Connection

I'm a 67-year-old male. I've been taking Klonopin 1mr 2x daily for the past 2 and 1/2 years. After educating myself about this drug...I decided to taper. 14 days ago I cut my dosage to 1mg a day (taken the same time daily) the first few days went well, but after that I've been experiencing most of the withdrawal symptoms, starting proximity 2 hours before taking the scheduled 1 mg dose. Just wondering if I should stay with this schedule hoping (praying) that these symptoms will subside in the upcoming days or weeks. I see a VA Therapist every week and monitoring blood pressure and heart rate several times a day. It's so reassuring to finally find a place where people have or are experiencing what I'm going through.

Hello and welcome to BenzoBuddies, a peer support, benzodiazepine tapering forum. We’re glad you’re here!

 

I appears from your introduction that you cut your klonopin dose in half. It's not surprising that you would experience severe symptoms from such a large reduction. We generally recommend people start with reducing 5-10% every 2-4 weeks.

 

It's hard to say if your symptoms will subside quickly, but there is a very real risk they will not. You are probably within the window of time that you could up-dose (also called dose correction), wait until the symptoms settle down, and start again at a slower pace. This usually makes a person's symptoms much more tolerable. I'm sure buddies who have experience with dose correcting will be happy to share their experiences with you so you can decide if this is the course you want to take. Others in your situation have decided their symptoms were tolerable and decided to wait them out. As you can imagine, it's a very personal decision.

 

You are now on the Introductions Board. It doesn’t get as much traffic as the rest of the forum, so I’d like to give you links to a couple of other boards that will be helpful starting places.

 

General Taper Plans

 

Withdrawal Support During Your Taper

 

Klonopin Klub

 

The Klonopin Klub is one of our more active support groups with buddies who will help you navigate the forum. Definitely worth checking out.

 

I’d also like to give you a link to The Ashton Manual. Dr. Heather Ashton was a pioneer in helping people get off of benzodiazepines. Her short manual is available free online. It contains basic information about benzodiazepines and tapering that is useful to both doctors and patients.

 

If you are able, please take time to add a signature (history of meds/doses, etc.) that will appear appear below your posts. It will help members give you relevant advice. Go to the top of the page and select profile. Then choose forum profile. Then insert your drug history into the text box. Remember to click change profile when you’ve finished.

 

Again, welcome!

 

Gardie

Hello Skyman!

 

I'm so glad you found your way here.  I wish I'd had the help of a place like this when I was tapering off Xanax.  Believe me, it's so much better to have all the knowledge and experience to be found here.  And all the caring people that are happy to help you with your journey.

 

Welcome to the forum, sweetie!

 

Grandma Libble

Thank you! This is pure hell, but being on this site is very helpful. I now no that there is light at the end of the tunnel. My therapist and psychiatrist are compassionate, both encouraging me to find other resources that could help me taper, and will work with me in doing so.

 

Thank you! This is pure hell, but being on this site is very helpful. I now no that there is light at the end of the tunnel. My therapist and psychiatrist are compassionate, both encouraging me to find other resources that could help me taper, and will work with me in doing so.

 

I'm so glad to hear you have helpful doctors who will work with you. It makes a world of difference. You can do this!

 

Gardie