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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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That’s very unsafe and the hospital is putting your life at risk, Go to your prescriber asap and ask to be properly tapered off or find another provider. It took me 20 months to taper off clonazepam
I tapered off with my provider. Everyone is different but i used liquid clonazepam and eventually did switch to Diazapam. it has a long have life, also comes in liquid and as your dose goes lower and lower it’s easier because of how diazepam dosing is lower
Thank you. I’m likely going with micro liquid taper off Clonazepam after 25% cut to .375mg from .5mg long term use, over 10 years. May I ask, at what dose did you switch to diazepam from liquid clonazepam? Was it too difficult in terms of symptoms to continue with liquid clonazepam taper? I was hoping to not make a switch. Though I have a provider, he’s not knowledgeable about tapering, so I am working with a reputable coach from the Benzodiazepine Information Coalition, along with the Deprescribing Manual for antidepressants and benzodiazepines. Switching providers seemed daunting. What dose did you begin initial taper off from? Thank you,
I made an appointment with my neurologist and told her what happened. She said it was fine. My body hurts all over. I don’t have anyonr to go to that will listen to me.
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1 ReactionI wish i could actually remember. i have notes i can look at but they are difficult to understand. I’m also absolutely terrible at math so i got very overwhelmed figuring it all out. Basically when i couldn’t go any lower without making too high of a jump is when i switched to Valium. I wish for your sake i could explain it better. My starting point was 4mg of clonazepam though… awful
The neurologist said it was fine? 🥺 I find Neorologists/psychiatrists have no idea, they are not Benzo informed and they honestly think they know best. If you watch videos on the benzo coalition on you tube there are at least 2 Benzo harmed Drs that said their colleges didn’t believe them and they were not properly trained on how dangerous benzos are in med school. It may benefit you to search for a benzo informed provider. they are hard to find unfortunately. Benzobuddies.com is a good resource
Also, the Benzodiazepine Information Coalition provides a list of benzo informed providers. I checked into all and the price was not affordable, short of digging deep into resources intended for retirement. Believe one was 550.00 per month and another required a 12 month commitment, under 30,000 and over 20,000. We have to educate ourselves through reputable sources, I have found, if unable to afford such treatment.
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1 ReactionThat's such a terribly lose dose, I don't see why you need to taper off of it. What is the risk for stopping cold turkey much higher doses --? It's seizures. You're not going to see seizures. If you must taper off, try to cut or crush the tablets and taper off over 10 days or so. I'd never bother doing that if it were me.
The doctors and interns will make you paranoid about seizures if you do not taper off slowly. I don't believe that is a strong possibility. I stopped 2 mg of clonazepam cold turkey for a week in late May (lost my prescription bottle while on vacation on Maui) and felt no change other than some light jittery feelings and not wanting to do much in terms of recreational activities. I then found the vial and resumed taking it and felt normal once again.
Regardless of dose, physical dependency develops in an extremely short period of time and a taper is the safest approach. That you would not approach as such is frankly not very helpful and is grossly misinformed, IMO, as someone tapering off .5mg after nearly 10 yrs use. And yes, tapering is absolutely necessary for me. Please think carefully before how you would approach stopping a benzodiazepine, especially given not guided at all by the literature addressing this matter.
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