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Klonopin taper

Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Apr 2, 2023 | Replies (547)

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@linda66

I will only start tapering the clonazepam once I finish the quetiapine taper. I probably will start next year depending on how this quetiapine taper goes. Actually this is the third medication that I have tapered since November 2017 after I came out of the hospital in October. It is a long story , but I went there since I was unable to sleep which was caused by severe back pain. Instead they put me on several different medications and didn't treat the pain. ( trazadone 50 mg, quetiapine 200mg, quetiapine xr 200mg , clonazepam 1mg and tramazapam. As well as baclofen and naproxen. They even suggested that I try ECT to treat my depression and misdiagnosed me with manic depression. During this time the doctors continued to increase the dosages to the point that it will take me at least two years to completely taper off these medications. As well they never discussed any of the negative side effects of these drugs with me before they increased the medications.

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Replies to "I will only start tapering the clonazepam once I finish the quetiapine taper. I probably will..."

Wow! Sounds like you are a very strong person to be able to have tapered off what you have so far. Regardless of the medicine it seems like getting off of them is so hard. In regards to the clonazepam - I am currently taking 3mg. & this is the lowest dose I have ever been on for the 25+years I have been on benzos. I have tried to get off of them 3 times in the past 10 years to go in-patient & taper down. They tapered me down WAY TOO FAST every time - 7-14 days total. The last time was in 2015 & I was on 5mg. of clonazepam & went in-patient and they took me off in less than 14-days. DON'T DO IT THIS FAST! I know you are only on 1mg., but you need benzo. withdrawal is the absolute worst & can cause mental psychosis.
Google "The Ashton Taper" & look at the taper schedule for clonazepam. This is a "substitute taper" where valium is used to taper down the dose. Or do a "gradual taper" by .125mg. every 2-3 weeks, stop 1-week, then continue.
I am about to start a taper & my psychiatrist and I TOGETHER decided that I am going to taper .125mg. every 3-weeks, then go 1-week with no changes, then continue. It is going to take me about a year & a half to get off of them completely. This is completely fine with me, because considering I have been on them for over 25+ years & have been through the 3 "fast-tapers" that resulted in horrible withdrawal I would not do it any other way!
Wishing you the best of luck!