dry cutting and feeling occasional withdrawal

I have been stable for weeks after cutting my pm dose from .5 mg to .25 mg.  All of a sudden today, after 2 weeks of no symptoms I have symptoms (internal shakes and brain fog).  I am dry cutting a .5 in half for my night time dose and see that it is crumbling a bit sometimes.  Could that little inconsistancy be causing me to feel symptoms on and off?

I'm not certain about the variances of the strength of each of your doses related to uneven cuts, however this might be a consideration.  What I can speak to is that benzo withdrawal symptoms aren't linear.  Sometimes withdrawal symptoms will stabilize and then pop back up for no reason.  It could be that you were just due to get hit during this period of time.  I've heard the Klonopin pills were a bear to cut.  I did a dry cut taper with Xanax and thank goodness that Xanax was available in a .25mg pill and was really easy for me to get a pretty clean cut.

 

Have you thought about asking your doctor for the .25mg Klonopin wafers?  These might be easier to dry cut.  Just a thought.

 

 

So you are saying that it is possible to cut, stabilize for 4 weeks and then for no apparent reason just have more withdrawal symptoms out of the clear blue?  Because I am having an awful day. 

So you are saying that it is possible to cut, stabilize for 4 weeks and then for no apparent reason just have more withdrawal symptoms out of the clear blue?  Because I am having an awful day.

Absolutely, this is possible.  Whether this is true in your case, I can't say for certain.  This is one of the reasons that benzo withdrawal is so maddening.  It's often not a linear process and we can be hit with withdrawal symptoms that pop up out of nowhere at any time while we are tapering and also once our tapers are completed during the time we are waiting for recovery. 

 

 

Hi Blee,

 

I am so sorry you are feeling so awful. I understand, I have been there too. Say, so it looks like you tapered from 1mg total to .75mg. Is that right? If it is that is a 25% dose reduction. That would have been too large of a dose reduction for me. I kept my dose reductions below 10% and held no shorter than 2 weeks. My average holds were 2-4 weeks.

 

I have a dry cut plan that shows how I was able to get the smaller dose reductions as the dose gets lower. I found that keeping the cuts of the tablets to be challenging. Maybe my taper plan would help explain how to do that better, or to use small piles of powder.

 

I wish you only the best,

Summer 

Summer... I was stable after that "Large" cut for 2 weeks after 2 weeks of w/d.  I have since found out this taper from my pdoc was far too ambitious (1/2 a .5 every 3 days)  and I am just sitting here at .5 am and .25 pm for a while.  I have not made any further cuts but out of the blue today, I am having the same w/d symptoms I had 4 weeks ago.  just wondering if that's "Normal" or is there something else going on?  It's scaring me.

Hi Blee,

 

I am so sorry you are feeling so bad. I don't blame you for feeling scared. When did you add the Remeron? It looks like that was recent. If it were me, and it was, I would read "Your Drug May Be Your Problem" by Peter Breggin MD. He does a great job of explaining about how these meds work and how they effect our body etc. It may be worth looking into.

 

You did have a large dose reduction and it stabilized for a while and now it isn't. It can just go that way in withdrawal and it could be from adding another drug. I never took Remeron, so I cannot speak to that directly, other than to say, it may be something to consider.

 

I can post my taper plan along with a possible dose reduction from .75mg in case that may be helpful.

 

Bye For Now,

Summer

Hi Again Blee,

 

Here is my taper plan along with a possible dose reduction from .75mg in case it may be helpful.

 

As you may know, there are lots of ways to become free from a benzodiazepine. There is titration, dry cutting, compounding, using a scale, and crossing over to Valium. My experience is with dry cutting directly from Klonopin (clonazepam). I have a taper plan (that I developed over the years) to share with you, along with an example of a dose reduction from 4mg. I hope it is helpful. There is so much to choose from these days regarding methods of tapering.

