Help tapering Clonazepam 1mg. - Confused and scared.

I am trying to taper of 1mg of Clonazaepam (.5mg two times a day). Can anyone explain how to do it- what tools do I need?

 

When reading the forums to get information I'm overwhelmed.  From what I understand you are supposed to do 10% every 1-2 weeks. But how do you do this apart from some form of liquid taper? How do you cut 10% off a pill every week or so? Do I just cut the pill into quarters and try and guess (each quarter would be .125mg?).

 

The liquid taper info looks daunting - esp the mixing with alcohol and precise water measurements . Can I do this slowly just cutting my pills? 

 

Can anyone direct me to a thread where there is an appropriate schedule? I'm scared of going too fast in trying to taper. 

 

If I cut my pills in quarters it looks way too fast:

 

Wk 1 - 1mg

Wk 2 - .875mg

wk3 - .75mg

wk4 - .625

wk 5 - .5

wk 6 -.375

wk 7-.25

wk 8 - try and jump off?

 

Is this too fast?

 

 

 

Edit: I re-read another thread and it says 5-10% cut every 2 weeks.. but even if changed it to two weeks at each dose would it be too fast?

Trying to read more threads on tapering and I just get more confused with questions... if i buy a jeweler scale to measure the weight of the pills - how do i calculate how much to shave off - how do you convert the weight of the pill to the mg dosage?  When you use a nail file to do this?  Will any jeweler weight scale do (I'm looking on Amazon right now)-- or are there better scales for pills?

 

 

Hi sketcher123

 

I understand the process can be daunting. Your proposed cuts even spread over 2 weeks are probably too fast. You could attempt a linear taper at the start by cutting 1/8 of one of your 5mg pills every 2 weeks until you feel it becomes uncomfortable. Then switch methods. I know this is what Bob7 usually advice. Most people will use a pill cutter and either a blade/nail file to do this. There are other options as well and others will probably help with those.

 

Alternatively you can look at a dry or liquid taper. Usually this type of micro tapering is done towards the end at the lower doses because it's difficult to measure. Or members will do it because they struggle with cut and hold symptoms. I am doing a DMT (daily micro tapering) but it's not always necessary at the higher numbers and quite tedious.

 

You can have a look at my signature for an average of 9% taper to give you an idea of what a non linear taper looks like. My numbers are closer to the range you need to be.

Jelly Baby-- Sorry, what does the Daily Micro Taper (DMT) method entail-- shaving a bit off daily?  I did look at your signature -- how do you calculate how much many mg your pill has when cutting/ shaving off the pill?  (e.g. - how can I tell if i've shaved enough of my pill to get 9% of it or .791 mg, etc... the math is doable, but not able to tell if the pill i'm taking is equivalent to the needed number)...  or is DMT a liquid method?

DMT can be liquid or dry. It generally refers to daily micro reductions rather than cut and hold over a two week period.

 

I use a method created by Bob7 https://benzodrytapermath.com/

There is a spreadsheet. My husband has adapted the spreadsheet for my needs to determine a % based taper.  I make my own capsules as explained on the site.

 

You can also have a look at what one of our members, slowandsteady has compiled on liquid micro tapering. http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=254653

 

 

Then there's also this:

and this

 

Further to your original question on reduction (as I know my numbers are not going to zero), the end looks something like this - rough calculation:

 

0.462

0.425

0.391

0.35

0.31

0.28

0.25

0.225

0.2

0.175

0.15

0.125

0.1

0.075

0.05

0.025

 

Hopefully you have enough resources to explore. Please ask if you need more clarification or advice. 

Oh, and you might also want to have a look at FAQ: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=231363.msg2969123#msg2969123

Thank you so much JellyBaby.. i will explore each of those options.  You are the only one who replied.. so I really appreciate it.  It still looks confusing right now.. but hopefully i find one that is doable and can work.

Sorry. I hope I didn't overwhelm you with all the links and options. I just want you to make an informed decision rather than steering you in one direction only which might not meet your needs.

 

Please ask if you have any questions.

Thanks jelly baby for all the information you shared.

 

Hi Sketcher123,

Unfortunately at-home tapering of clonazepam can get complicated. The tablets available make it very hard to get to a suggested jump dose of 0.025mg or below while maintaining a consistent percent-reduction rate between 5-10%. Some can taper using only tablets, but the rest of us have to do some fiddling or weather some rough WD symptoms.

 

To answer your earlier question, there is no way to know what is "too fast" for you until you've taken a reduction and learned for yourself. The forum guideline is to start in the 5-10% range, and I suggest using this experience to gauge your body's recovery rate.

