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So, my question now is, since everyone is saying i need to taper off, am i addicted to the klonooin?
Replies to "So, my question now is, since everyone is saying i need to taper off, am i..."
It is important to understand the difference between addiction and dependent.
It seems you are physically dependent on klonopin like anyone who takes it for a period of time. Your doctor seems quite ignorant about this drug. First it is extremely quick to become physically dependent. Not taking it every day is a good tactic and should ease any move away from it but it can be a real challenge and take longer than expected. And NO cold turkey.
Your body is habituated to it and will complain loudly if you reduce the drug. There is finally some decent help out there for benzo tapering. As mentioned by other person, the Ashton manual is an absolute must read. She is a real doctor who helped hundreds of people get off benzos and is a true pioneer in understanding it and what works versus what doesn't.
Addiction would be if you were using/abusing it to tamp down emotional pain, memories, feelings, etc.
Be well and have courage. I went through it after 20 years of klonopin.
Yes you do need to taper off I have done that and they even make a either a 5 and maybe even a 25 mg yeah you can do this but do it slowly and I can't understand why you didn't take klonopin everyday I've always taken it every day now I'm tapered down from a high of three for a very short time I'm down to 1 mg as I'm able to control things that happen and deal with them rather than just being terribly anxious
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The use of the term addiction and dependence have overlap. Addiction is often seen as a person seeking a drug whether legal or illegal and out of control whereas a patient being prescribed a medication legitimately can develop a dependence. Only your body can know if you're dependent but if you've been using any Benzodiazepines including Klonopin for any length of time other than a one time use for a week or so then I would establish a plan of tapering no matter how low your dosage is. The Benzodiazepines and their detrimental outcomes of use is now on the public policy scene like opioids and doctors generally will not prescribe them and a few States now have laws in place to limit and restrict doctors from prescribing any Benzodiazepines.