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How to taper off clonazepam?.
Hi my name is Mary and I am a first time user of ever using a discussion blog online but have felt in my heart I need some advice and help with an issue I am having. My dr I have seen for many years moved out of state and referred me to another phychiatrist within his office. At the time of his moving away he had me weaning off clorazapam slowly and doing it as slow to not make it not so difficult as you all know , and I was doing well at it until I was having extreme chest pain and they put me in the hospital for 2 days to check to make sure it wasn't my heart, with all this happening I knew it was the weaning off the meds that was causing it so i went back up in dosage and it all went away again, and I was almost off it...My old dr started me on this med 27 years ago and I had no idea what it was but my body anxiety was shutting down my body and it helped it all go away so i didnt question it, well not until I went to school for nursing did I find out what it was all about. He put me on .5 mg three times a day and that stayed that way for 27 years not knowing what It does later in years, so I asked my dr to help me with the weaning off it, so our weaning process was as follows: Take .5 in a.m. ,25 afternoon and ,5 evening dose for 2 weeks then cut morning dose to .25 afternoon to .25 and evening .5 for 2 weeks then finally .25 three times a day for 6 weeks and then starting the last of the wean at this point the same as we did the first .25 till i was off. My new dr went from .50 3 times daily to .25 two times a day starting right away to get off it, that is over 1.0 mg a day off it all in one day and forward , I am already sad and crying because I dont know what to do, I have been there and I know how hard it was just to get off the way my old dr did slowly.....anyone out there that can help me with what to do I am so scared and I don't think she knows how extremely hard it is to get off this stupid stuff or that I really do want to do it, but please make it as painless as possible if there is such a thing with these meds. At 56 I didnt think I would have to go through menapause and this hell(sorry about the word but so true) all at once...at times I think it would be easier to just get cancer or something and die. Sorry but its true if you have been there you will understand. PLease help me!!!
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@crbarefoot
If you can use a compounding pharmacy that would be your best option. But insurance doesn't always pay for compounded medicines.
I would taper by 10-15% perhaps a bit more but I believe it should depend on several factors. Length of treatment, dose of medication, age etc. Be sure to go slow, SLOW! to allow your brain chemistry to adjust. If you have any withdrawal effects increase your dose until those symptoms go away then restart the taper at a slower pace and/or longer time between dose cuts. I don’t believe in choosing a specific timeline. I think it depends on how your body relates to the taper.
Take care,
Jake
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2 ReactionsThanks for your excellent input.
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2 ReactionsWhen I tapered from lorazepam, I did a very slow wean cutting pills in quarters by the end. I was on .5 mg
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1 ReactionThank you. Mine are also quartered and I think that could work. Do you mind sharing what dose you were on and how slowly you went?
Compound pharmacy is not the answer and no insurance won't pay for this anyway, at least for this situation. Compunding is typically bringing two distinct meds together to form a third medication. You're basically asking a pharmacy to give you various doses for tapering. Thats not what these specialty (compunding) pharmacies are for, they might do this, I don't know but insurance will not cover this cost I know! I would use a pill splitter to get the tapering done. A hassle but its not tough.
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2 ReactionsThanks for your input. Had not planned on the compounding pharmacy. Ty
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1 Reaction@crbarefoot
@arthur57
I mentioned compounding because they also customize medications and is safer and more exact. I didn't use a compounding pharmacy when I tapered off Klonopin and splitting pills is no big deal. It's just not as exact. There are some insurances that do pay for compounding, granted not many. I use a sterile compounding pharmacy for injection medicine and my insurance does not pay for it. I have taken the drug phenobarbital for well over 50 years, and if I were ever to stop it, which looks very unlikely, I would, with without hesitation go the percentage route through a compounding pharmacy regardless of whether or not my insurance paid.
Take care,
Jake
Thank you. Each situation is different and each insurance is definitely unique. Best to you.
I have taken clonazepam for 25 years. I was doing very well on 1mg 3xday. Now suddenly everyone wants me off it. I am down to. 5 twice a day and hate it. I don't understand why if something has helped me for 25 years with no side effects that suddenly it's a problem. Are you getting off for a reason or just because they suddenly want you to? Do it very slowly. I had a doctor try to take me off fast and I ended up falling and shattered my elbow and broke my arm in 2 places. After surgery I was put back on clonazepam. Did fine for 3 years and now my new doctor wants me off of it again. So I advise doing it very very slowly or you will suffer needlessly. Mine cut a half a pill at night but told me to try. If I could not do it try several times a week instead of everyday. Then in three months we reevaluate and try for cutting half a pill out as much as possible. So do it slowly even if it takes a year. Good luck.
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1 ReactionSLOW! is the only way to do it.
I took over 2 years but was taking 18 mg a day trying to stop seizures but no luck so I quit. I had only extremely minor withdrawal symptoms at the very end but chipping tiny pieces off took care of that. If your having withdrawal symptoms you’re likely not tapering slowly enough. What's the rush anyway?
REMEMBER S L O W !🤞
Jake
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