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Tapering off clonazepam (Klonopin, Rivotril)
Hi my name is Mary and I am a first time user of ever using a discussion blog online but have felt in my heart I need some advice and help with an issue I am having. My dr I have seen for many years moved out of state and referred me to another phychiatrist within his office. At the time of his moving away he had me weaning off clorazapam slowly and doing it as slow to not make it not so difficult as you all know , and I was doing well at it until I was having extreme chest pain and they put me in the hospital for 2 days to check to make sure it wasn't my heart, with all this happening I knew it was the weaning off the meds that was causing it so i went back up in dosage and it all went away again, and I was almost off it...My old dr started me on this med 27 years ago and I had no idea what it was but my body anxiety was shutting down my body and it helped it all go away so i didnt question it, well not until I went to school for nursing did I find out what it was all about. He put me on .5 mg three times a day and that stayed that way for 27 years not knowing what It does later in years, so I asked my dr to help me with the weaning off it, so our weaning process was as follows: Take .5 in a.m. ,25 afternoon and ,5 evening dose for 2 weeks then cut morning dose to .25 afternoon to .25 and evening .5 for 2 weeks then finally .25 three times a day for 6 weeks and then starting the last of the wean at this point the same as we did the first .25 till i was off. My new dr went from .50 3 times daily to .25 two times a day starting right away to get off it, that is over 1.0 mg a day off it all in one day and forward , I am already sad and crying because I dont know what to do, I have been there and I know how hard it was just to get off the way my old dr did slowly.....anyone out there that can help me with what to do I am so scared and I don't think she knows how extremely hard it is to get off this stupid stuff or that I really do want to do it, but please make it as painless as possible if there is such a thing with these meds. At 56 I didnt think I would have to go through menapause and this hell(sorry about the word but so true) all at once...at times I think it would be easier to just get cancer or something and die. Sorry but its true if you have been there you will understand. PLease help me!!!
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@hopeful33250
Hi Teresa,
Did I mess up again? I really am trying to watch it. Never hesitate to let me know if I cross the line.
Take care, Jake
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3 ReactionsMy doctor told me to take the 4mg. of Clonazepam to help with sleep, even if I feel a bit fuzzy in the morning. It is better than insomnia, and it is comparable with the feeling one has from lingering too long at the communion rail the night before...Been there, too. I scaled back to 3.5mg yesterday, and the morning is much more clear. Best news is hat the Prozac is dealing with the depression. My wife offered an unsolicited, but very welcome observation concerning the change in my demeanor, that was a great gift. Depression and anxiety are an indescribable challenge, and things seem to be on the uptick.
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1 ReactionVery well said and so very true to the core. It's just as said everybody reacts to every medication differently that is why so many side effects for they have to take all people's into effect....this coming from A nurse that sees it daily
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2 ReactionsSo I have a question about taking a dose of clonozaoam or Klonopin during a taper. How do you feel when you take it? Does it provide you any relief from your discomfort? I dont have any craving to take it, but when I do take it, it makes me terribly sick to my stomach with burning pains in my gut. I get terribly ill and it will cause me to become nauseous and often develop migraine headaches. I can feel ok before I take it and then I feel awful after. My taper is very slow with micro cuts of.0048mg usually weekly. I’m currently working to get off 2daytime doses morning and afternoon doses of .17mg. In addition to feeling sick I feel stoned for 2-3 hours after these .17mg doses. I wait 3-4 hours before driving and only if I have to. I have no appetite most of the time and force myself to eat, which I think is pretty common. I’m just wondering how others feel when they take a dose and if it is normal to feel fine before a dose and then go to feeling like crap after a dose. My dr says it’s a paradoxical reaction to the benzo. Just wondering how you all physically feel when you take a dose during your taper....any input is very much appreciated!
Hope, love and strength
Ann
I also experience mild chest pains (not always, probably 30% of the time when I take it.) Also throat pain/ burning after swallowing a dose.
I also get very nauseated after taking it now that I am tapering off...never before when taking it regularly did I get nauseated...my chest pains are now starting up again but not as bad yet as when I was hospitalized ..my gut feels like it has a knot in it and my appetite is terrible...so I'm guessing looking at your symptoms and mine it has something to do with tapering...so remind me after 27 years and no problems why do I have to taper off and now has all these terrible things happening to my body...I dont get it....
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2 ReactionsNot lost but severely injured from alcohol. My Dad was paralyzed from the neck down because of a drunk driver. As my Dad was lying in the cold, for Calif, fearing his truck was going to catch fire because of leaking diesel, the drunk drove off.
Jake
@mmussak
What percentage is your reduction with each taper?
Dose and length are important when titrating. Maybe after being on It for so long you need to taper even slower.
Good luck,
Jake
Mary,
As I understand it, the prolonged use of benzodiazepines can lead to many other health problems down the road. Also there is the connection to increased risk of dementia. Personally I don’t think i ever should have been put on it. I had no real problems with anxiety or depression until I was put on the YAS birth control pill. Which is now well known to cause psychological problems ie: anxiety, panic, depression as well as potentially fatal blood clots. My issues with depression and anxiety began several months after being prescribed that birth control pill. I didn’t put 2 & 2 together.
So after 11 years I wanted off and my dr thought I was nuts to try. He also didn’t have a real clue about how to taper safely. He wanted me to stay on it! 11 years at .75 mg at bedtime, no problems so why stop he said.
No medication should be this hard to stop, this stuff is poison and the manufacturers have never been honest with the medical community about the dangers of withdrawal and discontinuation. That’s why drs don’t know how to safely get a patient off it. My pcp is horrified at what I am having to go thru, and yet a different dr in his office told me I should have been off it years ago. Opinions differ wildly I’m afraid, but younger drs are more clued in on the dangers. Sadly they don’t teach benzo withdrawal in med school.!
The medical communities in Europe and Australia are much knowledgeable about benzo withdrawal. They have laws restricting the time a patient can be prescribed benzos.
I’m so sorry yur dr is being so hard on you with this taper. The rate at which you are cutting is scary, especially given how long you have been on it. I’m praying for u every day. Stay strong.
Hugs
Ann
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1 ReactionI’m so sorry Jake, for what happened to your father. Life can really hit us where it hurts. You have my sympathies.
Ann
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