat The Small Stuff : Its All Small Stuff. I found that to be so true when tapering. Try to focus on yourself and not let the "small stuff" get to you. I hope you make progress over the Summer with your taper and are in a better place when next school year starts. Feel free to PM me if you need someone to chat with.

Take care

FP

Could you possibly fill in your signature in profile--It helps./?

How often are you dosing?

Are you getting interdose anxiety in spite of the longish half life?

I think you have done quite well to lower your dose with a stressful job.--Its not a race but a further taper in the holidays makes sense.

Klon is not a drug we use in the UK but you have come down from the equivalent of 60 mg to 43 of Valium which is some feat.

Your antihistamine at night is so important and fortunately you can take it or leave it- !

Are you doing any relaxation therapy? 

Good luck--KLON specialists will be along soon.

Dickie

 

I dose three times per day, currently at .25mg in the morning, 1 mg at noon, 1 mg at the evening. My 1 mg doses are in the form of two .5 mg tabs as it's much easier to taper that way. I will gradually start moving my noon dose to a morning dose as I decrease the morning dose. I'll dose twice per day at 1 mg until I stabilize and then began cutting chipping away at that morning dose. Once I've dropped to 1.5 mgs, I will go back to a taking it three times per day (.5 mg pills, morning/noon/night). Once I get to that point, I will cut out the noon dose gradually and get back to taking it twice per day. Once I'm at that point, I'll cut out the morning dose until I'm at .5 mg per day, taken at night. At that point, I will cut the evening dose down to .25mgs and then kick over to 10mg of Valium so I can really slow down the taper. 

 

I tapered in this manner about seven years ago and was able to get down to .25mgs total but I was on a high dose of Lamictal for treatment resistant depression. That particular medication and benzo withdrawals don't mix and my psychiatrist at the time was convinced that I needed to be on a benzo for my anxiety. The dose just went up and up from there and I should've known better. I have since tapered down to 25mgs of Lamictal  which does the trick for my depression but doesn't make me irrationally anxious and irritable.

 

I have interdose anxiety in the morning before I stabilize between cuts but they dissipate quickly when I take my 11am-noon dose. I have a fair number of relaxation, meditation and deep breathing techniques that I utilize and they generally work well for me. The hydroxyzine does the trick but I only take it when I'm in a really bad place or I absolutely cannot sleep. The anti-histamines tend to screw up my sleep patterns which makes the withdrawal worse for me so I avoid them when I can.  But, for whatever reason, that kid swearing at me set some serious anxiety and anger rolling and I just couldn't calm down or relax. And, it was retroactive; I didn't start feeling strange until later that afternoon.

Hey, I feel your pain as a teacher. I quit Klonopin c/t last year on March 21st, 2018. I was only taking .25 mgs, which I thought would not affect me at all when I quit. It did. I have been struggling for nearly 14 months now with all sorts of terrible mental symptoms and some physical. I know how hard it is to work during this awful process and I'm actually wondering if teaching is something I should do going forward as it's always given me anxiety in the nine years I've been doing it. I teach high school English. I have all sorts of chemical anxiety when I wake up in the morning thinking about what I'm doing in class that day. I don't sleep well, but I think that's a mix of the job and withdrawal. I have intrusive thoughts and feelings of fear throughout the day. Plus, when I try to lecture, especially early in the day, I get pains in the side of my head and often panic. Just know you are not alone. If you ever want to talk, please PM me.

Possibly.    Move it to 0.75/ 0.5/ and 1mg. Only a suggestion

The early bigger dose covers the adrenaline cortisol surge. ?

Dick

 

Possibly.    Move it to 0.75/ 0.5/ and 1mg. Only a suggestion

The early bigger dose covers the adrenaline cortisol surge. ?

Dick

 

Thank you for the suggestion. This is something I have tried before and I have found that the more uncut pills I can take, the better. The full pills work their way into my system slower which helps to reduce interdose anxiety. Even the smallest cut in the pill results in the drug releasing into my system much faster. It hits me hard and then I have rebound anxiety. I have found that I have to be careful about how I cut the pills; I have more withdrawal symptoms if the pills have any jagged edges on them, at all. I've actually used a nail file before to gradually whittle down a pill.

Hey, I feel your pain as a teacher. I quit Klonopin c/t last year on March 21st, 2018. I was only taking .25 mgs, which I thought would not affect me at all when I quit. It did. I have been struggling for nearly 14 months now with all sorts of terrible mental symptoms and some physical. I know how hard it is to work during this awful process and I'm actually wondering if teaching is something I should do going forward as it's always given me anxiety in the nine years I've been doing it. I teach high school English. I have all sorts of chemical anxiety when I wake up in the morning thinking about what I'm doing in class that day. I don't sleep well, but I think that's a mix of the job and withdrawal. I have intrusive thoughts and feelings of fear throughout the day. Plus, when I try to lecture, especially early in the day, I get pains in the side of my head and often panic. Just know you are not alone. If you ever want to talk, please PM me.

 

I'm sorry you're struggling and I can relate. I've been on Klonopin for most of my teaching career and, in the middle of a withdrawal period, I've wondered if I can handle the job. But, when I stabilize between cuts, the difference between 3mgs per day and 2.25mgs is significant; I have much less anxiety, my head feels clearer and I'm just feel better, overall.

 

I'm new to the site but maybe going on 5mgs of Valium (the equivalent of .25mgs of Klonopin) and then gradually tapering down would help? I do know that .25mgs can be quite a but to jump off of as I've tried before and paid for it.

I've been off too long, I think. I've asked about reinstating many times and nobody that has been off a long time has had much success with it. I was already kindled before this all happened too. What do you teach?

Klonopin withdrawal takes time to kick in, so I wouldn't taper too fast too close to the school starting.

 

Also, it's better to take more smaller doses during the day than fewer higher doses, but obviously you know your body best, so do what works for your! I'd say you won't avoid cutting pills at some point so it's better to deal with the withdrawal from cutting a pill while you're on a higher dose. But once again, you do what's best for you.

I've been off too long, I think. I've asked about reinstating many times and nobody that has been off a long time has had much success with it. I was already kindled before this all happened too. What do you teach?

 

That's unfortunate; I wish you the best. I teach math and the brain fog and fatigue has made that interesting this year.