Tapering off Klonopin

Hi I am new to the forum. My Doctor is tapering me off of Klonopin.I was taking 2 and-a half mg.I am now stopping the half and will be on 2mg.This is my 5th day on cutting out the half. When do the withdrawals start after stopping a half mg.. The way I am tapering is half in the morning and half mid day and taking a whole at night. Any positive answers will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Hello Redbird Flies, Welcome to BenzoBuddies!

 

Klonopin has a half life of about 30-40 hours, so symptoms should start to show up around that time, but it can take up to a week or two for them to show up.  Can you tell us how long you've been taking the Klonopin, that might help us figure out what you might expect from your reduction.

 

If you'd like some taper suggestions, you might want to take a look at our  Planning Your Withdrawal (Taper Plans), there you'll find the methods we support, typically we suggest a very slow taper, only about 5-10% every week or two, depending on your symptoms.

 

You can also start a thread on the  Withdrawal Support (during your taper) board, there you can connect with members who understand what you're facing.

 

There are many people who can withdraw from these drugs without problems, you might just be one of them, I hope so.

 

Pamster

I have been on Klonopin for about a year.My Doctor stopped the Xanax that I had been taking for 30 years as needed and put me on Klonopin and said it was better than Xanax because it was longer lasting. I didn’t like the way Klonopin made me feel as it just dulled my senses but kept taking it.The Klonopin never took away my fear.I was put on Paxil and that helped with the fear and ocd. I am now on prozac 60mg and has helped but still getting anxious so my psychiatrist said the Klonopin is what is making me anxious.I was on 3 mg.of Klonopin but the Doc told me to stop half mg. Now I am having to stop another half so Now I am on 2mg. I am on my 6 day of cutting the half and am feeling anxious in afternoons. I was wandering if I will definitely have withdrawals and when they usually start?

Its good to hear your Dr recognized the Klonopin is most likely contributing to your anxiety, this is very common, but in my opinion, you're being tapered off way too fast, especially in light of your long history of taking benzo's. 

 

We won't know if you're going to experience withdrawals, the only way to know this is to taper and see how it goes.  Please consider going slower, the lower in dose you go, the more you may begin to experience intolerable symptoms. 

 

We'll be happy to help you compose a taper plan to show your Dr when you see him next, is that something you might be interested in?

Hi Pamster! Sorry but you had already answered my question in my first post. How long does withdrawal usually last after stopping just a half of a 1 mg?

I don’t have a choice Pamster.He wrote my next prescription for 2 mg. In my previous post I stopped the first half with no problems and that was a while back. This is my 7th day off of the other half. I had thought about breaking the 2 mg in 4 different dosages.One in morn one around 1:15 and one in afternoon and one at 9:00pm. Does this sound like a better way of tapering? Yes I would like you to show me a sample of tapering that I could show him.

With Klonopin it's usually not necessary to dose four times a day since it does have a fairly long half life, but you can do whatever you want.  Just make sure that whatever you decide to do, do it consistently so as not to cause your brain anymore confusion than its already experiencing. 

 

Ideally tapers should be as fast or as slow as slow as you need them to be, the trick is listening to the cues your body is giving you.  If you feel too badly after a cut, make the next one smaller.  If holding that cut for a week isn't enough to feel stable before the next cut, hold it a little longer.  A taper should be patient and symptom driven, not something decided by someone else or by a set schedule.  Unfortunately your Dr has chosen to set your pace, so we'll have to make the best of this.

 

If you'll start a thread at this link, I or someone else will be happy to provide a sample of what your taper might look like.  http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?board=56.0

 

 

Welcome to BB. Is your doctor insisting you decrease the K in .5 mg increments? This is way to fast IMO. You may be able to tolerate until you get below the 1 mg threshold, also IMO.

I am going to ask my Dr. next time if I can cut a half of a half. I just don’t like the anxious I’m feeling. I know it could be much worse but I still don’t like it. This is my 9th day off of half of 1 mg. I wish I knew how long it took for this anxiousness to go away!

