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Am I doing it Right or Setting Myself Up for Failure? Just Started 1st Taper.


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I just want to know if I am tapering in a manner that might yield success. I have been on some level of clonazepam since 1999, so about 21 years. Everyone knows the drill. It starts off small and with tolerance "doctors" increase it. For the last 2 years I have been on 3mg of clonazepam daily. 1 mg at 8am, 1 mg at 2pm and 1 mg at 8pm.

 

My doctor seems clueless about how to actually withdrawal people. This is why I have to have real expert opinions from people who have done it. I was told to work with my doctor so I am. He calculated my initial reduction as 8% of my original daily dose of 3mg. 3x.08=.24 of a mg. So 1/4 of a mg. We decided to take the 1/4mg off the 2pm dose.

 

Questions:

 

1) Does it matter which dose is taken from the 3 dosing times I mentioned?

 

2) When the 1st 1/4mg 2pm reduction is finished how do you figure out where to take the next 1/4mg from? I am assuming you cannot take it from the 2pm dose you took the 1st one from?

 

3) The doc seems to be wanting to not go by percent reduction of what is left but by a flat 1/4mg reduction every time. Will this work or set me up to fail?

 

4) At the given rate of 1/4mg reduction started on 11/25/20, I already started feeling pretty bad by the third day into tapering. There were many withdrawal symptoms I was having including stomach pain, headaches, ringing in the ears, weakness, body aches, anxiety etc. But the one that seemed the most disturbing was extreme confusion for about an hour on day 4. I literally could not think or do work. My question is, is confusion a normal withdrawal effect from tapering?

 

5) Am I tapering too fast considering my withdrawal symptoms?

 

6) Is there a better way to withdrawal without so many symptoms?

 

7) In general, how long does it take on say the 1st 1/4mg taper for symptoms to hit their peak and begin to resolve? I know everyone's metabolism is different. I am just looking for an average range.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading this. It is my first time tapering and I have to admit, I am scared and feel alone. I have no family of my own and my parents are dying of cancer, so I can't bother them. My goal is to get through this with a little symptoms as possible.

 

 

 

 

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From what you indicate, 8% cuts may be a bit large for you.  You might consider purchasing a milligram scale and weighing out smaller reductions.  May people purchase a Gem-20 scale from Amazon.  It does a pretty good job for the money.  A lot of people reduce by just 1-2 percent per cut.  The idea is to make this bearable.

 

You can reduce whatever dose or doses that you wish.  If sleep is a primary concern, you might want to keep the full 1 mg dose until you're completely reduced the other two doses.  If daytime anxiety is the bigger issue, then you might keep the doses fairly similar.  Only you can know the best approach for you.

 

In theory, your body should feel most of the effects of a klonopin cut 2-4 days after a cut, depending on your metabolism.  How quickly those symptoms abate is anybody's guess.

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From what you indicate, 8% cuts may be a bit large for you.  You might consider purchasing a milligram scale and weighing out smaller reductions.  May people purchase a Gem-20 scale from Amazon.  It does a pretty good job for the money.  A lot of people reduce by just 1-2 percent per cut.  The idea is to make this bearable.

 

Thanks for the reply. I think I will try to ride out this 1st 1/4mg cut just to see how bad it gets and more importantly how long it takes to resolve. Only I can find that out. I will have to be a walking experiment. I don't want to suffer forever, so I will probably do as you suggest and move it down to a 2% cut.

 

You can reduce whatever dose or doses that you wish.  If sleep is a primary concern, you might want to keep the full 1 mg dose until you're completely reduced the other two doses.  If daytime anxiety is the bigger issue, then you might keep the doses fairly similar.  Only you can know the best approach for you.

 

I will cut the 2pm dose first, then morning then night. Sleep is imperative to healing the mind and body.

 

In theory, your body should feel most of the effects of a klonopin cut 2-4 days after a cut, depending on your metabolism.  How quickly those symptoms abate is anybody's guess.

 

This could be why I had the mind confusion only on day 4. So far, no confusion on day 5. So maybe my peak suffering is on day 4 and then it is downhill from there? I guess I will find out.

