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Xanax to klonopin


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Looking to taper off 30 days of .5mg Xanax(I did .25mg in the AM and .25mg at bedtime).. Doc said it wasn’t long enough to taper and advised klonopin .25mg twice a day as needed. I need a plan. I took .25mg of klonopin yesterday. Looking to take another .25mg tonight. I don’t want to cold turkey it and make this as smooth as possible. I am also on day 24 of lexapro 10mg. Any advice would be super helpful. Thank you and God bless
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Many of our members have been able to successfully taper from Xanax, I'm not sure going to the trouble of crossing over to Klonopin is a good idea if you've only been on Xanax for 30 days.  To do this will involve getting used to a new drug, getting stable then beginning your taper.  I feel a better plan would be to continue your reductions of the Xanax.

 

I made a mistake in my comments on your introductory thread, I told you Klonopin users will notice symptoms by the third day but Xanax users will feel them sooner, do you feel any uncomfortable symptoms after only taking .25 yesterday?  The reason I ask is because a 50% reduction is pretty big and if you're uncomfortable you might want to consider making the next one smaller.

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I had 4 Xanaxs left from a 30 day script. I didn’t quite hit 30 days but pretty close. The psychiatrist Np told me I wouldn’t have any withdrawals and to just take .25mg of klonopin twice a day as needed. They wouldn’t refill my Xanax. So you’re saying I need to do .25 twice a day of the klonopin? My last dose of Xanax was Monday night. First .25mg klonopin was yesterday at noon. I took another .25mg klonopin at 5pm today. Im a little anxious bc I don’t have a set taper plan. Im a little spaced out. Mild dizziness so far. I need a plan 😩
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I didn't fully understand your situation, now I do but I probably contributed to your anxiety, I'm sorry.  I agree with you, a taper, even if a rapid one is the best course of action. What concerns me is switching to a new drug and tapering it at the same time, I'm afraid you're going  to experience sensations from starting a new medication as well as withdrawal symptoms from your 50% cut.

 

Klonopin and Xanax are roughly the same in terms of equivalency, however they are different drugs so you may notice this.  If the different sensations are bothering you then you could go back to the .5mg a day for a few days, then begin to taper. However, if all you're feeling is some mild symptoms you may be okay to continue with taking the .25 mg a day for a few more days, then make another reduction.  We suggest tapering according to your symptoms to remain functional.

 

Does your doctor know you want to taper off the Klonopin?

 

 

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I have an appointment with them Monday. I told them I wanted off all benzos and to just remain on an antidepressant. Not much feedback. “Just take your klonopin as needed. You won’t have any withdrawal being on that low dose for a short time”. Well thanks but this my body lol
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I'm relieved to hear you're looking out for yourself, we have several members who are active on the forum right now who took the drug "as needed", not everyday in order to escape dependence, it happened anyway.

 

Benzo's weren't designed to be taken for weeks, months, years or decades, even short term use can cause dependence, for your doctor to dismiss this possibility seems irresponsible.

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I agree. My mom is going to help me with a plan through the Ashton manual tonight. I’m lucky I haven’t been on it long thank goodness. I’m no doc but if it was me take .25mg for a week, cut it to .125mg another week then .075mg from there. I really just don’t know and can’t get guidance from the doc
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Hi Coastie11,

 

I only have a few minutes before bed, but perhaps this will be of some help to you. It's a pamphlet for prescribers (and patients IMO) on evidence-based practices for discontinuation of benzodiazepines.

https://benzoreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Pamphlet-3-BZRA-Discontinuation-1-Getting-Started-v1.2.pdf

 

From the pamphlet:

Formulaic plans have low success rates. Taper plans need to be custom.

 

However you decide to taper, I suggest taking it one reduction at a time, especially in the beginning. If you're going to reduce by a large amount, like 50% as you outlined, I suggest holding at your new dose for 2 weeks or longer, until you've fully recovered all your previous functionality. Many buddies cannot tolerate this large of a reduction, and if your functionality is significantly impaired by the effects please consider updosing and taking a smaller reduction in the future.

 

IME neurology and neuroplasticity are complex, and it's impossible to predict what rate of reduction will be well-tolerated based on superficial details like duration of use, dosage or benzo. The only way that I know to implement a high-functioning benzo taper is to take a conservative reduction, hold for a period of time proportional to the half-life (elimination rate) of the drug or longer if symptomatic intensity persists, and then adapt following reductions (ideally by percent-base) to continue at a rate and frequency that is well-tolerated.

