Does Strength of Benzo Affect The Ability To Taper And Withdraw From

I'm holding at close to .10mg of Klonopin. From my reading

It appears that shorting acting benzos are harder to get off of including the withdrawal symptoms.

 

They say that Klonopin is more potent than other benzos but

that all depends on the dose one is using.

I've wondered the same thing, but I know plenty of people have tapered and withdrawn successfully from k. I am struggling right now at just over .375 mg k. That's awesome you're down to .10 mg, JET.

 

You have also been going very fast. Your last cut was 28.5% over 7 days. That's well above Ashton. You may slow up a bit. Your cuts may be catching up with you.

But I have maintained more or less that amount for two months so I'm at a standstill until I see very well regarded Neuro Psychiatrist next Thursday.

I hope your appointment is helpful and allows you to continue downward. I definitely wish I could taper as fast as you. It's amazing how different we all are. Are you holding due to wd symptoms?

Thank you for kind words of concern and encouragement! If you look at my three month taper I averaged about 13.3 percent every two weeks so that isn't too far off of Dr. Ashton's guidelines. When I think about what my average dose was before I started tapering it was closer to .55 so I'm in the ballpark. Just want to maitain until I see the doctor!

Libertas so I believe you are saying for example you need a lower amount of Klonopin to reach the same effect that higher dose of Valium would produce.

Exactly.

 

I pulled my post so I could add another paragraph. Here it is.

 

Strength and potency are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing.

 

Strength is the amount of drug (active pharmaceutical ingredient or API) in a given dosage form (e.g. a 0.5mg clonazepam tablet contains 0.5mg of the API, clonazepam).

 

Potency is the amount of drug required to produce an effect of a given intensity. A highly potent drug (e.g., clonazepam) produces an effect at lower strengths (amounts) while a drug of lower potency (e.g. diazepam) produces an equivalent effect only at higher strengths (amounts).

 

Regrettably, some healthcare professionals do not understand the difference between strength and potency.  This is why members are sometimes told they are taking a ‘low dose’ or a ‘baby dose’ of clonazepam so don’t have to worry about becoming dependent on it.  The reality is that although the physical amount of drug they are taking is low, the potency and hence the intensity of the effects of the drug are high.

 

Addendum: Differences in potency are also why members need to be careful about adopting ‘one size fits all’ approaches to tapering benzodiazepines. For example, a 0.1mg reduction in dose of clonazepam is not the same as a 0.1mg reduction in dose of diazepam in terms of potency (effect).