 

Again, thanks for the help. :)

 

 

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I just want to know if I am tapering in a manner that might yield success. I have been on some level of clonazepam since 1999, so about 21 years. Everyone knows the drill. It starts off small and with tolerance "doctors" increase it. For the last 2 years I have been on 3mg of clonazepam daily. 1 mg at 8am, 1 mg at 2pm and 1 mg at 8pm.

 

My doctor seems clueless about how to actually withdrawal people. This is why I have to have real expert opinions from people who have done it. I was told to work with my doctor so I am. He calculated my initial reduction as 8% of my original daily dose of 3mg. 3x.08=.24 of a mg. So 1/4 of a mg. We decided to take the 1/4mg off the 2pm dose.

 

Questions:

 

1) Does it matter which dose is taken from the 3 dosing times I mentioned?

 

2) When the 1st 1/4mg 2pm reduction is finished how do you figure out where to take the next 1/4mg from? I am assuming you cannot take it from the 2pm dose you took the 1st one from?

 

3) The doc seems to be wanting to not go by percent reduction of what is left but by a flat 1/4mg reduction every time. Will this work or set me up to fail?

 

4) At the given rate of 1/4mg reduction started on 11/25/20, I already started feeling pretty bad by the third day into tapering. There were many withdrawal symptoms I was having including stomach pain, headaches, ringing in the ears, weakness, body aches, anxiety etc. But the one that seemed the most disturbing was extreme confusion for about an hour on day 4. I literally could not think or do work. My question is, is confusion a normal withdrawal effect from tapering?

 

5) Am I tapering too fast considering my withdrawal symptoms?

 

6) Is there a better way to withdrawal without so many symptoms?

 

7) In general, how long does it take on say the 1st 1/4mg taper for symptoms to hit their peak and begin to resolve? I know everyone's metabolism is different. I am just looking for an average range.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading this. It is my first time tapering and I have to admit, I am scared and feel alone. I have no family of my own and my parents are dying of cancer, so I can't bother them. My goal is to get through this with a little symptoms as possible.

 

Waking,

The dose taken from is really up to you.  When do you believe you need it less.  A lot of us hold on to our night time dose to make sure we sleep, but again, that's up to you.

Your Dr , imo, should be reducing each dose from the new amount, not the original.  1/4 of a dose of 3 mgs, is less than a 1/4 of a dose of 2.75 mgs in percentage, and percentage is the best measurement to go by. 

Why did you decide to get off benzo's?  Were you already symptomatic? 

The best way to stay stable is to taper slowly and always let your symptoms be your guide. 

Yes, confusion is definitely a withdrawal symptom.  The biggest thing about benzo tapering is everyone reacts differently, so telling you how long or when something will happen, isn't possible.

I am so sorry about your parents.  This is going to be a very rough time to taper.  Truly, I would go very slow.  You need to be as free of symptoms as possible.  Make sure your Dr understands that okay?  We are here for you!!  Please keep us posted.  Healing thoughts to your family and you!!

Mary 🙋🏼😘😷🙏🙏🙏

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Waking,

The dose taken from is really up to you.  When do you believe you need it less.  A lot of us hold on to our night time dose to make sure we sleep, but again, that's up to you.

Your Dr , imo, should be reducing each dose from the new amount, not the original.  1/4 of a dose of 3 mgs, is less than a 1/4 of a dose of 2.75 mgs in percentage, and percentage is the best measurement to go by. 

Why did you decide to get off benzo's?  Were you already symptomatic? 

The best way to stay stable is to taper slowly and always let your symptoms be your guide. 

Yes, confusion is definitely a withdrawal symptom.  The biggest thing about benzo tapering is everyone reacts differently, so telling you how long or when something will happen, isn't possible.

I am so sorry about your parents.  This is going to be a very rough time to taper.  Truly, I would go very slow.  You need to be as free of symptoms as possible.  Make sure your Dr understands that okay?  We are here for you!!  Please keep us posted.  Healing thoughts to your family and you!!

Mary 🙋🏼😘😷🙏🙏🙏

 

Thanks for the advice. I decided to stop because I really feel I don't need it anymore. I want to live without all the side effects of benzos. I will save the night dose for last.

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