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CLONAZAPAM 0.25 TAPER SEVERE WITHDRAWAL SIDE EFFECTS. UPDATE


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Im 31 years old, male 165LB 5;9

I have had anxiety for the past 10 years of my life and have been on escitalopram 20mg for those past 10 years.

This year January 2020 my anxiety went crazy out of no where so i went for the first time to see a psychiatrist he told me

that its possible the old medication stopped working for me and started me on setraline. (zoloft)

For the transition between drugs he gave me 0.5mg of klonapin to take as needed.  in late Febuary I started taking half of the klonapin so .025 mg twice daily. Morning and night. I got up to the 100mg dose of the setraline the dr told me to get to and then he told me to taper off the klonapin so thats what i did.

He instructed me to take 1/4 pill morning and night. i started doing that and after two days i started feeling terrible, my anxiety came back, i would wake up with tremors in the hands, no appetite, headaches that lasted days at a time. overall feeling super terrible. I told the Dr and he said go back to half a pill in the morning and keep 1/4 at night and i did that and in about 3 weeks the symptoms went away and i felt fine again.

So he told me again to do 1/4 day and night. and same thing is happening I feel absolulty terrible again if not worse then the first time.

 

So i need your help to figure out how to taper off this drug without side effects because im suffering so badly and its gotten nearly impossible to go to work and be able to work.

i ordered a mg scale to try and taper down more evenly and consistently.

 

In total i have been taking 0.25 mg for only 2 months before i started tapering down. Is it normal for my withdraw symptoms to be so strong and so bad?

 

End of June I purchased a scale and have been measuring the pills and going down 0.001 from my morning and evening dose.  It's been going ok for two weeks then I started feeling terrible again so I stayed at the current amount I was at fir a few days till I felt better. Then I started going down again 0.001 and again week and half later feel terrible. This drug is so hard to get off its crazy.

 

My current morning dose is 0.075 and my night dose is 0.053.

 

I feel like still so far from being able to be fully off this pill.

 

This morning I woke up and my heart was Racing at 120bpm as I was getting ready to go to work. I work in the health care field xray tech to be exact and have been working the whole time since covid started. It has really made this so much harder dealing with covid and my anxiety and getting of CLONAZAPAM all at the same time.

 

I read it's the hardest part getting off the smallest doses is that true.

How many of you that got off the meds still felt withdrawal symptoms  weeks or months after??[/img]

 

UPDATE

IT'S NOVEMBER 19 TODAY.

On October 17 I combined my night dose with my morning dose because my mornings were always worse then my evening. So combining my does I was at 0.080 mg. And that helped me feel better doing the whole dose in the Morning.  I stayed at that dose for 7 days and felt better and began tapering again. Currently I'm at 0.060 mg. The taper up to this point has been not to bad. For the most part I felt ok. Had a few days here and there where I had some symptoms come back but not as severe as before.  Which I'm thankful for.  Slow and steady is the plan.

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Hi Needhelp,

 

I'm glad you've been using a scale to reduce and I'm sorry you're suffering so much, unfortunately, this is the way it is.  We don't know why some people suffer more than others, I've seen some like you who have been on the drug for a short time have just as much difficulty as those who have been on it for decades, it's all a mystery and terribly unfair.  I'm so sorry you were put on this drug for no good reason and your first taper attempts seemed to have set the stage for your difficulty now.

 

The only thing we can tell you is keep going very slow and hold for longer but this won't be pain free.  I'm glad to know you're working, I did too and it provided much needed distraction from my symptoms.  We still feel them but at least we're not sitting home with only our misery for company.  I'm sure with COVID your stress levels must be over the top but I hope you can keep working.

 

Many find they have to slow their tapers even more when they get to the lower doses so you might need to be prepared for that.  And yes, once you're off of the drug there is still healing to be done.  Your brain is doing it's best to repair the damage done by the drug but it can't happen overnight, healing takes time. 

