Last 3 months Tapering off Clonazapam

Hello,  I was taking 2.5mg of Clonazapam a day for 7 years.  I have been tapering off, and I am down to my last 3 months.  .25mg to zero.  I am down to my last month of tapering this Benzo.  Every week I go down, so this week, (using a scale) I am at 0.125mg strength,  next week down to 0.06mg then next week down to 0.03mg and then next week down to 0.015mg and then to zero. I have been feeling a bit anxious and a bit jittery lately but nothing I can't handle.  Once I get down to zero, I am going to celebrate.  Off Benzos for good.  And my brain will not be looking for it everyday.  My psych said Benzos can CAUSE anxiety if you take them for years like I have done.  Hopefully, I will have wiped the slate clean.....   

Your doctor is right, I never experienced anxiety until I started taking benzo's.  I'm happy to know your taper has been fairly smooth, but please understand there can be some healing to be done after the last of the drug has left your system.  I don't want you to be shocked if you don't feel immediately better when you jump but we'll still celebrate your benzo freedom with you. 

I’m currently at the same dose 0.125mg down from 0.5mg. I’m holding now due to an asthma flare. I think due to the newly prescribed beta blockers for the tachycardia spikes I’ve been having? I’ve stopped the beta blocker for now. Or maybe withdrawal can cause asthma flare? Anyway, wondering how you cut back…do you use a scale, eyeball it? The 1/4 of a 0.5mg pill is so tiny!

Anyway, wondering how you cut back…do you use a scale, eyeball it? The 1/4 of a 0.5mg pill is so tiny!

 

TheBeeHive3, just jumping in here because I struggled to get my mind around how to get an accurate dose with the small pill size.  I was able to use a scale until I reached a pretty low dose, .044MG.  Below that number my scale started to get inaccurate.  I used a tweezer or file to shave off a small amount to get to the correct dose.  I want to taper all the way down to .001 and walk off so I looked at the options people were doing and used the fill method that Bob7 shared.  The link is in my signature if you want to check it out.

Thanks so much for your reply! Have you pretty much been symptom free with this taper? What causes you to hold?

Thanks so much for your reply! Have you pretty much been symptom free with this taper? What causes you to hold?

 

BeeHive, everyone has a different experience but I have not yet met a person who has had a symptom free taper.  I'm having symptoms every day since I started this process and some days are better than others.  My goal is to remain functional and I've held when my symptoms get overwhelming and to the point that I find it extremely difficult to function.   

Makes sense…Once I stabilize on this dose, I’d like to taper the last 1/4 as slowly as possible as to limit the side effects as much as possible.