Klonopin taper

Gaba didn't do anthing for anxiety. I was in sweats, pure panic, insomnia when they switched. I have social anxiety and severe panic disorder. I felt so horrible on gaba I ended up drinking like crazy to get rid of the sweats and anxiety I don't ever want to go through that again. I am on 1mg/4 times a day and I can't cut back. That is as low as I can go.

@gman007 I no longer take klonopin and I certainly was not informed as I believe I ought to have been about how addictive it is-no mention was even made of it being addictive as well as the antidepressants and antiphyschotics which were to enhance the antidepressants. I would like to believe they did not know and only had my best interest in mind. Not true at all. There were so many things I was not told and now it is too late to change the harm that has been done by well (?) educated doctors.
Now another 10 years off of my life because of 8 years of this poison. I may as well stop seeing doctors because so many of them are pill pushers. All of this uproar about opiates when there are things that are eagerly prescribed that are even more harmful.
Sick, sick, sick all of this and also scary realizing my days have been shortened even more!! I am death on a horse eating a cracker. How can anyone with depression or any other mental illness ever expect to get help? Knowledge is power and the truth will be the demise of many. Sad to think how many who are desperately seeking help are being made sicker.
Yes, the truth hurts.

I am wondering if anyone has had the unfortunate experience of withdrawing from klonopin/clonazepam and discovered any hacks? I have been tapering for about ten weeks and have about six weeks to go. Most of my reading suggests a timeline of 1/2 mg every two weeks and I have been following this, but am attempting to shorten the total time by doing 1/2 mg every week and I am currently at 2.5 mg. It will likely make me a horrible person to be around for 6 weeks, at least, but hopefully well short of the ten weeks if I only reduced every two weeks. So, if anyone has any tricks to make the process more bearable, I would love to hear them.
Gary

Hello, @gman007 -- My sincere apologies for the tardy response, but it's an important question you've asked about any hacks, tips or tricks others may have about withdrawing from klonopin/clonazepam.

Please note I've merged your post with this discussion in order to bring more members into the conversation about dealing with the tapering process.

Wondering where you are at now in the tapering down schedule you mentioned and how it's going?

Yes, the reason benzos are so insidious is that they almost invariably lose their effectiveness over time and require progressive increases in dosage, an unsustainable situation. Withdrawal then becomes necessary and extremely difficult, as I can attest. It's frustrating, and perhaps unconscionable, that many prescribing physicians have disregarded this problem. I would be wary of taking them as needed because many who start out under that protocol progress to daily use.

I took 1mg of klonopin for 20 years and had no problem with tolerance. It worked for me. But as I age, and deal with autoimmune issues, getting off as many drugs as possible became necessary. I also had severe issues with antihypertensives, so cleaning up my diet and getting off of any drugs absolutely not necessary was essential.
I started taking a few nootropics that have helped me since tapering down to .5mg of klonopin. The withdrawals were horrible even going down .25mg at a time. .75mg was much easier to do than .50mg. And .25mg was an absolute nightmare.
I am back up to .5mg with a few nootropics and am feeling better than I have in a very long time. I want to stay comfortable for a while before trying to go down again from .5mg of klonopin.
Whether to take a benzo or not is a personal decision. Living a hellish existence inside is not worth it. Taking what we need to be comfortable and not "gorked" is healthy.

It took me months to get use to .5mg from 1mg at bedtime. I had been taking this for about 20 years. The cold sweats at night were really hard. The increase in anxiety in the afternoon and evening and waking up at 5 in the morning were difficult and add the not sleeping through the night anymore. I hope to come off of klonopin altogether, but very, very slowly. I tried to go down to .25 but it was pure hell. You wouldn't think that a small amount like that would make such a difference. I think everyone is different and needs to tailor their taper schedule to their own body.
Lately I have been taking some nootropics and adaptins to help. L-Theanine about an hour before bedtime has seemed to help me be more calm and sleep more than two or three hours. The cold sweats at night are almost gone as well. I don't attribute the slowing of the cold night sweats to the L-Theanine, but just my body getting use to not having klonopin on board.
I also take L Carnitine and Alpha Lipoic Acid and Ubiquinol as well as GABA. They seem to have helped me with the extreme fatigue that ensued after going down off of the klonopin.
I am happy to be down to .5mg as feelings have returned which have been dormant forever. My senses are returning as well. It is a hard road, but I am sure by now that .5mg that I am on is just keeping the withdrawals at bay and not doing anything to help me with anxiety.
I cannot take ambien as it gave me extreme thought blocking. Lunesta gave me periods of amnesia, so not an option either.
Do a lot of research on Nootropics and Adaptins. It will pay off I believe. I did try Rhodiola, but I became agitated on it, I think, so backed off of it. I may try to add it back into my regimen at another time. But it is important to try just one thing at a time so that you can guage how it affects you. I'll stick with my regimen for a while. I am not brave enough at this point to try to go down again on the klonopin to .25mg. I have to have a couple of minor surgeries so don't want to stress my body.
I think at this point it is so very important to be kind and gentle with yourself.

It took me months to get use to .5mg from 1mg at bedtime. I had been taking this for about 20 years. The cold sweats at night were really hard. The increase in anxiety in the afternoon and evening and waking up at 5 in the morning were difficult and add the not sleeping through the night anymore. I hope to come off of klonopin altogether, but very, very slowly. I tried to go down to .25 but it was pure hell. You wouldn't think that a small amount like that would make such a difference. I think everyone is different and needs to tailor their taper schedule to their own body.
Lately I have been taking some nootropics and adaptins to help. L-Theanine about an hour before bedtime has seemed to help me be more calm and sleep more than two or three hours. The cold sweats at night are almost gone as well. I don't attribute the slowing of the cold night sweats to the L-Theanine, but just my body getting use to not having klonopin on board.
I also take L Carnitine and Alpha Lipoic Acid and Ubiquinol as well as GABA. They seem to have helped me with the extreme fatigue that ensued after going down off of the klonopin.
I am happy to be down to .5mg as feelings have returned which have been dormant forever. My senses are returning as well. It is a hard road, but I am sure by now that .5mg that I am on is just keeping the withdrawals at bay and not doing anything to help me with anxiety.
I cannot take ambien as it gave me extreme thought blocking. Lunesta gave me periods of amnesia, so not an option either.
Do a lot of research on Nootropics and Adaptins. It will pay off I believe. I did try Rhodiola, but I became agitated on it, I think, so backed off of it. I may try to add it back into my regimen at another time. But it is important to try just one thing at a time so that you can guage how it affects you. I'll stick with my regimen for a while. I am not brave enough at this point to try to go down again on the klonopin to .25mg. I have to have a couple of minor surgeries so don't want to stress my body.
I think at this point it is so very important to be kind and gentle with yourself.