When to split daily dose of Klonopin?

After several years on 2.0 mgs Klonopin, taken as a single dose in the evening to help with sleep, I just began a 10% titration a week ago. So I’m now taking 1.8 mgs by cutting a one 1 mg pill down to 0.8 mgs with the help of a scale.

Although I took Klonopin for the last 28 years for panic disorder, GAD and phobias and PTSD related to some places and situations in which I once had repeated panic attacks, I no longer have panic attacks, just the GAD and mild phobias—mostly anticipatory anxiety related to public speaking, phone calls, talking to new people, etc. I am also recently retired, so I now face fewer threatening situations and years of Vipasna meditation mellowed me.

So for the past few years, I got my daily dosage down to 2 mgs/day which I take as one dose in the evening because I suffer bad insomnia. I was born a night owl, so I’ve always had trouble getting to sleep at a decent time, but now at 70, I’m also experiencing the typical senior sleep pattern—broken sleep, waking and falling back to sleep several times each night. This is why I have been taking my 2 mg dose at 8:00 PM each night and also using Ambien and a number of herbs (valerian, kava, Passion flower, lemon balm, lavender, etc).

My question is when should I start splitting my daily dose? I understand that splitting the daily dose into two or more smaller doses is helpful, but because it is helping me sleep, I fear that taking half in the AM and half in the PM will aggravate my insomnia! Aside from that, I wonder when those of you who are having, or have had, successful withdrawals started diving the dose? Did you do it from the start or did you wait until you reduced your dose a bit first?

Any suggestions about when I should start dividing my dose, which is currently 1.8 mgs per day as I enter week two of my slow taper, would be appreciated. Today is day eight on 1.8 mgs with no noticeable withdrawal symptoms or effect on sleep at this point after stepping down from years of taking 2 mgs/day. But I am supplementing both during the daytime and at bedtime with the Ambien and a handful of herbs. I’ll repost about the insomnia and use of herbal supplements in the appropriate forums. Here I’m mainly interested in comments on dividing the daily dose into two smaller doses. (Since Klonopin is a long acting benzo, I would anticipate dividing into only two smaller doses—morning and night.)

Thanks.

Hi Shadowscent,

A couple suggestions to consider...

Benzo recovery, to my simplest understanding, consists of restoring the balance and function of GABA receptors to where they were before benzo use and learning non-medication strategies to down-regulate the nervous system naturally. Zolpidem (Ambien) effects GABA receptors similarly to benzos, and IMO can make benzo tapering and recovery more difficult and confusing for taperers. Furthermore there are a number of herbs such as ashwaganda that are known GABA agonists, even causing their own withdrawal symptoms, which again can make tapering more difficult and confusing.

I do not recommend using zolpidem during the day to mitigate WD symptoms or general anxiety. From my experience on the forum zolpidem users, especially those who are dosing inter-daily and developing a tolerance to it's VERY short-half life, are some the most neurologically unstable taperers and can end up in a very difficult situation on a drug that is largely unsuitable for tapering. The half-life of zolpidem is ~2 hours meaning each dose is entirely eliminated from the body within the day; this makes steady blood serum levels nearly impossible, seems to guarantee interdose withdrawal, and may at higher doses have some significant risk of kindling.

I understand that insomnia is a challenge for you, but I strongly suggest tapering off the zoplidem FIRST, before reducing your clonazepam dose further or even moving your clonazepam doses around. It may take time to taper the zolpidem and it may cause withdrawal symptoms given that you've been taking it both during the day and at night.

I also suggest being very conservative and cautious about trialing herbs or supplements. Some are reported to be very helpful; chamomile and melatonin for example. But others like ashwaganda or certain vitamins like B and D can cause a mix of undesirable complications.

I suggest, while tapering zolpidem to consider a brave exploration into natural sleep-induction. If you want off of these meds, I think you will need skill-building both during and after tapering, and as these skills take time to learn and establish as habits, I suggest starting now.

Here is a great post that I think frames the problem of insomnia in a number of useful ways:

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=235100.0

In summary I don't think now is the time to split your clonazepam into two daily doses, or even the time to be tapering it. I think it's time to taper the zolpidem, minimize any GABA agonist or stimulating herbs and supplements, and begin improving your sleep quality. I think this will make approaching clonazepam tapering much more comfortable and easier to understand and adapt symptomatically.

I hope this helps!