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This change SAVED me; and allowed me to return to work


[ba...]

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As stated in my signature, I was on 1.5mg of clonazepam for roughly over 2 years. Around 1mg, i slowly transferred to the equivalence in diazepam for a more gradual taper.

 

Once I got under 5mg Diazepam, going down 1mg per month, it became very tough. I was taking 2mg in the morning, 3mg at night. then 2 and 2...then 2 and 1...or 1.5 and 1.5....and it was a struggle...as a few of you know and helped me this summer.

 

Something I noticed was, I never felt good until I took my final dose in the evening. So I asked my doctor, as I was returning to work and down to 3mg per day...if I could take all 3mg in the morning when I wake up. He said that would be fine to try as "it shouldn't really matter when I take it" and the half-life is long enough. I have noticed though my teeth grinding in my sleep has skyrocketed to needing a mouth-guard. That's the only negative.

 

Getting the dose all at once in the morning has been a life saver. I feel great throughout the day and sleep fine, but i do take a sleep aid. It appears I just wasn't getting the full affect of the drug by spreading doses out. I even tried three 1mg doses a day which was awful.

 

Everybody's body is different, but if this could help one person I did my job. Good luck everyone and hang in there

(It's also a nice mental break, getting the dose out of the way in the morning and not thinking about next dose for rest of day).

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This is good news, tapers are such an individual process, no two people are alike so one size fits all doesn't work, I'm glad you found what works for you, especially since you can function at work because of it.

 

Would you mind sharing what sleep aid you're using, hoping it's not a z-drug. 

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Z-drugs are very similar to benzos.

 

The Nonbenzodiazepines (Z-drugs)

 

Nonbenzodiazepines, although chemically distinct from benzodiazepines, operate very similarly upon GABA receptors. The only significant difference between these two classes of drugs is that nonbenzodiazepines have a much shorter half-life than most benzodiazepines. BenzoBuddies makes little distinction between benzodiazepines and Z-drugs.

Examples of Z-drugs

generic; Brand equivalent

zolpidem: Ambien; Stilnoct

zaleplon:Sonata

zopiclone: Zimovane; Imovane

eszopiclone:Lunesta

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/benzodiazepine-information/benzo-list/

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