Klonopin taper - any suggestions?

I feel your pain, I’m 72! I had a very big life chsnge last October, my partner of 6 yrs died of Covid this year! Let me go back to beginning, back in 2018 my partner was diagnosed with Dementia, it was a slight case, so I could continue with my job, which was very well paying with great benefits, & I loved it, when he started getting to the point where he could not be left alone I called his only child, his Son! I told him the whole issue, he came down and said QUOTE” I HOPE WE ARE ON THE SAME PAGE! “UNQUOTE” I looked at him and said. WHAT PAGE WILL THAT BE, he looked at me like I had 3 heads! Long story short I ended up quitting my job to take care of him, leaving me just having my SS ! I took care of him 24/7 I had Breast Cancer in 2018 had to have a Bilateral Mastectomy! I was blessed , nothing in Lymph Nodes & nothing went outside the margins! But his son & brother left me holding the bag, I was 69 then! I took care of Hime for 2.5 yrs straight! I asked nithing if this man! I have been in depression for years but got ahold on it with lots of counseling, and meds and one of those meds was Clonzapam! My Dr started me out with 1mg, dosage of 1/2 in a m 1/2 in afternoon & 1 1/2 at night! All was great, the torture started coming on when his son THOUGHT I was STEALING FROM HIS FATHER! I WAS NOT! It was him & his Uncle! I guess they thought I should be paying rent and part of bills while living there my question is: HOW IN THE HELL (pardon word) was I to do that on my SS. The house note was over $2,000! After giving up 2 yrs of my life, his brother came in pushed me out , then he & his son put my partner in a Nursing Home, he died 2 months later from Covid. We was not ready to go to Nursing Home!!! All they wanted was his money and ranch! Ok now you can see why I was on Clonzapam 1 mg and you saw the dosage my Dr had me on, it added uti be 2mg for a day. I was doing excellent! I had to move back home in Indiana! I HATE IT HERE. I was in Dallas fir 14 yrs! But my daughter needed a babysitter for 3 days a week, so since I was being put of my home

Yep, I totally sympathize. How do you rein in a runaway limbic system. I've always had that problem, but it became debilitating as a consequence of work-related stress when I was in my 40s. The coping method I stumbled on, almost literally, was running. It worked like a charm; after running 12 miles from 3:30 to 5:00 AM I was able to face all work-related problems with aplomb for the rest of the day. Nothing bothered me; in fact I was borderline euphoric. I thrived for about 5 years in this fashion (running 12 miles every morning) completely without medication or counselling. Then, one Summer vacation, when I was running downhill in the Rockies I suffered an explosive herniation of a lumbar spinal disc and my running days were over. For the next 25 years I subsisted on 2.5 mg of Klonopin/day, as I underwent a total of 5 major back surgeries. The klonopin was not nearly as effective as the running had been but I was able to function. However, as time went on anxiety and insomnia gradually re-emerged along with the appearance of novel symptoms (see benzo withdrawal symptoms in Wikipedia) despite my continuation on the stuff. So a little over 3 years ago I weaned myself off over a 1 year period and have been benzo-free for about 2 years. Life post-benzo has been challenging but doable. To cope, I've reverted to my pre-benzo exercise strategy, which now involves walking (pushing a walker) for about an hour as vigorously as my 83 year old decrepit bod (with a very bad back) will allow. In the final analysis that's the only therapy that gives me any real relief and enables me to enjoy a loving relationship with my wife, kids and grandkids. I no longer take any meds whatsoever, nor do I see a therapist. The latter never worked for me. So I highly recommend daily vigorous aerobic exercise to get those endogenous endorphins up, as an alternative to messing up your GABA receptors with benzos. Whatever you do, all the best.

so how much do you take during the day or is this just at night.
I take o.5 one during the morning and 2 and 1/2 at bedtime, I have been
on the same amount for about 10 years. my pills are yellow what color
are yours. how often are you taking them during the day?

