Hi.. cutting Klonopin and adding some Buspar

Hey all. Id like to thank the  moderators for this forum, and of course all the members The info here is very usefull

             Ive been on Klon for 10yrs. bouncing between 1-3mg. I've been on 1mg for the last year. Thanx to a brilliant psych Dr. who took me off of a 1200mg a day dose of lithium., all at once, then I had extreme problems from no lithium and he said."See you need the addictive tranqs! after my refusing to take them on earlier office visits ! (I had ended up in the hosp. and didn't have much of a choice at that point)  So I have quite an extensive psych history. These Psych doctors had me on Paxil - Zyprexa- been on 3 diff anti-dep. all from an original mix up on lithium, I just wanted to give you some of my history. Pretty much in 1988 I was stable and feeling good with Buspar and lithium. So ever since about '92 Ive been trying to get back to those 2 drugs. Well I'm back to Klon and lithium. Now my goal is to get rid of the Klon. Trust me I had no IDEA!! these benzo's were so addictive. Now yall' got me scared!

         I have gotten down to .50mg of Klon. and was stable. I was sleeping and functioning I did have a continuous rapid hearbeat however. I then cut to .25mg MISTAKE 50% cut. I found out on this site and others a 10% cut should be max.. I pretty much thought my heart was going to stop.! I'm going to use the milk with the crushed pills to make my 10% cuts. I'm going to try to just make a 10% cut every 3wks.

         The Buspar hmmmm  any thoughts. Ive just started taking it again ( originally on it in 88') thinking that It may help control any GAD symptoms I have going on. I'm pretty sure I have GAD(I have learned from reading that it wont help with any of the withdrawl symptoms) I figure so that way any GAD symptoms wont interfear with the withdrawl process. Ive noticed since Ive been back on the Buspar for only 1wk now I am sleeping better and It has calmed me down. So If It wont hurt the withdrawl process I'm wanting to leave it in. And mess with Buspar levels after I get off the Klon.

From my experience at the .50mg level and the rapid heartbeat, It looks like that may be a withdrawl symptom with longevity???

         Any Ideas on a jumping off point... wow I'm pretty scared reading how hard it is to withdraw from this stuff...I'm a pretty addictive person anyway.

                      Thanks   Take Care Skeeter

Hi, Skeeter,

I had problems with pounding heart too. That was one of my bigger symptoms, and in fact, I still have it. It's not so bad, and some days it's better than others, but yes, it's stayed around.

If you use the titration method, your "jumping off" point will be quite small, since you'll be proceeding with very tiny cuts on a daily basis. It's best to just taper down to nothing and not "jump off."

Therese

Hi Theresa,

I have problems with dairy which concerns me about the titration method.  I am trying to wean from Klonopin and remeron.  I started at 0.5 mg klonopin tablets 3 x,s a day back in May after a basic cold turkey withdraw from ativan and xanax which landed me in a stress center the symptoms have never stopped.  I am home bound, do not work and am sick all the time with all kinds of symptoms even on the full dose of klonopin so I have decided to wean off of it.  I am currently at 0.25 mg (1/2 tab) in am and pm and .125 (1/4) tab at noon.  I just made my last cut this past saturday in the noon dose by .125.  I don't stabilize and have pretty much been sick through off of this but since I made the last cut my stomach issues are alot worse.  I don't know how to keep cutting at this point if I am going to be this sick all the time.  Any advice would be helpful.  Thanks, Pebbles

Hi, Skeeter,

 

I had problems with pounding heart too. That was one of my bigger symptoms, and in fact, I still have it. It's not so bad, and some days it's better than others, but yes, it's stayed around.

 

If you use the titration method, your "jumping off" point will be quite small, since you'll be proceeding with very tiny cuts on a daily basis. It's best to just taper down to nothing and not "jump off."

 

Therese

Hi, Pebbles,

You can do the titration with water if you have to. But you'll need a little blender to mix the benzos into the water well--the benzos are more evenly dispersed in milk, which is why we recommend milk. Another alternative would be to switch to Valium, which you can get as a liquid direct from a pharmacy. Or maybe your doctor would write you a script for a compounding pharmacy to make you a Klonopin liquid.

If your last cut made your stomach problems a lot worse, I would reverse that cut (go back to your previous step) and hold where you were for a while until things improve. I would wait at least a week, maybe longer, before cutting again. Just wait a while and see what happens to your symptoms. Hopefully, they will start to improve a bit. A quarter-tablet of Klonopin is a large cut, equivalent to cutting 5 mg Valium.

Therese

Hi Therese,

I got my calculations wrong....I thought 0.5 mg tab of Klonopin was the equivalent to 10 mg of valium....is that not right?  If so, then a 1/4 pill cut would be the equivalent of 2.5 mg of valium.....is that still considered a large cut?  If you could let me know what a 0.5 mg of klonopin equals to valium I would appreciate it....sounds like I have been messing up.  Thanks, Lori

Hi, Pebbles,

 

You can do the titration with water if you have to. But you'll need a little blender to mix the benzos into the water well--the benzos are more evenly dispersed in milk, which is why we recommend milk. Another alternative would be to switch to Valium, which you can get as a liquid direct from a pharmacy. Or maybe your doctor would write you a script for a compounding pharmacy to make you a Klonopin liquid.

 

If your last cut made your stomach problems a lot worse, I would reverse that cut (go back to your previous step) and hold where you were for a while until things improve. I would wait at least a week, maybe longer, before cutting again. Just wait a while and see what happens to your symptoms. Hopefully, they will start to improve a bit. A quarter-tablet of Klonopin is a large cut, equivalent to cutting 5 mg Valium.

 

Therese

Hi, Pebbles,

No, you're right! I made a math error. I used to be great at math--before benzos!

.5 mg of Klonopin would be like 10 mg of Valium. So a quarter-tablet of a .5mg Klonopin tab would be like 2.5 mg Valium.

Whether it's a large cut depends on how much benzo you're on at a given time. We recommend cuts no larger than 10%. So if someone is on 20 mg Valium, they could *possibly* manage a cut of 2 mg Valium. But someone who is not on that much Valium would have a difficult time.

Therese

Hi, Pebbles,

 

No, you're right! I made a math error. I used to be great at math--before benzos!

 

.  I think I commented on this somewhere  I was a straight A student in college math

          because of Benzo's now My math is "CRAP"

                        Skeeter

Yes, I remember reading your comment. I was glad to find someone else like me! Things are better for me since getting off benzos, though it can still be difficult at times. It's not so much a math problem per se as a "brain fog" problem.

Therese