 

My personal tapering notes, linked by jelly baby, is not comprehensive information about all the liquid tapering options available to clonazepam users; it's just an explanation and summary of how I'm tapering currently, and I also offer an instructional on how to use Jim Hawk's DMT schedule generator that I rely on.

 

Typically sensitive clonazepam taperers have a choice between wet or dry tapering options. They can be dry tapering their tablets either by eye with a razor or pill splitter, with a scale, with a scale using filler, by volume using filler, or purchase pharmacy compounded capsules; or they can use liquid either by a pharmacy compounded solution or suspension, an at-home liquid suspension/solution, or a daily liquid discard using water with or without a solvent. Lots of options!

 

Is your doctor willing to write scripts for different tablet sizes or a compounded liquid? Some taperers keep their doctor out of their tapering plans (and often for good reasons) and are limited to at-home tablet tapering methods (liquid or dry); other taperers like myself have their doctor in the loop so they can get different tablet sizes and pharmacy compounding scripts as needed. I will say though, doctor support (not the same as doctor-led) tapering seems rare. I think depending on what medical support you have will dictate what tapering options are worth considering.

Hi Jelly,

 

Why did you switch to a DMT? It also looks like you're tapering at a rate of approx. 10% every 2 weeks? How do you find that speed for WD symptoms?

 

Cheers

 

Hi Jelly,

 

Why did you switch to a DMT? It also looks like you're tapering at a rate of approx. 10% every 2 weeks? How do you find that speed for WD symptoms?

 

Cheers

 

My first cut from 1mg to 0.93 was a cut and hold and I didn't do well with it. It was only 7%. I had to hold for a few weeks to stabilize. I was splitting pills and really struggling as most of the times I ended up with crumbs and wasted a lot of tablets. It just didn't work for me.

 

So those were the reasons I switched. I then started DMT and for the first 5 weeks I was cutting at 11.5%. It went quite well, better than the cut and hold. I did have to reduce it and I'm now on average 9%.

 

I'm doing fairly good in comparison to what I read from others on here. I do have waves, don't get me wrong. But I think overall I'm managing well as I'm functional. I do adjust my rate if I need to and I'm open to holding if I feel I need time out.

 

The key is to listen to your symptoms. I hope this answers your question? 

Did you ever try the liquid DMT? I hear it can take some time to adjust to taking the meds this way??

Any thoughts on this?

 

Thanks

 

No I did not.

 

At the time I found it too confusing. I just went with Bob7's method as there were videos clearly explaining how to do it. My benzo brain after rapidly reducing from 2mg to 1mg needed pictures to do DMT. 

I think the liquid transition depends entirely on the individual. I have seen members who are quite sensitive who seemed to have transitioned well. You could also at this stage of your specific taper do a pill/liquid combo which might help with the transition. So you'll take 0.5mg in pill and take the rest of your dose in liquid. (That's if you were interested in switching).

 

 

I am trying to taper of 1mg of Clonazaepam (.5mg two times a day). Can anyone explain how to do it- what tools do I need?

 

When reading the forums to get information I'm overwhelmed.  From what I understand you are supposed to do 10% every 1-2 weeks. But how do you do this apart from some form of liquid taper? How do you cut 10% off a pill every week or so? Do I just cut the pill into quarters and try and guess (each quarter would be .125mg?).

 

The liquid taper info looks daunting - esp the mixing with alcohol and precise water measurements . Can I do this slowly just cutting my pills? 

 

Can anyone direct me to a thread where there is an appropriate schedule? I'm scared of going too fast in trying to taper. 

 

If I cut my pills in quarters it looks way too fast:

 

Wk 1 - 1mg

Wk 2 - .875mg

wk3 - .75mg

wk4 - .625

wk 5 - .5

wk 6 -.375

wk 7-.25

wk 8 - try and jump off?

 

Is this too fast?

 

Hi - as you can see from my signature, I started at 1.5 mg Clonazapam (.5 3 x per day).  I have been doing a cut and hold taper so far and have not had many withdrawal issues.  I have a feeling I am just lucky 🍀 because I have read many could not do this.  I needed this to be easy to do at the beginning. I reduced one dose by a quarter pill each week and am now holding for two weeks before I take my next cut.  When I am taking a quarter of my .5 pill at all of my 3x per day schedule, I will switch to a liquid taper, using a compounded liquid from my pharmacy.  I will then start taking much smaller cuts unless my symptoms remain very low.  I am still on Buspar which is controlling my anxiety and anticipate staying on it even when my benzo taper is complete. I don’t know if this is helpful, but thought you’d perhaps like another experience.  Slow and Jelly are always on target and they have helped me immensely.  Best wishes to you - just start, just remove one quarter pill at your morning dose and see how it feels for a couple of weeks.  If you can’t handle it, go back to your original dose and seek out a way to do a much slower liquid taper with more frequent dosing.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience Butterfly!

