Ellen, you are correct about no documented information about withdrawal. I am on Lamictal. My last Physician stopped it "cold turkey" with no warning; no one told me this was going to happen. I was very upset about this and filed a complaint to Medicare. I am going to file another complaint with the State. This Physician also made other errors, and my Clinic Report had 23 errors. I was unable to get Lamictal, so I had to (would have anyways) quit the bad Physician and quickly got a new prescription from a new Physician. Then I was told to taper off Clonazepam for 3 weeks by the NP/Psychiatry who I won't see until May. I was having horrid withdrawals; I could not function. It was almost the same withdrawals as Lamictal, but worse. I was very shaky and out to eat with my husband. I had to order a hot chocolate with Bailey's; I don't drink. It did calm me down. My heart was racing fast. Again, I could hardly do anything. I called the Behavioral Health Clinic and my Internist's office; no one ever called me back. I called Behavioral Health again and said my call was quite important. When I spoke to the Clinic Supervisor to tell her what was going on with this mess (by this time I was feeling better and doing my own tapering), I told her about the Ashton Manual and she didn't care. I told her that if she had my withdrawal symptoms for 1 minute, she would understand. I am staying on Clonazepam and tapering myself. I am taking a half dose daily and so far doing okay. I really do not think I should be totally off the Clonazepam, due to being very anxious. I am just worried when it comes time for a refill.
I know my new Internist won't prescribe it, due to the NP/Psychiatrist. They say that tapering Benzodiazepines is worse than tapering Opioids. I guess I just don't understand how things are being done now. Some Physicians are not taking the time to learn about this. Like I said, if they felt the same symptoms of withdrawal, they would quickly look up everything about tapering for themselves.