Tapering off clonazepam (Klonopin, Rivotril)

Hi, all. I’m late to the conversation and new to the site. I was recently in a psych hospital for about 5 days due to meds not working with me. They “tapered” me off of Klonipin, added some meds, took some away. And by that I mean that within 3 days I was tapered off klonopin from .75 mg 2 times a day to .5mg 2 times to .5 for 1 day. They took away the drugs causing the issues (pristiq and Latuda) and I wasn’t taking them more than 2 weeks at MOST. There was no weaning of Latuda. Only cymbalta. And they added Abilify 5mg.

So to make this make sense...
They took my Klonopin down from .75 twice a day to: tues and Wednesday .5 twice, Thursday .5 once and Friday none.
They took me off of Latuda cold turkey after taking it for about 2 weeks (I think?).
They weaned me off of Pristiq.
They put me on 5mg of Abilify.
They gave me Visteril for anxiety and insomnia.

So my question is, is it normal to feel absolutely awful and anxiety ridden? I feel like my site is delayed, my anxiety is worse than it’s ever been (obsessed with if I’m medically okay, shaking, can’t sleep, mind racing, tingling, head feels like a band is on it, etc). And I’m out of it. Is this withdrawal from weaning too quickly?

Danielle

THIS IS FOR EVERYONE.....
This past week or so has been rough. Monday of last week I started a new bottle of clonazepam( .5mg tablets) from my local Walgreens. I started to feel really sick and nauseous, benzo flu symptoms, increased anxiety, not sleeping as well as I normally can. Tuesday I woke up feeling depression, which I normally don’t have, as well as being even more nauseous. I had some really strong chest pains after my morning pill (.125mg). Couldn’t eat much due to my stomach and a migraine headache. Wednesday, same thing. I felt so awful Wednesday night and I told my husband I felt like I was in acute WD, but it’s been 8 days since I reduced my dosage which was tiny and I’d been thru the hard part for that cut. Thursday night I slept 3 hours and started vomiting at 5:30 am. My husband thought maybe I actually had the flu, but no fever and no body aches like flu. So I googled the generic pill that I have been on since my taper started and WOW what many people said wasn’t good. I have been taking the ACCORD brand .5mg clonazepam tablet, it’s peach colored. I had a script of Solco .5mg clonazepam that the pharmacy had filled and replaced bc I only use the Accord pill. It cuts better, shatters less. So I took Solco and i realized pretty quick it was different. I didn’t feel drugged like I do after I take the Accord pills, which I always thought was my reaction to tapering and WD. Long story short I have been on the Solco generic since last Thursday and I feel so much better. Slowly these crazy WD side effects that have been dogging me for the last 9 months are easing up. This is now feeling more like my first taper which was very mild in comparison to now. Plus I made my scheduled cut on Saturday only it was 3.5xs bigger than my normal micro cut (which usually puts me in beds for a few days) and I had NO big side effects. Just a mild headache and kinda irritable for 36 hours. No nausea, no stomach ache and I could still eat. I’m 3 days out from my cut and still no big crash. I called the pharmacist and told him what was going on with the 1 brand vs the other. He told me the brands are different, while the active ingredient is the same the rest of the pill varies from manufacturer to manufacture. Also, leagally they can be + or - up to 6% of the active ingredient. Not good in a taper. He said I was probably sensitive or allergic to one of the inactive ingredient in the Accord tablet.!Maybe so but the pills I got definitely came up short on the clonazepam, why else would I go into withdrawal??? Turns out most generic meds are made in India or China with no oversight in the manufacturing process from the FDA. All these companies do is submit an analysis of their drug formulation and get approval to manufacture from the FDA. Yes I’m over simplifying it but that’s the short of it. So if you are feeling horrible maybe consider switching brands and see if you improve. It never in a million years occurred to me that the actual clonazepam pill might be causing some of my misery but I really think it has as I have been on the Solco pill 5 days now and I feel so much less sick and drugged. Kinda makes me 😡 I will now be switching over to entirely simple syrup liquid suspension made with Solco brand clonazepam. Hopefully I can gain some ground in tapering and continue to tolerate a little larger cut as I continue to taper. Hope this helps in some way, definitely food for thought.
Love & Strength
Ann