 

 

I am currently Benzo Free! I tapered from 5mg of Klonopin and here are a few things I have learned along the way:

 

I dry-cut directly from Klonopin.  I have learned some important things about this process for me:

 

 

1) I have found that I need to hold for no shorter than 2 weeks. That is because Klonopin has a half-life of 30 to 40 hours and the generic clonazepam has a half-life of 18 to 50 hours. It takes five half-lives to get a dose reduction out of our system.

2) I listen to my body and hold until it feels like it has adjusted to the new lower dose. I usually get a few lower symptom days before I do another dose reduction.

3) My average holds have been 2 to 4 weeks

4) In order to keep the symptoms at a tolerable level, I keep my cuts around 10% or lower.

5) I have been able to keep my cuts below 10% by going to .03125mg when I hit .5mg of Klonopin.

6) When I got to .125mg I slowed my taper to .015625mg dose reductions. 

7) My last dose was .015625mg. Then I became Benzo Free.

 

 

 

In case you are interested in how I am able to dry cut the lower doses:

 

Cutting 0.25mg:

 

Here is how I am able to get the .25mg pieces. I break the .5mg tablet in half.  The brand Klonopin is scored and breaks in half easily.

 

 

Cutting 0.125mg

 

Take the .25mg and cut that in half. That is a .125mg piece.  I use an angle razor, like a box cutter. And cut on hard surface like glass or a mirror.

 

 

Cutting 0.0625mg

 

I have the 0.5mg Klonopin.

 

I break the 0.5mg tablet in half then, I cut 1/4th off of that. I use an angle razor like a box cutter. I have found that the razor is thinner and sharper than the pill splitters I have worked with. Yet, I have read that some have no problem using pill splitters.

 

I cut the 1/4th off of the tablet on a glass surface. I have found the glass surface to be hard enough to get a clean cut. I press down firm and fairly fast. The 1/4th breaks away (from the .25mg). Now I have 0.0625mg.

 

NOTE: If you are unable to get a chip that is .0625mg then you could crush it into powder. That would work as well. You would take a .25 mg piece and separate it into 4 piles.

 

 

Cutting 0.03125mg (Powder)

The way I get the 0.03125mg is I crush a 0.25mg piece and separate the powder into 8 piles. I happen to have a window scraper; so that is what I use, or you could use a razor. I crush the 0.25mg on a dinner plate with the top part of a pill crusher. Then use the window scraper or razor to separate the pile into 8. Each pile is 0.03125mg.

 

NOTE:  (What I do is crush the portion of the tablet. Then I put it in one pile. I do my best, with the razor to separate the pile into two. Then I take the two piles and separate them into two. That makes four piles. Then I take those and separate them into two more piles. That makes eight.)

 

 

Cutting 0.0156mg (Powder)

 

The way I would get a 0.0156mg cut is by crushing 0.125mg piece (to get the 0.125mg, cut the 0.25mg in half). Then crush the 0.125mg on a dinner plate, into powder with the top of a pill crusher. I happen to have a window scraper so that is what I use or you could use a razor. Then separate the piles into 8. Each pile is 0.0156mg.

 

 

Cutting 0.0078mg (Powder)

Crush a 0.625mg into powder and separate into 8 piles.

 

NOTE: With the powder, here is how I take it. I lick my finger, press it on the powder, then I put the powder in my mouth. Then I drink some water after.

 

Here is how I do the Percentages:

You get the % by taking the dose reduction and dividing it by the dose you are currently at. For example; a 0.03125mg dose reduction from 0.5mg is a 6.25% dose reduction.  0.03125 divided by 0.5 = 6.25% reduction.

 

OR I use this calculator:

Percent Calculator:

 

http://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/algebra/percentagechange.php

 

 

When I cut .75mg to do a .0625mg dose reduction, it looked like this:

0.5mg

0.125mg

0.0625mg

------------

.6875mg total

This is an 8.3% dose reduction.

 

 

I wish you only the best,

Summer