Thank you for sharing- my doctor wants me to hold for awhile on then k before tapering - due to anxiety and sleep reasons. But I’m also taking .5mg- .7mg  of ambien to help sleep at night. Would it be easier to taper off the k or the Ambien first — and do u also stick to the 5-10% cuts every two weeks as a general rule on ambien also?

Thank you for sharing- my doctor wants me to hold for awhile on then k before tapering - due to anxiety and sleep reasons. But I’m also taking .5mg- .7mg  of ambien to help sleep at night. Would it be easier to taper off the k or the Ambien first — and do u also stick to the 5-10% cuts every two weeks as a general rule on ambien also?

 

I used to think it was better to taper off the Klonopin first so you could get some sleep but I've changed my mind. Ambien has such a short half life that it makes interdose withdrawal almost a certainty so I feel it would be best to taper the Ambien first. 

 

I've seen members use the 10% guidelines for tapering z-drugs, I was able to stop it cold turkey without much difficulty but I'm not advocating that because other members have tried and its hit them as hard as true benzo's do.  I'm just letting you know that we're all different and what works for one, may not work for another.  A taper from Ambien is probably your best route.

My thoughts are similar. I think tapering Ambien first would be better because the withdrawal of the short half life would hopefully be somewhat counter-acted by Clonazepam especially since you're on a relatively high dose of Clonazepam.

 

Can I ask you to please Add your history/signature? That way it makes it easy for us to help you just by looking at your signature. 

My thoughts are similar. I think tapering Ambien first would be better because the withdrawal of the short half life would hopefully be somewhat counter-acted by Clonazepam especially since you're on a relatively high dose of Clonazepam.

 

Can I ask you to please Add your history/signature? That way it makes it easy for us to help you just by looking at your signature. 

 

I agree with Pamster and Jelly Baby. In my situation I tapered both Ambien and Lunesta (both Z sleep drugs with different half lives) first. I ended up tapering over the course of 4 weeks at my dosage. Depending on what dosage you take and for how long your approach may be a little different.

Following the suggestions here I am trying to taper off the Ambien while sticking with my docs orders to hold the K.  But I think I'm doing something wrong  cuz I cannot sleep without the Amb.. even on the K.  I got the Amb down to 4 or 5mg (dry cutting with a pill splitter so its imprecise) .. but anything below and I can't sleep even with the K.  I called my doctor who basically told me to take the entire K dose at night instead of going half in the morning half at night to help sleep and get off the Amb.  My plan is to get off the Amb first, then begin tackle the Klon taper later .... since that seems to be the majority view

 

Seakingtoheal-- can i as what your taper schedule was like for the Z drugs at 4 weeks?

I'm not surprised you're having difficulty sleeping, this is expected and you may just have to accept you're going to miss out on some sleep until you're free of the Ambien and your body has made the adjustment. 

 

How do you feel about your doctors suggestion, are you willing to try that?  It has some merit but if the interdose withdrawal becomes too much for you to handle you may need to go back to your divided dose.

Pamster is right, unfortunately sleep will probably be an ongoing issue. The Ambien was helping you to sleep while being on K. I started having sleep issues while I was still on a high dose of K. My sleep issues have now continued since I started my taper. I am reluctantly making peace with the fact that I just have to deal with it and it will probably continue for an extended period of time.

Following the suggestions here I am trying to taper off the Ambien while sticking with my docs orders to hold the K.  But I think I'm doing something wrong  cuz I cannot sleep without the Amb.. even on the K.  I got the Amb down to 4 or 5mg (dry cutting with a pill splitter so its imprecise) .. but anything below and I can't sleep even with the K.  I called my doctor who basically told me to take the entire K dose at night instead of going half in the morning half at night to help sleep and get off the Amb.  My plan is to get off the Amb first, then begin tackle the Klon taper later .... since that seems to be the majority view

 

Seakingtoheal-- can i as what your taper schedule was like for the Z drugs at 4 weeks?

 

The most recent taper I did was for 3 mg Lunesta. I cut 25% the first week, then another 25% for the next subsequent 3 weeks.