Withdrawal support please!

I’ve been reading a lot of posts on here and I’ve been on klonopin for 2 and a half months .25 mgs once a day. I’m also prescribed Ativan .5 twice a day for when my panic attacks are severe i don’t take the Ativan because the .25 mg of klonopin works fine. I’ve tried taping down off the klonopin but I can’t deal with the panic attacks they cripple me is there anyway I can wean off my klonopin with the Ativan to help my panic attacks. I’m 22 yrs old and just feel so stuck and uncertain and scared over this.

What we typically tell members if they want to be benzo free and they're on more than one is to taper the shorter acting benzo first, which would be the Ativan.  That way the longer acting Klonopin can help you through the interdose withdrawal which are usually present with Ativan. 

 

Its up to you but if you want to taper the Klonopin using the Ativan for the rough times you'll want to make sure you don't go up in dose by doing this.  What I mean is, if you're tapering the Klonopin but end up taking more than your total daily dose of any benzo by bumping up the Ativan then you won't actually be tapering, you'll just be substituting one benzo for another.

 

Am I confusing you?

Yes I understand that but I’ve never taken the Ativan. I’d just want to use it to wean off the klonopin I read that .25 klonopin is equivalent to .5 Ativan so will I feel any withdrawal during the switch over for the taper. I know it detox they use Ativan to taper off klonopin my mum died 2 months ago and my anxiety is just to bad to wean off the klonopin alone I’ve tried. I know being on it for 2 months and such a small dose isn’t anything compared to what people that have been on it for years at such a higher dose go through I just want off of these.

Thanks for clarifying you don't use the Ativan, my suggestion would be to get rid of it, it's not going to help you in the long run.  Using one benzo to get off of another benzo isn't the way to do this, the only way out is through and that means tapering very slowly to minimize the symptoms, learning all you can about this process to lessen your fear and using the tools we suggest here to combat the anxiety and panic that you're feeling.

 

I don't understand why a detox would cross someone over to Ativan when it's the shorter acting of the two which will make interdose withdrawal more prominent.  If you're not stable enough to taper right now due to your mum passing away, for which I'm very sorry, then it makes more sense to stay on the Klonopin until you're more mentally prepared to taper. 

 

If you do decide to cross over to the Ativan then you'll probably experience some discomfort due to the different properties of the two different benzo's.  And by the way, no dose of a benzo is small, these are powerful drugs which alter your brain chemistry.

Thank you so much for the information. Is there a slow taper you’d recommend coming off of .25 mg I can try dry tapering? I just don’t know how to use exact measurements. 

There are many ways to dry taper, some members shave their pills to get the small amounts they need to reduce, others will buy a jewelers scale for about $22.00 to crush and weigh them, its amazing how creative people are when it comes to this process. 

 

Are you working with a Dr for your taper, is there a possibility of getting the liquid version or perhaps your Dr could write a prescription for a compounded version.

 

Can you tell me what your taper has been so far, how big your reductions have been?  We typically suggest only reducing your dose by about 5-10% every week or two but this should depend on your symptoms.  If you feel too bad after your first reduction then make the next one smaller or hold longer until you begin to feel stable.  We can help you through this, this is what we do. 

Hello,

To regenerate what Pamster is saying on a slow taper, there are many dry tapers in the tapering forum, personally I dried taper with a pill cutter up till I could no longer do that, my insurance didn't pay for the liquid to titrate, and it was way too expensive for me to pay out of pocket, so my doctor suggested the dissolving pill and it worked just as good as the Liquid. Personally I did the 10% cuts held for 3 to 4 weeks, I learned to listen to my body, you will notice the change in your body as you taper and you will be able to tell when your body is ready to do the next cut, everyone is different on cuts and what they can handle and how long to hold that cut… Just listen to your body and you will do Great!! Don't give up   there are many on here who can help you get through this...