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How to properly jump off when you think you are at the jumping off point?


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Hi,

 

I have been tapering off clonazepam for over two years. I did a dry taper because I could not find any one that would prescribe valium for the tapering process. Needless to say it has been a rough go. I'm taking less than .016 mg clonazepam 2 x daily. Which is at the .5 mg valium jumping off point stated in the ashton manual (I think that is the right dosage, not sure off hand). I have been on this dosage for about a month now. I do have issues with palpatations, but those do not seem to be getting worse or better. Do I just jump now, or do I just take it every day and then skip a day (like a saturday) and then start skipping other days as well? Would really like some advice on how to go about doing this?

 

Thanks

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I do not recommend this method because it has been a really rough road!!! I just could not find a doc willing to prescribe valium to do it the proper way. I can almost get some accuracy cutting a .5 mg pill into 8 pieces. I'd crush the 1/8th pill as fine of a powder as I could and use a razor blade and cutting board to divide each pile of dust by halves until I got the correct fraction I was looking for. I then put the dust in size 3 gel caps I got from the herbal shop. My fear is even though it is just a little dust it only takes a little dosage drop to make withdrawal symptoms worse. My husband was looking at the dust in the gel caps and thinking about how small of an amount it was he thought he would take a little dust off and not tell me in about a day or two my withdrawal symptoms intensified. Needless to say he did not mess with my dosage again. That is why I'm searching for a suggestion on how to get off this final dosage. If any one has a suggestion I'd appreciate it. Trust me I will not blame anyone if it doesn't work out because this works different for everyone, I'd just appreciate an opinion.
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I forgot to mention I called a few local compounding pharmacies and even an international one. They said they could not compound such a low dose. I don't know if my sensitivity to dosage drops is based on the fact I have been on this drug for 17 years.
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I stepped off 4 days ago at .03 klon.  I was on it for 25 years(about 1mg per day).  I had some bad days, but expected and accepted them and thankfully had a great day today.  Your in a great position to be done.  I also dry cut from 1 mg tablets the entire time.  I’m very excited to be on the other side.
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Flowerpower,

 

Maybe this is off base, but it seems like if you are taking a small amount twice a day, the first step would be to the it once a day? See how the goes, and then make the next choice?

 

quiet

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Hi Flowerpower,

 

I found your post when I was searching BB for some information concerning jumping off clonazepam.  I don't have any advice for you because I am in a similar position.  I was wondering how folks have done when they jumped, why they picked that dose to jump, and how their experience was.  I am just looking for information and want to see what has worked for other people.  Like you, I will not hold anyone responsible but it would be nice to hear what has worked or not worked.  I realize we are all different.  I bought a sensitive laboratory balance to weigh the clonazepam and figured out how to calculate my dose in mg based  on the weight of the powder.  It has not been easy because there is sometimes a static charge on the powder or the tiny gelatin cap that I cut to fashion as a little receptacle "dish".  I have only taken clonazepam at night so I don't know how to advise you about cutting one of the doses.  Does the Ashton Manual address this?  Good luck in your healing journey.

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I jumped off klonopin at .0625 mg on the 8th of last month. I experienced only a very minor inrease in anxiety for a day or two, not sure if that was related due to coming off or not. It's honestly been indistinguishable from being on the last couple of doses. My anxiety is pretty great. I rarely get heart palpitations or dizziness now which were my two primary withdrawal symptons.  I was on .0625 for maybe 2 1/2 weeks before I decided it was time to jump because i felt mentally motivated to do it. Which is going to be the only thing in my opinion that will be a challenge. That dosage will not prevent or help with anxiety in my opinion. Your doing this all on your own at this point. You may have some minor wds from jumping or you may not, most people I think don't. The real hurdle will be mentally here, you have to be motivated to finally get off so you can stay off in my opinion. Getting off was a lot easier then I would have thought, I just decided today im not going to take any im done.
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You could go to a daily liquid micro taper since you can't cut it anymore as powder.  You can dilute your liquid as much as you want to lower your dose.  There was an adjustment period for me switching but I switched at a higher dose.
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  • 3 weeks later...
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone that responded!. It is nice to see there are others having to deal with the dry taper issue and I appreciate everyone's advice and letting me know the dosages at which you jumped. I'm still leery about jumping and even a little scared to do the one dose a day thing. I am definitely motivated mentally but it's taken so long to get to this point and after having many set backs I want to do this right. I'm going to continue "eye balling" the dosage and cutting it ever so slightly every two weeks. I can't say that I won't wake up one morning and just stop. I hate sitting down and making these gel caps and divvying out the powder for each one. It's a frustrating process and I'm really sick of this drug and what it has taken away from me!
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I weigh the pills and shave off a precise amount for each cut. I bought my scale at amazon for about $20. There's a thread somewhere about how to take the average weight of 10 pills then use that as the measure for your reduction (there is quite the variation in weight between pills) I'm very sensitive to variations, so a scale was essential and I've been using it from the beginning of my taper. I'm using valium which is more taper friendly because of the long half life.

Ashton taper schedule does have you stop at .5mg of valium.

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