Tapering off clonazepam (Klonopin, Rivotril)

Ann....first off do I get a prescription from my dr fir liquid and how would I transition to liquid from using .5 mgs 3 times a day pills to liquid...I'm a bit confused on that....I get so much nausea and I thought it was from my menapause bit it did start when i started the first .25 mg cut off mid day pill...omg some days i just want to lay there and do nothing due to nausea...i do have some pills for nausea from a different Med I was tAking which helps but only have 2 left..grrrrr what can I do to learn how to go from pill to liquid??? And at what point do I do that...ty for ur help ann!!!😁😁

Hi Mary,
First, my guess is your nausea is from your cut, not menopause. .25mg is a big cut. I can only cut .0625mg per month on a good month which is 1/4 of what you cut. But if you can stand it then your the bomb. Personally I could not and I’d probably be in the ER. I have never made a cut that big. I am 54 and have been thru menopause and it never made me nauseous, just hot!
Yes, you need yur dr to write the script for a liquid suspension. You then consult with a compounding pharmacist about what you r trying to with tapering. They often want to understand your history with the drug. So for me transitioning to the liquid made me a bit nauseous for 2-3 days. The idea behind liquid taper is micro cuts made over many days to lessen the withdrawal side affects. My nausea is less severe with tiny cuts. Google liquid benzo taper, there are several ways to do it.
In my case bc I am super sensitive to all changes, I only convert the .0625 I’m trying to cut to the suspension. So say my total morning dose is .1875mg, .0625mg of it is liquid that I measure out in a syringe, .125mg of my total dose is a quarter of a pill. Gradually over a month I try to reduce the .0625mg part by small cuts and eliminate it.
I would love to be able to convert all to suspension but it will be a process for me to do so.
I have a prescription for 4mg zofram dissolving tablets for nausea. I cut them into quarters bc taking a whole one gives me a headache and a stomachache. I’m rediculously sensitive to everything. But 1/4 helps enough to get me thru it.
What I did was call around and ask the compounding pharmacists if they have worked with patients trying to taper off benzodiazepines and asked for their advice and any helpful input they had. Then I went to my dr and told him who I had talked to and what their advice was. My dr was clueless he’d never had a patient do a liquid taper! He wrote the script but he was just clueless. I watched some utube videos with him so he could understand it. My psychiatrist has had patients do it that way and she now writes my scripts for the suspension. Do some internet research and you will get the gist of it. There are several ways to liquid taper. I just measure out the dose minus the small cut in the syringe, then
I mix it in a glass drinking glass with cold water and drink it. Then add water to the empty glass, swish it around and drink that too. That way I get all of the dose.

@annfsd- You do such a great job of explaining how you have been going about your taper and I want to commend you for your efforts!
Based on so much I've read on this site your approach seems to make so much sense especially in light of so many that seem to think they can do it on their own either cold turkey or some other uninformed way. I wish you all the best in your endeavors and hope others will grab hold of your advise! Jim @thankful

Thank you for the kind words Jim. Everyday is a process, put one foot in front of the other and I just keep on trying.
Ann

Hi @annfsd,

I'm currently tapering from 2.0mg of clonazepam (original dose) taken at bedtime only for GAD and insomnia. My most recent taper was from 1.5mg (3x0.5mg) and I'm currently down to 1.0mg (2x0.5mg) for the last month which is a big taper and the lowest dose I've been on for perhaps the last 20 years (I'm 43yr male old BTW). I feel great overall and quite proud of holding this lower clonazepam dose which I plan to hold for a little while longer until I can resolve my sleep quality.

Thanks for sharing your success with CBD for daytime anxiety. Could you please share what brand/company you are using as it's the wild west out there for authentic CBD products, even here in Canada where THC is legal. I've been using CBD gelcaps from Aurora here in Canada which provide 8 to 10 mg/pill of CBD to help offset the anxiety and sleep issues. They come in 30 caps per bottle and cost about $40. I take about 2x per bedtime which seems to work but I often wake up in the middle of the night and take another gel cap to help me fall back asleep which works sometimes but not always. I've also been vaping high CBD strains from Aurora also (strain is called Temple and costs $9.99/gm) which is quicker acting and also great to combat anxiety. I'm also trying CBD tincture from a company called CBD Move ($60) which provides 500mg of CBD and has a 1ml dropper. I've taken a full dropper with varying results (none bad just varying degrees of effectiveness). My biggest issue is falling and staying asleep. As you can see, I'm self-experimenting with varying CBD delivery methods to determine which is best for CBD absorption. Right now, I would say vaping it seems to work best for me (about 0.5 - 1.0gm) per night.

