Protracted Withdrawals--When can I start tapering again?

Last year at this time I was at 2mg of Clonazepam.  With great difficulty, visits to the emergency with rapid heart rate and chest pain and many missed days of work/working from my bed (Software Developer), I am now at 1mg.  I would do 1/4 drops, but my doctor (my glorified drug dealer) told me to do the drop 1 day of the week and then add a day to each consecutive week until I'm permanently on the new lower dose on the 7th week.  I started in October with very little to no withdrawals, then 2 weeks after I was on the low dose full time, I experienced: severe dizziness, headaches, nausea, worsened memory loss, heart attack symptoms, tremors, ringing in the ears, etc... I just woke up this morning with chest pains, but the clonazepam takes them away for the first half of the day.  95% of the symptoms are gone.  When I have anxiety I do get dizzy but it's not severe.  I do get anxiety/chest pains and my memory is still poor, but it was poor on 2mg and it's the main reason I want off this train wreck.  I was told that my tinnitus is long term.  It seems to be the only thing that has remained chronic, all the other symptoms have abated and/or are intermittent.  I planned on waiting until all my symptoms are gone except the tinnitus.  My question is: should I wait until my tinnitus is gone before I can start my new dry micro taper (0.003mg every 2-3 days)?  I hate waiting but I'm worried about seizures, and I'm not sure what to do because when it comes to ringing in the ears, it's supposed to be long term, and I could be waiting in vain.

Hi Fireplace,

Just my thoughts, but your right, you could be waiting a long time for the T to abate...

As you get underway with a slow steady taper, I would hazard a guess that you will find a suitable set of symptoms to guide yourself with.. Furthermore, I would imagine that any risk of seizure, which seem pretty rare, would be well behind these guiding, or even tolerable, symptoms...

My understanding is that it is the big shocks to ones system that are advisable to avoid..

For me, that was a sudden direct crossover on another (but similar for me) med, shortly after benzo and yet another meds discontinuation... It was a silly move for me, and the warning signs had been there for many months, -that was, for ME, some pretty wild “brain acrobatics”, brain zaps far more intense than normal, and the final straw, tongue biting myoclonic jerks as I woke.. Still, many people experience these things without serious problems.. That is, IF they even DO experience them at all..

 

Sounds like you have had a fair taste of what can be, but I suspect you will find a suitable symptom based taper a much better experience...

 

Wishing you the best...

 

It sounds like your symptoms excluding the tinnitus are manageable at the moment, I don't see any reason to wait if you're fairly functional at this point.  Waiting until are your symptoms are gone probably isn't realistic since they come and go so frequently. 

 

Who told you the tinnitus was long term?  It is a symptom, I had it too, but it left when I healed.

Hey,

 

Thanks for the replies! 

 

I read about it and my doctor confirmed that it's usually long term and the very last symptom to go. 

 

I'm still on 1mg.  And I'm on a 2-year plan to get off Clonazepam for good.  My healing has been tepid and I imagine I will receive a lot more of it when I cease the drug.

It sounds like you have a knowledgeable Dr, this is kind of rare to find, some find it difficult to acknowledge we exist, so you're lucky.  I like the two year plan, slow and steady is best.  If you'd like specific support for the tinnitus, we have a dedicated support thread located here: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=96554.0 It's just a thread so no need to start a new topic, just jump in with a reply.

 

Yes, the real healing starts when you're finally off of the drug, and it seems as if we have to hurt to heal..