Please help. So scared and confused on my clonapin taper

Hello.  I suffer from panic disorder.  Cbt works and meditation if I work hard at it.  But I was on 3 mg of klonopin for about two years. Then in January of this year the awful Shrink I was seeing said my anxiety wasn’t improving and upped me to 4 mg.  I also take busporine for the physical side effects.  That drug helps.  But klonopin really just makes me a zombie and doesn’t really alleviate any of the anxiety.  So I saw a new shrink.  My Insurance changed too. So they wouldn’t cover 4 mg. I literally was forced to go down from 4mg to 3mg. But the pharmacy talked to the doctor. But I had to go from 4 to 3 so he put me on remeron to help with withdrawal.  We stayed at this for a month then went to 2.5 where I have been for 5 weeks.  I’m miserable.  I take 1 mg at 7 am with busporine. At noon I take 1 mg with busporine and at 5pm I take 1/2 mg with busporine. Oh the busporine is 15 mg.  I have no appetite during the day.  I was taking remeron at night but would wake up at 1 am with a crazy appetite.  So the pharmacy recommended I take the remeron at 6.  It doesn’t help me sleep.  Which is crazy but helps me to eat and helps my body to calm down finally.  I can have a snack then dinner at a 8.  Now I’m starting to be able to eat around 1 pm.  Which is awesome.    I also take melatonin.  This is great because I’ll fall asleep and not overeat from remeron. But I still gorge eat two hours after remeron. But this is doctors prescribing.  So I’m scared.  Now I’m seeing a new shrink next month.  They will work on weening me off but no docs seem to get the drastic withdrawal isn’t good.  So Can someone help me with a plan starting next month that I can show the doctor.  I just think if we go from 2.5 to 2 over night next month is drastic.  Is there a plan someone can share with me. Also is there a better drug then remeron to take ?  At least I’m eating. Before remeron the stress was so bad even with clonopin I wouldn’t eat much.  So that’s when we decided clonopin wasn’t working and to get off.  Please advice.

Hi Scotty. If your doctor is advocating for monthly cuts, If it were me I’d take the monthly cut in two halves spaced two weeks apart to make the cuts a little lower.

Can you explain what that means ?  I just need a little more clarification.  Can you explain how the split would work in more detail?  I’m doing mg at 7 am, 1mg at 12 pm and 1/2 at 5. With remeron at night.  But I wake up with horrible anxiety.  So what exactly is ur method ?  I want to tell my doc

For instance, if your doctor wants you to cut .5mg in November, I’d cut .25mg the first two weeks and cut the other .25mg the second half of the month.

 

Klonopin is usually prescribed twice a day since it’s a long-acting benzodiazepine.  So you may want to consider stretching out your two 1mg doses once you’ve cut the .5mg dose to .25mg.

 

Just my opinion...

 

 

Thank you so much

Hello.  I suffer from panic disorder.  Cbt works and meditation if I work hard at it.  But I was on 3 mg of klonopin for about two years. Then in January of this year the awful Shrink I was seeing said my anxiety wasn’t improving and upped me to 4 mg.  I also take busporine for the physical side effects.  That drug helps.  But klonopin really just makes me a zombie and doesn’t really alleviate any of the anxiety.  So I saw a new shrink.  My Insurance changed too. So they wouldn’t cover 4 mg. I literally was forced to go down from 4mg to 3mg. But the pharmacy talked to the doctor. But I had to go from 4 to 3 so he put me on remeron to help with withdrawal.  We stayed at this for a month then went to 2.5 where I have been for 5 weeks.  I’m miserable.  I take 1 mg at 7 am with busporine. At noon I take 1 mg with busporine and at 5pm I take 1/2 mg with busporine. Oh the busporine is 15 mg.  I have no appetite during the day.  I was taking remeron at night but would wake up at 1 am with a crazy appetite.  So the pharmacy recommended I take the remeron at 6.  It doesn’t help me sleep.  Which is crazy but helps me to eat and helps my body to calm down finally.  I can have a snack then dinner at a 8.  Now I’m starting to be able to eat around 1 pm.  Which is awesome.    I also take melatonin.  This is great because I’ll fall asleep and not overeat from remeron. But I still gorge eat two hours after remeron. But this is doctors prescribing.  So I’m scared.  Now I’m seeing a new shrink next month.  They will work on weening me off but no docs seem to get the drastic withdrawal isn’t good.  So Can someone help me with a plan starting next month that I can show the doctor.  I just think if we go from 2.5 to 2 over night next month is drastic.  Is there a plan someone can share with me. Also is there a better drug then remeron to take ?  At least I’m eating. Before remeron the stress was so bad even with clonopin I wouldn’t eat much.  So that’s when we decided clonopin wasn’t working and to get off.  Please advice.

