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How to ween off Klonopin (or any Benzodiazapeme)
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Apr 5, 2024 | Replies (8)Comment receiving replies
@obedad In a word, slowly! I took 1mg in the morning and at bedtime for many years, and spent several months titrating off Klonopin. I cut the 1mg pills in quarters, and reduced by 1/4 mg at a time. I would take 3/4 mg at bedtime instead of 1mg for a few weeks, then try .5 mg until I felt good about going lower.
Recently I needed to take 1mg at bedtime for a few weeks to keep my feet still at night, to help my Achilles tendons heal (which they haven't, but that's another story), and 2 nights ago I stopped taking it. I did not sleep much the first night, but I did pretty well last night.
Have you talked with your prescriber about this? Sometimes people take a second medication while tapering, which kind of bridges the process.
The best advice I can give is to taper slowly. Don't let anyone bully you into going too fast. Pay attention to your body. If you feel like you can't handle the current taper level, you can back up and give your body time to adjust.
Jim
Replies to "@obedad In a word, slowly! I took 1mg in the morning and at bedtime for many..."
And also, have patience. I went to a psychiatrist to help wean off after only several months on it, and it is a terribly hard process. What a horrible drug! I think in the end you just have to be accepting that you’re not going to sleep very well for a few weeks and anxiety will ebb and flow and that isn’t the end of the world. You can make it through this process with determination, meditation, exercise and faith. It is a long ordeal of tapering so going to a facility is not usually recommended as that is a really fast taper. Good luck! With time you can do it!
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Great advice. My doctor who wasn't happy sleep doc prescribed this crap Klonopin suggested trying trazadone to help me sleep. I stopped klonopin cold turkey, which is never good, but it was causing issues while on it so either way I was screwed. The trazadone (which is a sleep med) didn't help as the instant withdrawal of klonopin caused constant insomnia for a few weeks before relief from insomnia started to get better. This medication should never be prescribed in my opinion but some folks swear by it. But once on it for any period of time, one becomes dependent, most just don't realize it. For that reason alone, it should never be given for longer than a couple of weeks, which is what the manufacturer says btw. Crazy.