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Thank you for the kind words. It's been such a difficult year. It would be easier for sure if we were not dealing with covid.
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I can't imagine going through what you while the world is in such disarray, your stress must be unimaginable.  Please use us for support, we're here if you need us.  :mybuddy:
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  • 1 month later...
How long does it take the body to adjust to current dose levels. I'm trying to hold at 0.045mg day 0.035 night and I'm holding at this level because my symptoms are so severe it's so hard to manage. Severe anxiety. Racing heart. Headaches. No appetite. Dizziness. Lightheaded. Need to level out so these symptoms stop cuz it's impossible to function.
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Have you considered a crossover to diazepam i know from my experience klonopin on low dose make your cns very agitated so its hard to taper directly from it
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Hi Needhelp101,

 

I’m no expert but have been reading and learning a lot on the forum. Jondoe makes a good point about about a diazapam crossover.

 

If you just want to stick with klon, in my opinion and from what I’ve personally learned when I went down lower than .25mg (pill strength) klon in my first taper, the withdrawal symptoms are much more sensitive to even tiny cuts. I see that in the last six weeks you tapered faster than if you were to cut 10% every two weeks (hopefully my calculations are correct for the scale weight).

 

At your low dose level I would personally do a 5-10% cut and hold each taper for at least three weeks.

 

Also just want to say I totally know what you’re going through with your symptoms. It’s such a horrible feeling and I hope you find some comfort in knowing you’re not alone.

 

Everyone is biochemically different so there is no definitive “at this many weeks you’ll feel better”. All I know is tiny cuts and longer holds seem to make it more tolerable for me.

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Yea I have been going down faster then I pro should. I'm holding at current dose until symptoms get better.  And I swapped and decided to take my evening dose in the morning.  Another user suggested that and it's a good idea because toward the evening when I get home I start to feel better. It's the mornings that are so hard and full of anxiety. So taking my evening dose together in the morning and just doing it once a day I think is a good idea so I'm going to try it. And it's one less pill to measure out.
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How long does it take the body to adjust to current dose levels. I'm trying to hold at 0.045mg day 0.035 night and I'm holding at this level because my symptoms are so severe it's so hard to manage. Severe anxiety. Racing heart. Headaches. No appetite. Dizziness. Lightheaded. Need to level out so these symptoms stop cuz it's impossible to function.

 

It takes me two weeks after reducing the medication to start to feel a reduction in side effects and feel better. It takes a month to get back to a kind of normal. I definitely don't feel great but I'm not having really terrible symptoms at that point usually. I will say that if I have a stressful event happen, that can set me back as well but more often than not, the severe symptoms tend to subside within 10 days to 2 weeks.

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hi needhelp.  it sounds like you're reducing too fast.  slower taper might be better for you.  that's the only way i could do this and still live my life.  best luck to you.  jill
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  • 2 weeks later...

I am in a similar situation on alprazolam.  I started at .50 and it has taken six months to get to .31.  I cut and hold about three weeks and then start again.  I am noticing with each cut it is having more and more of an impact on me.  I will continue to hold as long as needed and then continue to cut. 

 

Listen to your body, it's the only thing than can dictate the dose and frequency.  We all want to hit the finish line, but if it's done quickly you may suffer Post Acute Withdrawal.  Hang in there, just my opinion and it seems to be working for me..

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I have. Never heard of tapering from morning till evening.  Most tapers are done on a weekly basis.  Or even wider periods if needed.  Klonopin is a vicious drug as I have found out.  Look at my signature and see the horrors I have been through trying to taper.  This lousy drug hooks you quickly.  I would start the taper over at a dosage tht makes you comfortable and then go down much slower.  However, I always tell people when you taper off the drug, you have to expect that your original symptoms that put you on it will return.  The only thing that I know of to do for this is what I did.  Learn coping techniques.  And the absolute best place I learned them from is Recoveryinternational.org.      They have FREE weekly meetings to teach you the method.  Give. It a few months and practice the method like crazy 24/7 like I did.  It will work if you do that.  Please go to their site and look it over and give it a try.  No one will see you.  You will see the speaker and the information on your screen.  They usually ask who sent you and you can tell them Christine from Florida.  I am a former group leader for them.  If possible, try to join a class with Steve as the leader.  I wish you the best. 
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