Wish I found this site earlier

Hi there,

First I wish I had found this treasure trove of information and this community before I switched medications around one month ago. I am currently three weeks clear of a pretty gnarly withdrawal experience after being on lorazepam for five years.

Some history:

In 2016, I had been having what I later realized were panic attacks for the previous 18 months. After weeks of seeing specialists and trips to my primary and one trip to urgent care, I was eventually prescribed 0.5mg lorazepam as "an experiment," and my primary doc advised me to take one next time I had "that feeling." Sure enough it worked.

I then visited a psychiatrist who Dx me with PTSD, panic disorder and anxiety. CBT ensued complimented with lorazepam as needed. As I got more comfortable (and developed more tolerance) I went from no medication or at most 1mg per day up to 5mg per day over the ensuing years.

Around February of this year, my day-to-day was disrupted in a big way as the panic attacks returned despite the medication (tolerance I assume) and some nights, I was unable to sleep without taking it. Occasionally, even after taking 1mg before bed, I would wake up an hour or two later and stay awake until I took another. I raised these concerns asap with my doc and indicated I needed to fix this. I wanted to stop being dependent on medication to live my life. He said he wanted to switch me to 0.5mg clonazepam twice per day, as it would buffer withdrawal from lorazepam, and also would be easier to taper from. I started the new medication the morning after I took my last dose of lorazepam. He suggested doing this over a weekend in case there was an adjustment period.

I do not know if the 1mg daily dose of clonazepam was not equivalent to my tolerance (I was taking either 4 or 5mg of lorazepam each day), but the first five days I was off the lorazepam and taking the clonazepam were absolutely terrible:

• Anxiety and panic returned
  
• Hands were shaking
  
• Insomnia
  
• Extremely irritable and mood swings
  
• Would lose my train of thought mid-sentence
  
• Too dizzy to even walk down the street
  

I called off work for the first time in 20 years, two days in a row. Those were days 3 and 4 since the switch. The following week or so, things started to level off, but I did spend that time in a haze - some days were decent, some days not so good, and no days did I feel back to normal. My doctor told me I could take a dose of lorazepam here or there if I absolutely needed it, but there was no chance I was going to even entertain the possibility of a setback.

That brings us to last weekend. I suppose I entered some new level of withdrawal, as I started to get new symptoms:

• Pounding heart even after extremely simple physical activity.
  
• Scintillating scotoma (a new term I learned, and this was determined by an incredibly accurate picture I found via google search)
  
• Migraines, which I have never had in my life until last weekend
  
• The occasional panic attack
  
• What feels like jolts of electricity/muscle spasms in various parts of my head
  
• A stiff neck which finally resolved but had lasted for around four days
  
• The mental "fogginess" continues
  
• Extremely vivid dreams, which I guess in a way is sort of cool.
  

Fortunately, for the past two days things have been ok. My doc's guidance is that he wants me to stay on the clonazepam for another month before starting a slow (over the course of several months) taper down to nothing.

I found this community when I searched online to help gather some information on that next step, and here I am. I was specifically searching for stories from those who have tapered and experienced benzo withdrawal to compare them against my "notes." I have already been very interested in some of the posted content and most importantly, relived, that what I am experiencing is not abnormal.

Cheers.

Hello Shore2Sqeeze,

Welcome to BenzoBuddies, we are glad you are here!  It sounds like you've already been looking around here and found that we do indeed have lots of helpful information as well as support here.  Your symptoms, although not pleasant, are pretty classic for withdrawl and I'm sorry you are 'there'.

Stabilizing on the clonazepam for a month before tapering is a good idea.  We suggest a slow taper of a 5-10% reduction in your dose every two weeks or so.  We have a taper plan board where you can elicit support and help:

Planning Your Withdrawal (Taper Plans)

For withdrawl support, you can reach out here:

Withdrawal Support (during your taper)

And since you are looking for stories from members who were where you are now but successfully tapered off, we have a collection of those here:

Success Stories

Of course, there are other boards you may find helpful so feel free to roam around and post wherever interests you.  Let us know how we can help.

Again, welcome,

Kate

Hi Shore2Squeeze,

Welcome to benzobuddies.

You are at the right place.

Benzo tapering does take time.

I too am on Clonazepam.

At one point when I found the suitable Clonazepam dose 0.25mg I tried to taper too fast like 50% cut and had WD the next day. Now doing it slowly, cut and hold wet taper.

You can try reading the articles in the repository section. Wealth of information in there. Explained in simple terms.

Wishing you all the best on your journey tapering Clonazepam.