To Increase or to Suffer

Hello, after recently abruptly stopping Klonopin after using 1mg daily I had a severe reaction.  I started taking it again but switched over to Valium too quickly as well instead of following the Ashton Method as I had planned.  I completely switched over in 9 days as opposed to 28 and I have been off of Klonopin for 20 days.  I am now down to 19mg of Valium, though I shouldn't have lessened it until I felt stable.  Either way it didn't make much of a difference because I believe I am still feeling the withdrawal from Klonopin underneath, though I have been on Valium for 29 days now.  My biggest problems are air hunger and chest pain.  And more specifically air hunger.  Which causes me extreme anxiety and I can't tolerate it.

 

So between these options, does anybody think any of these are bad ideas?

A) Continue on with Valium and just wait it out--once it is only Valium it should be easier because to taper slowly will be much easier and I'm still on enough that I wouldn't be having such a severe problem yet.

B) See if doctor will increase my Valium so that it could better mask the Klonopin withdrawals--so, 25-30mg, until I stabilize, then start decreasing from there.  Ultimately delaying the whole process

C) Keep the amount of valium I'm on, decrease it as per the instructions in the ashton manual, but add on a small dose of Klonopin (.125, .25mg or so) and taper that much slower over the course of months.  Which sounds complicated because I will then be dealing with two drugs again.

Or D) Switch back over to the full amount of Klonopin and try to taper from there.  Which may also be complicated and the biggest set back.

 

I know each person has their own way they should handle about these things, but does anybody either have any experience with these different options OR recommendations on why or why not to try them?  I am having a hard time sticking to this and wondering when I will be able to breathe normally again.  I would take practically any symptom over this.

I guess I'm sort of biased against crossovers.  I did try it when I needed to taper my temazepam, and I immediately went paradoxical on the Valium.  I believe it may have had something to do with the metabolites causing histamine issues.  Anyway, I've seen so many bungled crossovers, that I'm really not a fan.  I think the only reason to do it should be if you're finding it absolutely intolerable to do a direct taper, as in the super short acting benzos like Xanax.  But for the most part, I think it's better to stay on the one your body has been accustomed to and been stable on.

 

In your case having already crossed over, I really don't know what the answer would be.  Maybe as long as the Valium doses are giving you relief and not making anything worse, the safest thing would be to try to stabilize on your current dose. 

 

I did a two year long taper, and yes the length of time was excruciating.  But I was stable nearly all the way down with a few hiccups here and there.  So I'm in favor of letting yourself stabilize, spreading your dose as much as needed to avoid interdose WD, and doing a super slow liquid micro taper that could hopefully get you off in better shape than when you started your taper.  It worked well for me, as it has for many others.

Thank you very much for your response.  Yes it's a very tough call at this point.  To be honest when I take the valiumI actually don't feel anything at all, though I'm sure it'd be worse without taking it.  But no noticeable sedation of any kind or any better feelings.  I also felt that way on Klonopin so I suppose I was already in tolerance withdrawals with other symptoms, but the air hunger is new since quitting Klonopin like that.  :/ I guess I'll just wait to see if anybody else has had any similar experiences and give this a little more time to see if anything changes.  I definitely won't be decreasing anything until this stabilizes though, unless my doctor intervenes.  😑

tenpercentslink,

I agree with Sage Hill, I think the least neurologically destabilizing option right now would be to hold on diazepam without ANY reductions, until experiencing a significant recovery of stability. Stabilizing after the abrupt changes you describe could take a while, and IME favors patience and steady rhythms.

 

Only after meeting your functionality goals consistently would I suggest considering further reductions. And then I'd considering reducing slowly and symptom-based.

 

This is just a quick reply; maybe I missed a detail or two.

But I hope this helps! 

I took Xanax and no way could I have crossed over to Valium or anything else.  I took a dose of Valium once and it made me feel horrible and very sedated.  Klonopin was the worst.  I basically did a c/t off the Xanax.  I didn't know anything about doing a proper taper back then.