Unfortunately, our medical benefits will not cover CBD for anxiety here in Canada so all this self-experimentation is getting quite expensive although so much better than the original 2.0mg dose of clonazepam.

Do you or anyone have any advice for falling back to sleep? Have you ever tried Valerian Root? I read this could help however it can apparently increase the drowsiness side effects of clonazepam (or any benzo) which can be both good and bad because I'm wondering if I would become reliant to the Rx/Supplement marriage I just created? Also, if you could share the CBD brand you're using as well as the delivery method would be highly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi Mary,
First, my guess is your nausea is from your cut, not menopause. .25mg is a big cut. I can only cut .0625mg per month on a good month which is 1/4 of what you cut. But if you can stand it then your the bomb. Personally I could not and I’d probably be in the ER. I have never made a cut that big. I am 54 and have been thru menopause and it never made me nauseous, just hot!
Yes, you need yur dr to write the script for a liquid suspension. You then consult with a compounding pharmacist about what you r trying to with tapering. They often want to understand your history with the drug. So for me transitioning to the liquid made me a bit nauseous for 2-3 days. The idea behind liquid taper is micro cuts made over many days to lessen the withdrawal side affects. My nausea is less severe with tiny cuts. Google liquid benzo taper, there are several ways to do it.
In my case bc I am super sensitive to all changes, I only convert the .0625 I’m trying to cut to the suspension. So say my total morning dose is .1875mg, .0625mg of it is liquid that I measure out in a syringe, .125mg of my total dose is a quarter of a pill. Gradually over a month I try to reduce the .0625mg part by small cuts and eliminate it.
I would love to be able to convert all to suspension but it will be a process for me to do so.
I have a prescription for 4mg zofram dissolving tablets for nausea. I cut them into quarters bc taking a whole one gives me a headache and a stomachache. I’m rediculously sensitive to everything. But 1/4 helps enough to get me thru it.
What I did was call around and ask the compounding pharmacists if they have worked with patients trying to taper off benzodiazepines and asked for their advice and any helpful input they had. Then I went to my dr and told him who I had talked to and what their advice was. My dr was clueless he’d never had a patient do a liquid taper! He wrote the script but he was just clueless. I watched some utube videos with him so he could understand it. My psychiatrist has had patients do it that way and she now writes my scripts for the suspension. Do some internet research and you will get the gist of it. There are several ways to liquid taper. I just measure out the dose minus the small cut in the syringe, then
I mix it in a glass drinking glass with cold water and drink it. Then add water to the empty glass, swish it around and drink that too. That way I get all of the dose.

Ann....thank you so much j for taking the time to e plain it all to me...trust me .25 was not my choice it was my drs ...but then she doesnt think of what happens she just wants me off...I am going to start micro tapering on Monday with my next .25 and take 1 ml a day out of liquid and see how it goes...hopefully its easier then just cutting out the whole .25 way once...I did research on computer after you talked about it and sounds so much easier if there is such a thing...do I will take 1/4 of .25 and put in water solution and take other 1/4 pill and eliminate 1 ml day one....2 ml day 2 and so forth...I hope I have that right....you are such a help In this blog and hope more people read your information to help them.....Pray for me all for this is my second attempt....first one failed when I got down to .125 three times a day...so back to starting over at .50 3 times a day....love to all that have taken the time to help me@! 💖💖

Mary, you will be in my prayers tonight and every night. I am so concerned for you bc of how fast your dr is making you taper, especially after you have been on this med for 27+ years. As I wrote earlier in my first post, I went thru 3 psychiatrist before I found one who had experience in tapering benzodiazepines. So if you are not comfortable with cutting so quickly maybe you should think about a 2nd opinion. She shouldn’t be giving you a deadline if she is. This should be a flexible journey, and as long as you are reducing you r on the right track. You just need to go slowly. Personally I will not be cutting this week bc last week’s cut was so hard on me. I took 2 months off in November and December, my choice and my dr was ok with it. I’d had lost 12 lbs and needed that weight back( I’m 5’6” 123 lbs normally), I don’t want to end up being anorexic. Please be careful, you are in my prayers always. Let us know how it goes.
Hugs and Strength to you,
Ann

Ty for asking....actually my appt went really well I just explained some things to her and we compromised and I will be going down to just two a day instead of three and we will leave it there....I dont take it for sleep...I have no problem sleeping usually but when my anxiety gets so high my body starts to shut down...this last time she had me try and wean off I was In Hospital for 2 days for my heart and severe chest pain and could not digest my food...she put me back to regular dose I have taken for 27 years and everything went away....I have never gone up on my dose it has stayed the same for all those years...