 

Unfortunately clonazepam tablets can be difficult to divide sufficiently and reliably to take enough reduction steps to get to a recommend slow taper quit dose of 0.025mg/day (the Ashton-equivalent of 0.5mg diazepam, and by no means a guaranteed symptom-free jump dose). I'm also tapering clonazepam and I've needed to use both tablets and a liquid form of the drug to take very small percent-based reductions, but the reward has been increasing functionality and well-being as I progress in my taper.

 

I hope the Ashton Manual is valuable for you in planning your next steps. Please keep in mind that Dr. Ashton had a single primary tapering method involving a step-wise crossover to diazepam and quantity-based reduction schedule. Her slow tapering schedules are valuable, but they're also formulaic and therefore could be problematic if applied as written.

 

Please let us know what you decide and how we can help.  :thumbsup:

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Yeah I’m not sure what to do yet. I feel like I’m going in this blind and my Np thinks it’s ok just taking klonopin as needed since I was only on .5mg for 27 days. I don’t want a withdrawal. It’s our bodies and I feel these doctors don’t care sometimes.
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Actually I just recounted. I was on .5mg Xanax consistently for 22 days. I did some some here and there before that. I only had a 30 day subscription and have 3.5 .5mgs left
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I suppose I’m just going to rapid taper. See how each day goes. No Xanax since Monday night. Feeling ok this morning. Will take my .25mg klonopin again tonight (3rd day of that) then try to reduce a little tomorrow night. Im just not sure how to cut it right to actually know. I don’t want to go down to .125mg that quickly I feel
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If your gut is telling you that .125 may be too much too fast then I'd listen to it because feeling nervous about a reduction will almost certainly cause you stress and stress is one of the biggest contributors to increased symptoms.  It's like worrying about it will mean the symptoms are almost guaranteed to be worse, its a sinister and crazy process we're forced to use to get out of this nightmare.
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You’re so right. I’m just going to keep taking the .25mg everyday until I see my psychiatrist Monday. That’ll almost 7 days of it then hopefully taper from there
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I believe a rapid taper would be to drop to .125 and stay there for at least 4 days then .0625 for 4 days then jump.  You could try this but if you begin to experience unmanageable symptoms by day 3 I'd go back up to .25 and consider another plan.  Tapering is just one big experiment with you as the subject, its an imperfect process but the only one we have.
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So you’re saying after 4 days of the .0625 jump off completely? I may drag this out a little longer to reduce symptoms. I just think it’s the smarter route but like each person, taking it day to day. I’m on day 4 now since .5 Xanax Monday. At the .25mg klonopin daily. I’m ok, a little spaced out but manageable. Am I past the crazy phase of withdrawal from the Xanax?
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You asked me for an example of a rapid taper, I gave you one but I'm actually not suggesting it because I believe as you do that we should taper at a rate that leaves us able to function. 

 

I don't believe you're past the Xanax withdrawal because you've replaced it with Klonopin, the piper will still need to be paid when you start reducing from .25.  I'm hoping it will be mild since you weren't on the drug for very long but we just don't know how it's going to go for each of us.

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After speaking with my psychiatrist NP it looks like I’ll be doing this the old fashioned way with a pill cutter. He keep telling me my dose is so low there shouldn’t be a taper…I’m on day 8 of .25mg klonopin. Previously .5mg Xanax for 22 days. At 2 weeks I need to cut it down. Possibly by 0.0625 since I won’t have access to liquid
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There is no low dose of benzo's in my opinion, even those little crumbs have the ability to alter how your brain functions.  I'm glad you're going to taper and many have used pill cutters successfully, or razor blades, you can do this!  :thumbsup:
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  • 2 weeks later...
I’m on day 7 of the reduction from 0.25mg klonopin. I only have a pill cutter so I’m just cutting a smidge off. I want to say it’s probably a cut off of 0.0625. I’m going to hold this for 3-7 more days then drop to .125mg 🙏. Sleep is good. Mild anxiety but concentration has been a little off but could be from my lexapro increase
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Your symptoms sound manageable so far, most members say they notice the reduction of Klonopin around day 3 but symptoms seem to settle around day 10.  I've heard razor blades can be good for shaving the pills into the desired dose. 
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Typically Klonopin users will taper down a bit lower but the important question is how are you feeling?  It seems like you've been quite functional so is your gut telling you that .125 would be a good dose or would tapering a bit lower give you more confidence?
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