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Using CBD oil to help taper off anxiety & depression meds?
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Feb 13, 2023 | Replies (94)Comment receiving replies
I have been taking Clonazepam 1mg for 8 years. Last year I took part in the ketamine trial in Oxford UK. Whilst depression was not dealt with - as I had hoped- I noticed that I needed far less Clonazepam for GAD. I ended the trial and up until recently had been maintaining the 1mg dosing. Recently I have discovered CBD oil and as an experiment I cut my daily dose down to 0.75mg per day (this is a far higher taper in one go than I have tried before) and have not noticed any untoward symptoms. CBD oil seems to make me far calmer and anxiety seems to be being kept in check. I will try and taper down further to 0.5mg with the ultimate aim of coming off the benzo. I am taking 5% cbd - 10 drops morning & 10 at night.
Replies to "I have been taking Clonazepam 1mg for 8 years. Last year I took part in the..."
Hi etranger,
How is your taper going? I've been slowly tapering for about 1year from 3mg Clonazepam (it's also been about 8 years at this level although I have been taking Clonazepam for about 20yrs total using 2mg as a maintenance dose) and have been steady for the last 6months or so at 1.5mg. I'm quite proud of that. Because I've noticed that I feel sharper and better without the higher doses of Clonazepam, I've decided to further taper down to 1.0mg last week with the help of CBD capsules (from Aurora). It has helped tremendously with both tapering and withdrawal symptoms. I'd like to know how your journey has been as we are both tapering from the same drug. Are you still taking CBD to help with your taper?
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Hi, @etranger - welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I thought I'd suggest a couple of other discussion threads you might be interested in since you talked about CBD oil and also ketamine.
- On CBD oil for depression and anxiety, https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cbd-oil-and-depression-anxiety. This is a long discussion with many posts. You may want to read through them and/or participate in the discussion.
- On ketamine, https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ketamine/?utm_campaign=search. This is a bit older thread, but I think that those there and others we could bring into the conversation would be interested in your experiences with this medication.