THIS IS FOR EVERYONE.....
This past week or so has been rough. Monday of last week I started a new bottle of clonazepam( .5mg tablets) from my local Walgreens. I started to feel really sick and nauseous, benzo flu symptoms, increased anxiety, not sleeping as well as I normally can. Tuesday I woke up feeling depression, which I normally don’t have, as well as being even more nauseous. I had some really strong chest pains after my morning pill (.125mg). Couldn’t eat much due to my stomach and a migraine headache. Wednesday, same thing. I felt so awful Wednesday night and I told my husband I felt like I was in acute WD, but it’s been 8 days since I reduced my dosage which was tiny and I’d been thru the hard part for that cut. Thursday night I slept 3 hours and started vomiting at 5:30 am. My husband thought maybe I actually had the flu, but no fever and no body aches like flu. So I googled the generic pill that I have been on since my taper started and WOW what many people said wasn’t good. I have been taking the ACCORD brand .5mg clonazepam tablet, it’s peach colored. I had a script of Solco .5mg clonazepam that the pharmacy had filled and replaced bc I only use the Accord pill. It cuts better, shatters less. So I took Solco and i realized pretty quick it was different. I didn’t feel drugged like I do after I take the Accord pills, which I always thought was my reaction to tapering and WD. Long story short I have been on the Solco generic since last Thursday and I feel so much better. Slowly these crazy WD side effects that have been dogging me for the last 9 months are easing up. This is now feeling more like my first taper which was very mild in comparison to now. Plus I made my scheduled cut on Saturday only it was 3.5xs bigger than my normal micro cut (which usually puts me in beds for a few days) and I had NO big side effects. Just a mild headache and kinda irritable for 36 hours. No nausea, no stomach ache and I could still eat. I’m 3 days out from my cut and still no big crash. I called the pharmacist and told him what was going on with the 1 brand vs the other. He told me the brands are different, while the active ingredient is the same the rest of the pill varies from manufacturer to manufacture. Also, leagally they can be + or - up to 6% of the active ingredient. Not good in a taper. He said I was probably sensitive or allergic to one of the inactive ingredient in the Accord tablet.!Maybe so but the pills I got definitely came up short on the clonazepam, why else would I go into withdrawal??? Turns out most generic meds are made in India or China with no oversight in the manufacturing process from the FDA. All these companies do is submit an analysis of their drug formulation and get approval to manufacture from the FDA. Yes I’m over simplifying it but that’s the short of it. So if you are feeling horrible maybe consider switching brands and see if you improve. It never in a million years occurred to me that the actual clonazepam pill might be causing some of my misery but I really think it has as I have been on the Solco pill 5 days now and I feel so much less sick and drugged. Kinda makes me 😡 I will now be switching over to entirely simple syrup liquid suspension made with Solco brand clonazepam. Hopefully I can gain some ground in tapering and continue to tolerate a little larger cut as I continue to taper. Hope this helps in some way, definitely food for thought.
Love & Strength
Ann

@annfsd
Hello Ann,
Do not try and make up for lost time in your taper.
What and how often is your regular decrease dose?
Jake

@annfsd- Wow, had no idea their was different "brands"? Seems like I have taken the small blue pill forever? I'll have to check to see what brand it is?
Continued success to you as you tapper down! Jim @thankful

Hi - just wanted to let you know I've added the brand name Klonopin to the title of this discussion, just so members can find it easily if they call the medication clonazepam, the generic name, or Klonopin, the brand name.

I have been on 2mg of clonazepam for about 10 years. I have tapered to 1.5mg in a little over 5 weeks. Is this too fast?

I have been on 2mg of clonazepam for about 10 years. I have tapered to 1.5mg in a little over 5 weeks. Is this too fast?

@falon - I've moved your post here to this larger discussion of tapering off Clonazepam (Klonopin) so that you can read through past posts here and get some input on the speed of your taper from many members who been on this taper process.