 

How much remeron are you taking? The dosage to help with sleep can be less than what you are taking. And I would not change out the remeron at the same time as trying to taper K Change one thing at a time.

Hello.  I suffer from panic disorder.  Cbt works and meditation if I work hard at it.  But I was on 3 mg of klonopin for about two years. Then in January of this year the awful Shrink I was seeing said my anxiety wasn’t improving and upped me to 4 mg.  I also take busporine for the physical side effects.  That drug helps.  But klonopin really just makes me a zombie and doesn’t really alleviate any of the anxiety.  So I saw a new shrink.  My Insurance changed too. So they wouldn’t cover 4 mg. I literally was forced to go down from 4mg to 3mg. But the pharmacy talked to the doctor. But I had to go from 4 to 3 so he put me on remeron to help with withdrawal.  We stayed at this for a month then went to 2.5 where I have been for 5 weeks.  I’m miserable.  I take 1 mg at 7 am with busporine. At noon I take 1 mg with busporine and at 5pm I take 1/2 mg with busporine. Oh the busporine is 15 mg.  I have no appetite during the day.  I was taking remeron at night but would wake up at 1 am with a crazy appetite.  So the pharmacy recommended I take the remeron at 6.  It doesn’t help me sleep.  Which is crazy but helps me to eat and helps my body to calm down finally.  I can have a snack then dinner at a 8.  Now I’m starting to be able to eat around 1 pm.  Which is awesome.    I also take melatonin.  This is great because I’ll fall asleep and not overeat from remeron. But I still gorge eat two hours after remeron. But this is doctors prescribing.  So I’m scared.  Now I’m seeing a new shrink next month.  They will work on weening me off but no docs seem to get the drastic withdrawal isn’t good.  So Can someone help me with a plan starting next month that I can show the doctor.  I just think if we go from 2.5 to 2 over night next month is drastic.  Is there a plan someone can share with me. Also is there a better drug then remeron to take ?  At least I’m eating. Before remeron the stress was so bad even with clonopin I wouldn’t eat much.  So that’s when we decided clonopin wasn’t working and to get off.  Please advice.

 

I share a similar story.

I was planning on tapering but Insurance put into FULL THROTTLE. I was on 5mg (I knew this was high and I was going to taper) but Insurance would only cover 3mg (TOTAL). Benzos are finally coming under scrutiny but at the patient's expense unfortunately.

 

I have come from 5mg to 2mg since February of this month. My Shrink is different in that, I think he knows to go slow. Not necessarily with the "cut" but he's allowing me to "hold" longer.

 

I am now paying full price for klonopin. Insurance has been a nightmare since my first taper. And for the sake of my stress levels, I am just paying out of pocket.

I'm down quite a bit and now my insurance is saying I can only take .5mg 3 times a day (But I need it 4 times to break up the dose throughout the day).

 

As far as your new shrink appointment, I suggest pleading to them to go slow.

 

Remeron...I took that and gained 75 pounds. So for me, It made me hungry nonstop. I don't know of another med that would be helpful. I was put on Gabapentin at the start of my taper and I had horrible side effects from it so I had to stop.

Perhaps someone can chime in with more experience for sleeping and coming off K.

So far my sleep is decent with exception of very vivid dreams.

 

Best of luck!