Tapering Clonazepam .5 mg evening dose after completed .5mg morning dose

I was taking 1 mg Clonazepam in the evening.  I split 1mg into two dose - .5 mg Am and .5mg Pm.  Water titrated morning dose, stayed .5 for evening.  I am down to .119 mg for morning.  When I am done with WT am down to zero on am dose, should I split .5 mg into am and pm, .25mg each and begin WT .25 mg morning dose ?  Or begin with .5 WT without splitting?    Appreciate opinions.  Thank you.

And opinions ye shall have!

 

This would be a very personal decision, I think, based on when you need the most support. An even serum level throughout the day seems to be a neutral recommendation, suggesting splitting your dose again into AM and PM halves; but at lower doses, depending on how quickly you tapered, or your lifestyle needs, maybe AM or PM are more sensitive periods for you.

 

If one half of the day is more troubled with symptoms, maybe take your full dose then. I've read some people say if they can only sleep the night, they can handle whatever comes up during the day, so they only dose PM. Other people are wracked with early morning anxiety, or need to get through work or childcare responsibilities, and so they dose AM.

 

The supposed "active duration" of clonazepam is said to be 10-12 hours. So if you don't split, you might feel a noticeable difference the other half of the 24 hour day. I dose 4 times currently, but my first dose is thinning to vapors this week and I've felt the absence of support at that time of day as I've reduced. So to counteract this, I've actually already moved my time-table, very very slowly (15-30 minutes a day) so that the three other doses are now just about 8 hours apart.

 

When you split your 1mg into two doses, did you notice any acute WD symptoms? I had my very first acute WD when I was switching from 3 daily doses to 4; just moving small pieces of each dose to my new 2am dose (not recommended btw... ug!), 1/4 pill per day over 3 days, cause me to destabilize. If you made the switch without problems, you might not notice a thing! But otherwise, if you decide to split I suggest doing it when you're not cutting, or be ready to hold if you notice new or more severe symptoms.

 

Congratulations on getting so low! Almost half way, by dosage. You can do this!

If your morning dosage goes to zero, then you may wish to see how stable and functional you are on PM dosage. If you are doing ok with just PM dosing, then you could stick with it. If you are having more symptoms and need more support, then maybe you could consider twice a day dosing (AM and PM).

 

I am doing once-per-day dosing on Xanax (much shorter half-life), and am functional and stable. I do PM dosing, and aim to get a full nights sleep (which is the most important thing for me).

Thank you for the reply.  I am the same as you are in that good night sleep is the most crucial to me.  Because my MDD, anxiety disorder always got triggered by severe insomnia.  Then eating disorder followed with no taste sensation of food.  Just could not sleep nor eat for days.  Then panic attacks followed.  Those are the times when I got hospitalized 6 times in the past 21 years.  I get humongous fear when I can't sleep. So I'd better  stay in PM dose water titration.

Thank you for the reply slownsteay.

Thank you slownsteady.  I will hold for a week or so when I complete AM WT.  I looked into your charts and tables which will be very helpful for me at the time.  I may stay at PM dose WT without splitting into AM and PM.  Although I am aware anxiety level is usually very high in the morning, the most crucial into me is insomnia at night.  Eating disorder follows with severe taste sensation loss.    These two always triggered 6 hospitalizations for the past 21 years.  So, I will hold and watch how I feel in the morning.  For the last 6 months WT of AM dose was okay.  I had a few times of severe WD symptoms that are said by many people here which I was able to manage.  Because I knew that WD symptoms have no patterns and are intermittent.  Hundreds of WD symptoms I had, but I was kind of being able to expect what could be coming, so that I do not get panicked.  I thank BB and the people who are in this group in that regard.  And I also thank you for hard work making charts and tables that I will surely have to refer to when my AM WT is completed.  Yes, we all can get through this if we do this slow and steady with patience.  Thank you again and good day!