I changed my way of tapering which is working better. I take 1/2 in am 1 at am and 1/2 at night. This is my 23 rd day cutting 1/2. Is it normal to feel icky, stomach messed up like IBS which I have and a headache and just feeling sicky in stomach also drainage in my throat and ocd bothering me a little?

Your symptoms sound pretty typical, and I'm glad to hear that dosing more often is helping.  Have you looked at the Withdrawal Support (during your taper) board to see if others share your symptoms?  You might also take a look at chapter 3 of  The Ashton Manual, you'll find all of your symptoms there along with an explanation why.

 

 

Pamster... This is my 26 day and I seem to feel  sporadic times of anxiousness,fear and ocd trying to flare up.Is this normal after this many days. I have slept on couch instead of bed because of fearfulness. I go to my Doc tomorrow and don’t know what he is going to do next and this makes me anxious. I don’t know if he is going to cut again and if I can handle it. Is there anything they can give you to help with this besides Valium. I don’t want to get on something else addictive, Thanks so much for responding to my post.

What is your current dose of Klonopin?

2mg a day

Thinking of you Redbird Flies.  I, too, am tapering from Klonopin, 1mg three times a day (3mg total).  I am down to 1.5 mg/day and I have gone fairly rapidly.  I have had some withdrawl but more than that, I am experiencing anxiety about the withdrawl process and just general day-to-day anxiety that seems to always be with me.  I am new to this site and certainly not an expert but feel free to send me a PM if you need support.  Best wishes to you.  Keep reading the success stories.  They are very helpful.  When I get in a slump, I read those and think 'if someone else can do this, it is possible for me, too'!

Hey Pamster! I went to Doc today and he was going to cut another half and I asked if he coul just cut a half of a half so tomorrow I will be taking 1.75 I hope this will go real smoothe for me. What are your thoughts?

Hey Redbird,

 

Glad your Dr relented and agreed to a smaller reduction, we'll take anything we can get at this point.  So it's my understanding that you'll see him once a month and reduce every month?

 

If this is the case, I wonder if you could take more control over your taper by reducing to 1.75 and if that works well for you over the next couple of weeks, then you might reduce it a bit more.  What I'm thinking is, if you could somehow get a little stockpile of pills, you might be able to save some for the end of your taper that the Dr doesn't know about and take a little bit longer at the end.

 

Does this sound like something you might want to try?

Pamster I already have some extra but why would I want to cut every two weeks. Wouldn’t it be much easier to do it slower?

Tapers are two fold, small reductions and holding those reductions until you feel well enough to cut again.  I'm wondering about the timing of your reductions, some members report feeling well enough to reduce again after a week or two, I'm wondering if this might be the same for you.  You might make another reduction, but make it a smaller one the next time.  So you may actually be reducing the same amount at months end, but you'll be taking smaller steps to get there, does that make sense?

Hey Katie! Thanks for responding to my post. It seems we are in the same boat. How much is your Doc cutting you at a time. Mine was going to do another half today and I asked if I could just cut 1/2 of a half. I thought maybe my body won’t notice it as much.

Pamster I don’t feel right now I am ready to do more but who knows in two weeks I might be. I really appreciate your support!

No worries, I'm just making suggestions.  Another thing to consider is cutting your pills.  If a pill is scored its generally assumed you'll have the same amount of the drug in each half, but when you cut it into quarters, you can't be sure you're getting the drug or the filler.  You may want to consider buying a scale to weigh your pills, crushing them and measuring out your drug by weight.

 

If you're interested in doing this, you can start a thread on the taper board to learn how. http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?board=56.0

Pamster, Right now he’s got me taking 3 1/2 a day any way I want to take them. 0.5 mg so it’s fairly easy to do. If this works out for me I am going to try to keep cutting same amount.

Oh, I thought they were 1 mg pills, so no worries for now.