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20 years on oxazepam need Klonopin taper advice


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First I don't know if this taper is going to be quick and easy or not. Years ago I kicked several hard drugs cold turkey and painfully. I am a product of the 60’s where not too much good help was available. I also kicked minor drug habits like codeine, barbiturates and Valium with not too much pain. I started oxazepam prescribed by my GP over 20 years ago for morning anxiety due to a high stress job. I never increased the dose because I know what it leads to from past experience.

I no longer have a high stress job and probably don't have anxiety anymore. I've tried cold turkey and shake like a leaf so I take a 15mg oxazepam and then I'm okay.

 

My doc has switched me to .5 mg Klonopin twice a day (morning and night) from 15 mg oxazepam once a day for 2 weeks to start and get me leveled out on a new drug. I have no idea yet about his taper schedule.

So far I feel fine after a day. No shakiness, no withdrawal symptoms. I don’t like taking a night pill because when I stop it I dread having sleep issues.

 

Can anyone give me a successful taper schedule using Klonopin to get off a 15mg every morning Oxazepam habit? I’m asking for someone that did this or very similar. Thanks for listening.

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According to this website your doctor increased your Oxazepam dose by a lot.  https://clincalc.com/Benzodiazepine/

 

Hopefully your transition to the Clonazepam will be a smooth one but we recommend a slow taper which I think in your case would be a good idea given your history and the length of time you've been using the medication.  I wonder if you could get away with taking less of the Clonazepam for these two weeks since it's such a big increase?

 

Are you interested in dry cutting your pills, this is the easiest method.

 

 

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According to the charts I am getting double the Klonopin as the Serax. I never took Serax at night.

Doc had me at on .5 Klonopin in morning and one 12 hours later. I did that one day and next switched to one in morning and cut the night pill in half. The next day I cut the night pill in quarters. I’m feeling okay so far. My plan is to take them.5 in the morning and 1 quarter at night for no more 5 more days and then stop the night pill. This should get me to the equivalent of what I was on serax for for 20 years. I’ll do that for a week and then I have a doctors appt. I’ll talk to him an let him know. At that point once adjusted to a normal dosing I should be able to taper. Any suggestions on tapering amounts and time frame of each taper is appreciated. I was thinking of cutting byb25% for 7-14 days at a time.

My big question is at what amount do I stop. After 1/4 of a pill or 1/8 of a pill. Like I said in prior posts Ive successfully kicked much harder narcotics 35 to 50 years ago on my own and survived. I don’t get a buzz or high from serax or Klonopin. When I tried cold turkey on Serax before in the morning within 2 hours I was shaking like a leaf. So i want to taper.

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This is an interesting approach to crossing over to another benzo, I'm not sure I've seen it used before but if it works for you, I'm pleased, I hope you'll continue documenting your experience.

 

As for tapering, the purpose of a taper is to use the drug to mitigate withdrawal symptoms because once you're free you won't have it to cushion your recovery symptoms.  Your brain is healing as you taper, with each reduction you're forcing your brain back to normal functioning but the recovery continues once off the drug and this can take weeks, months and in many cases, years.  Its not simply a matter of getting the drug out of your body, its restoring brain receptors.

 

Some people can stop these drugs with little to no difficulty, others like us aren't so lucky.  I don't know if you're one of the lucky ones but if you're not, you may need to temper your expectations.

 

These are the guidelines we support if you find yourself in too much pain once you begin to taper, I'd suggest showing this to your doctor.  Colorado Consortium Benzodiazepine Deprescribing Guidelines

 

We recommend a 5-10% reduction to your dose every couple of weeks or whatever your symptoms will allow, sometimes slowing down the taper even more is necessary to remain functional.  You can use this tool to help determine your taper percentages.  https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/algebra/percent-change-calculator.php

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So far the switch to another benzo has had no adverse reactions. In fact i feel better on the new one.

The main reason for the switch is because oxazepam is capsule only. The clonazepam can be cut up because it’s a pill. I’ve cut my night time one down to a quarter from a whole in less than a week with zero problems.  I want to eliminate the night one completely soon because I don’t want a dependence on a sleep aid which it is definitely doing. Unfortunately my doctor like most thinks he knows best and won’t pay attention to any suggestions. I’m basically depending on him to prescribe enough for me to wean off. I’m planning on cutting my one morning pill  by 25% every 7-10 days and see how that works after I’ve stopped the night dose completely with no problems.

My unanswered question which is the most important is as follows. Once I get to 1/4 of a clonazepam which is equal to1.25 mg of Valium what is the next step? Stay on it for how many days and then what? Stop cold, cut it down more or go a 1/4 or an 1/8;every other day for a week?

The only reason I’m on this in the first place is because I’m hooked and only took one 15 mg Serax every morning for 20 years which is equivalent to 5 mg of Valium. The only anxiety I’ve had is if I took my morning pill a few hours late and it was a shaky withdrawal problem in my opinion. Not an anxiety problem. Any successful stories are appreciated!

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Your taper appears rapid to me but if your symptoms dictate this pace then its the right pace for you.  When you get to .125 mg Klonopin then you can assess how you're doing.  I've found most members who have an uneventful taper, meaning light symptoms will have an uneventful jump from the drug.  But for those who have a lot of difficult symptoms the post withdrawal/recovery can be tough so tapering lower is advised. 

 

We don't advise skipping days in order to prevent a whiplash effect of symptoms when your blood serum levels dip.  I understand you're working with a doctor who may not be prescribing enough for you to do a slower taper.  Speaking of slower, many find they need to slow their taper down when they get lower in dose, I hope this won't be true in your case.  I'm not trying to be negative, I'm just giving you the benefit of others experience.

 

As for anxiety, I initially took Klonopin for sleep but began to experience anxiety due to tolerance then after quitting and throughout the recovery phase but once fully recovered, I no longer have it.  Its amazing how our brains can repair the damage the drug has done.

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for the reply. I’ll go with the flow and see how my body and brain react with the tapering  and go from there. I’ll find out soon enough what works for me. I understand some people react in different ways. I know a few people who had a horrible time getting off with just a 1-2 year  addiction.

 

Is there a setting on this site where I can be notified via email when I have a reply to one of my messages?

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Good plan to go with the flow and yes, you'll find out soon enough how your body is going to react.  I have to add just one more thing to be aware of, sometimes members will be able to reduce with minimal symptoms but then the reductions seem to accumulate and they'll get hit with severe symptoms so if you can, keep a detailed record of your reductions and symptom severity to help you make your reduction decisions. 

 

If you'll go to your profile then modify profile you should be able to change your notification settings.

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