ringing in ears?

Hi I posted this in the general forum but thought maybe I'd get more responses in the taper forum!

Good Morning everyone,

I haven't started my official taper yet, but a couple of weeks ago, I followed instructions in my nursing drug handbook, which suggests a klonopin taper of 1/8th of a mg every 3 days. Not having seen this site yet, or the Ashton Manual, this seemed reasonable. Anyway, I did it and by day 4, down 25%, my sleep went to hell, but even more disturbing, which at the time I didn't know could be w/d, I developed a high pitched ringing in my right ear. The kind you get when you say, "oh, someone is thinking of me!". Only this didn't go away for hours. It finally went away during the following night, when I had upped my K back to 1mg, cuz of the sleep problem.

I read in the Ashton manual that this sometimes never goes away, even after w/d. She states this in her protracted withdrawal section. It scared the crap out of me. Talk about disturbed sleep! Lack of sleep is my biggest fear.

Does anyone have or had this symptom? Did it go away? Is it because I w/d'd too fast? She did say it in context of long term users, like years, I've only been 3 months on 1mg.

Now I'm afraid to start my taper! Somebody ease my mind please. 

Hope you're all feeling ok this morning.

Linda

Hi & Welcome

First its obvious to you that you went to fast in reducing your dose, most find that a 10% reduction every 7-14 days the optimal reduction rate. What you have is tinnitus, although Ashton ranks it as rare I and many others experience it during and after withdrawals.

It is extremely irritating yet physically "harmless", at a slower rate of reduction insomnia may not be as bad, a lot of us got into this situation due to insomnia.

Can you tell us what your tapering rate is or will be and if you take your Klonipin all at once or  at different times during the day.

Take care

Bobers

Hi Bobersak2!

Its funny cuz I just read an old message from you from August, discussing your tinnitis, and I sent you an email before I saw your reply here!

I have been on klonopin for 3 months. I take 1mg K daily, .5 at bedtime, and another .5 around 2 am, to get me through the rest of the night. For my taper, I will be getting .5mg tablets, and I will decrease by 1/8th mg (1/4 tab of .5mg) every one to two weeks depending on how I do. That should take me around 4 months.

What I was wondering, is does the tinnitis go away eventually? Is it less likely the slower you taper?

Do you still have it and if so, is it constant?

Thank you so much for your time!

Linda

Hi Linda and welcome,

I've been dealing with tinnitus for over a year now and from all the other forums I've belonged to and all the post's I've read during that time I can honestly say I've only heard of on instance where the individual is still dealing with tinnitus 4 years after he stopped taking benzo's.

You've been a relatively low dose of K for what I would consider a short period Im certain that while the tinnitus your experiencing is bothersome it wont cause any long term damage and is only temporary.

Hope this helps,

Dave

Thank you Dave,

that helps alot to relieve my mind, though I'm sorry you still are dealing with it. Don't ask me how I know, but I have a feeling yours is temporary too. Just a longer temporary!

Linda

what i try to do is live in the day - i also stay at a dose long enough to completely stabilize - for me it has taken one month - but i do larger cuts to.

everyone is different but it is most helpful to stabilize after each cut before going into the next.

as to side effects - some have a real hard time and some don't - if you cut to fast it seems it is harder.