Should I start withdrawing?

Hello,

 

I am on klonopin, so far 0.25 once a day, seven weeks. The reason is very high anxiety and insomnia.  But I feel that it starts to lose it’s effect. I am scared to up the dose but also - my anxiety isn’t under control. What should I do? Can I start lowering the dose when my initial anxiety ( childhood trauma) isn’t healed?  I couldn’t tolerate antidepressants. Sometimes my brain doesn’t want to think anymore and gives me depersonalizations. Please help.

It sounds as if your body is already becoming tolerant to your original dose, this means you’ll need to increase your dose to achieve the same effect.  The problem is, once our body become dependent on this drug, it begins to cause the things we went on it to correct only it’s much worse.  The anxiety, the insomnia, the panic, everything gets more intense.

 

Benzodiazepines cannot cure anxiety, its a bandaid but the true tools for anxiety are coping strategies so I believe your best course of action is to taper from the Klonopin and find help in less dangerous methods.

Thank you, Pamster. How should I start? Cut a little bit of the pill? I don’t have any special scales yet.

Since you’ve only been on the drug for a short time, we hope you’ll be able to taper faster than what we recommend for long time users.  You’ll most likely experience symptoms but the only way out of this is through, there is no softer, easier way.  Recovery could take weeks and possibly months but long term users are looking at months and years so you’ve smart to do this sooner rather than later.

 

It’s a much larger reduction than we like to see but you could try to cut your .5 mg tablet into quarters and try taking .125 less for a couple of weeks or until you stabilize.  We define stable as able to carry out your daily tasks, such as showering or fixing a simple meal, or your symptoms have leveled out, quit changing drastically.  It doesn’t mean feeling good.

 

If this proves to be too painful, you may decide to make your reductions smaller.  Unfortunately, tapering is about experimenting on yourself and the outcome can be painful.

 

Klonopin users report symptoms typically show up around day 3 and resolve around day 10 so you should know fairly soon how this is going to affect you.

 

Edit: Spelling

Thanks, Pamster. And do you think I will stabilize although I am not stable now? I have problems functioning now, while still on klonopin. And the other coping methods don’t work much.. What to do during the withdrawal? For example with insomnia. There is stil the “original anxiety”..How to overcome this? Also - I don’t have anyone to support me. Is it possible to go through this alone?

Have you taken benzodiazepines in the past, is your anxiety chronic or did it just start?  If it just started, can you point to an event or situation that prompted it?

 

 

 

I had anxiety before and was treated four times with Lexapro. Last time it didn’t work but the anxiety resolved and I stopped taking it.

This time, anxiety became more severe, in the anxiety attacks I realized I have a childhood trauma caused by narcissistic mother. Fear of abandonment, fear of living my own life.. I learned to be a people pleaser, to only care about others and what they think.. not to care about myself.

And this is causing the anxiety now. I have therapy but the progress is slow, this will take a while. I learn to care about myself and be myself. It is very hard. But I don’t want to stay on klonopin all the time.

Also I live alone now and everybody around me says I should respect what the doctor says. And he says I should take klonopin.

Is your prescribing doctor also your therapist?

No, he isn’t. But my therapist agrees with him.

I can see you’re in a tough situation, it appears everyone in your life feels this is what is best for you right now but the trouble is, your trauma has shaped you to discount your own feelings in favor of pleasing others.  Not knowing you or your situation, I can only say, I hope you can find the right path, one that puts you and your needs first. 

 

We’ll be happy to help you taper from the medication but we can’t know how it will go for you.  Tapering from this drug for those of us on this forum is the worst and most painful experience of our lives, it takes a huge commitment to accomplish this and it can take years to taper and recover from our use of benzodiazepines.  Since you’ve been on the drug for only a short time, you probably won’t suffer for years but it could be quite challenging.  There are some who can discontinue this drugs with little to no problem and you might be one of them but you won’t know that until you begin to taper from it.

 

I’ve given you some pretty discouraging news but I wanted you to know what you could be looking at now or in the future.  You’ve got some decisions to make but if you really want to do this, my suggestion would be to educate your family on the dangers of benzodiazepines, getting them in your corner might be the first step in learning how to advocate for yourself.  Let them become a part of your newfound willingness to speak your truth.

Pamster, thank you for your empathetic reply. Unfortunately, my sister doesn’t want to discuss it at all, she says I should trust the doctor, continue using it and then go to some rehab. My mom agrees with her and dad died 14 years ago. I currently don’t have a partner.

Do you think it is necesarry to learn the coping skills first and then withdraw? As I write this, my legs are shaking with panic while being still on Klonopin. Could I do it? I know you can’t say.. I just ask your opinion. My panic is partly from the childhood trauma and partly because I am scared of klonopin.

Your sister is misinformed about using a rehab to get off of Klonopin, it doesn’t work that way with benzodiazepines.  They can safely taper you off, meaning, they will keep you from seizing using medication but they can’t fix the changes the drug makes to your brain, only your brain can heal that and it takes time.  More time than the rehab can afford to provide (or you can afford to pay) so they send you home to deal with your withdrawal symptoms.  Most who go this route will go home, reinstate and do a slow taper.

 

These are the kinds of things you need to be saying to your family, they need to understand that these pills aren’t the answer, they can lead to greater problems. 

 

As for your question about coping skills, learning them would be a good thing and if you can’t convince your family about the dangers of these drugs, then maybe you can show them through your new skills that you don’t need it.