Taper Question

  ok I'm  confessin' I'm obssessn' and stressn' 

        Since I've found out there's way more to this then I thought, Im gathering as much info as poss.    NO wonder my  .50 to .25 cut never worked!! 50%

        Im at a 20% cut right now from 1.25 Klon. to 1.0  but Ive made this one a few times with just 1 or 2 nights of benedryl. I am feeling some withdrawls so that prob. isnt helping my worrying over this whole thing much. sooooooooooo

        My question is. I had someone tell me if I cut down on my Klon. say to .25mg. ( 10% cuts).... and get to a level I decide I want to go sideways on for an extended period of time. I could end up with such bad withdrawls id have to go back up. due to tolerance at that dose.

      Sorry but I completely dont understand this. Ive been going sideways on 1mg for yrs. Ashton I believe says the GABA will repair itself even in withdrawls. I understand I would not fully recover until I complete the withdrawl. But if I stayed at a lower level say .25 klon. and just went sideways for however long...yrs maybe. It should be better then going sideways on 1mg.  The way I had it put to me was once you start this withdrawl more or less you cant stop. So then it would be better to stay on 1mg klon. then to try to get lower?  I definitely dont want to end up on more meds. I have a history of psychosis and Im just trying to figure out if I get in too deep on my withdrawls if I can just go sideways, poss. just leave it there indefinitely. Im doing pretty good going sideways on 1.mg I know lower is always better,               

                              thanks Skeeter

Hi,

I'm going through the same thing.  I was on 1.5 mg of Klonopin....(0.5 3 x's a day)....doc told me to cut by 1/2 tab (0.25) every 2 weeks.  I asked him if I could cut by 1/4 instead...he said that was fine....I am now at 0.25 mg in the am, .125 in the afternoon and 0.25 in the evening and not doing well.  I think he had me cutting too fast and now I'm not sure what to do....I started reducing in July....and made a total 6 cuts at 1/4 of a tab cutting that amount every 7 to 10 days....I'm going to have to slow way down and try making 1/8 cuts instead of 1/4...I'm getting with Colin about titrating.  I have been homebound and sick....but I was tapered too rapidly from xanax and ativan back at the beginning of May....symptoms were so bad...I was psychotic and a mess....I had horrid withdrawals...numbness, shaking, everything....because the symptoms from that got so bad they put me on 0.5 mg of Klonopin 3 x's a day on May 22nd so now I'm trying to wean from this while still being sick from the fisrt episode....I don't have any good windows or stabilization between cuts...because I was sick taking the full dose of Klonopin so I wonder now if I can get off this stuff and will be in protracted withdrawal.  Best wishes to you...let me know how you continue to cut and what your symptoms are and if you were or are more homebound.  Pebbles

  ok I'm  confessin' I'm obssessn' and stressn' 

         Since I've found out there's way more to this then I thought, Im gathering as much info as poss.    NO wonder my  .50 to .25 cut never worked!! 50%

         Im at a 20% cut right now from 1.25 Klon. to 1.0  but Ive made this one a few times with just 1 or 2 nights of benedryl. I am feeling some withdrawls so that prob. isnt helping my worrying over this whole thing much. sooooooooooo

         My question is. I had someone tell me if I cut down on my Klon. say to .25mg. ( 10% cuts).... and get to a level I decide I want to go sideways on for an extended period of time. I could end up with such bad withdrawls id have to go back up. due to tolerance at that dose.

      Sorry but I completely dont understand this. Ive been going sideways on 1mg for yrs. Ashton I believe says the GABA will repair itself even in withdrawls. I understand I would not fully recover until I complete the withdrawl. But if I stayed at a lower level say .25 klon. and just went sideways for however long...yrs maybe. It should be better then going sideways on 1mg.   The way I had it put to me was once you start this withdrawl more or less you cant stop. So then it would be better to stay on 1mg klon. then to try to get lower?  I definitely dont want to end up on more meds. I have a history of psychosis and Im just trying to figure out if I get in too deep on my withdrawls if I can just go sideways, poss. just leave it there indefinitely. Im doing pretty good going sideways on 1.mg I know lower is always better,               

                              thanks Skeeter

Im sorry to hear you haven't had any good days..

          How were you before you cut the Xan.? if you had a good period there, Id say you might get advice to go up or sideways till you stable a bit. But I am in no ways able to give advice!!!!!!!!!

          My deal is ..... Im very stable at 1mg K  Im sleeping ok  doing pretty good. of course im in a bezo fog. thats what im wanting to get rid of. Ive been going sideways on 1mg for yrs. and haven't noticed any change. I sleep laugh do lots of stuff get around ok. Like I said im wanting to get rid of the memory loss and sleepiness  kinda just a fog. like ive heard it described.  my concern is Ive gotten off of Paxil  Zoloft  Zyprexa and 2mg Klon since about 88. Ive been hospitalized a few times with psychosis, and I dont want to go back there. Id rather stay on 1mg Klon. then get really sick and end up alllll  screwed up...!!! cuttin' these benzos scares me to DEATH. Mental illness is worse then death and I def. dont want to go back to all the meds. Im hoping I can cut my Klon. slowly and gain some life back with each cut. If I have to just stay at a lower level. Thats what Im trying to find out now, if thats poss. Ive always had the experience with meds the lower the better. I hope it works with Klonopin. even if I have to stay at say .25mg Im hoping eventually i'll feel better then I do on the 1mg.

                  I hope. like I said if you were feeling lots better on the Xan. you should be able to get back there. I have had bad experiences with anti dep.  I dont know if they added one to you or not....

                    Stay in touch e-mail me if you like

                        take care Skeeter

Hi, Skeeter,

You don't have to concern yourself too much with a set schedule. Just make small cuts when you feel up to it. Decide on an amount to start cutting, make your cut, then stabilize, however long that takes. Then make another cut, stabilize, and so on. You don't need to be on a set schedule, as long as you continue moving in the right direction.

You'll want to get off the benzo completely. Once you're dependent on it, it has no therapeutic effect. Your body is shutting down certain processes because the benzo is there, so you need to get it completely out of your system. It's like drinking alcohol. After a while, you need more alcohol to get the same effect as before, and over time, you become an alcoholic. When an alcoholic drinks, he doesn't get the same "good" feelings he got when he first started. His body chemistry has changed. The alcohol needs to be removed so that the body will realize it needs to heal certain processes that the alcohol has taken over.

Therese