Hello @cperaino: I recently had successful spinal fusion surgery and within a few weeks I developed a sudden onset of anxiety and depression. I have a history fighting these two demons but had been depression and anxiety free for ten years thanks to my medication.
The fact that it came on so suddenly and my medication wasn’t helpful was very discouraging. I am on a .25 mg Xanax daily to address the anxiety but I think I may have caught onto something that is working even better. It will take a little while longer to know for sure but I have been walking at least a mile every day for the last 5 days and I notice a calmer demeanor without the constant chatter in my head.
I wonder if continuing walking just might keep the depression and anxiety at bay. I was never an athletic person and I started walking to aid in recovery from the surgery but this may be an additional benefit that anyone who is able to walk or do some form of aerobic exercise can find very useful.
Does anyone else have thoughts on this? I know some of the threads here have talked about it.

I need to be with others that are tapering off clonazapam/Klonopin. I have been on 1mg per day since 1988 and know now that I have obviously built up a tolerance for 2 reasons atleast. 1 is because I have worse anxiety, and tremors which is why I was give them in the first place.

I have horrible withdrawals if I go off cold-turkey, discovered that was out of the question in 2010 when I tried it. I won't go into all that happened to me, but anyone that's been there knows tapering is the best way. I am not replacing the drug with another drug, but I am considering (during tapering) to try L-theanine. May help with my anxiety and tremors but I'll let everyone interested know here.

I am under an MD's care, stuck with him last 7 years. I just went a month now with only .75 mg and this month I am on occasionally only .5 mg. It is so hard not to take the extra some days as I just feel I am sick and it will help, and it does to take up to the 1 mg. I hate the battle at the pharmacy because they give me mixed messages on when I can pick up my next 30 days. My Md is great but our pharmacies all suck here where I live, small town.

I hate being dependent on this drug. I work out at my gym and walk for exercise. I'm also basically a keto gal and and control my T2 Diabetes with food alone, no more drugs will I ever take unless I'm too non-coherent to tell them "keep that junk away from me", unless I truly need something for an accident like pain meds.

I believe in conventional medicine, don't misunderstand, I just know that getting hooked on benzos was something I did not understand would happen until many years later. Now I do my best to take responsibility for my own health, read, especially into alternatives to try first.

I am going to try the L-theanine just to see if it may help me. I've already seen reviews that some hated it, but also about half the reviews are very good. Feedback welcome, and mostly, I guess I would just like to be with others that understand, and I can come here and talk with folks about this. Thanks much, Denise

Hello, Denise. Was the Clonazepam for seizures? Next month will make four years off of Xanax for me. While I was tapering, I tried so many different supplements and I am sorry to say that L-Theanine did not work for me, while I was withdrawing. In fact, none of them did. However, once I got through the w/d symptoms, supplements started working very well. Some people have said that it helped them, and I guess that it all depends on the person; and therefore, I would give it a try. You present as someone that takes really good care of their self by working out and doing the "keto diet." I can certainly understand why you do not want to replace it with another medication. I didn't want an additional medication either, but I have heard of some people that did take an antidepressant to help with it and I assume that it worked well for them. I do recall a person that took Buspar, RX (anti-anxiolytic) and she said that she was able to easily get off of her Xanax. I don't know how long that she took Buspar, but it is a medication that you would have to take every day. She did tell me that she was able to discontinue the Buspar immediately, without withdrawals. Being that you are diabetic, be sure to ask the doctor about which medications you can take. I hope this info helps.

I need to be with others that are tapering off clonazapam/Klonopin. I have been on 1mg per day since 1988 and know now that I have obviously built up a tolerance for 2 reasons atleast. 1 is because I have worse anxiety, and tremors which is why I was give them in the first place.

I have horrible withdrawals if I go off cold-turkey, discovered that was out of the question in 2010 when I tried it. I won't go into all that happened to me, but anyone that's been there knows tapering is the best way. I am not replacing the drug with another drug, but I am considering (during tapering) to try L-theanine. May help with my anxiety and tremors but I'll let everyone interested know here.

I am under an MD's care, stuck with him last 7 years. I just went a month now with only .75 mg and this month I am on occasionally only .5 mg. It is so hard not to take the extra some days as I just feel I am sick and it will help, and it does to take up to the 1 mg. I hate the battle at the pharmacy because they give me mixed messages on when I can pick up my next 30 days. My Md is great but our pharmacies all suck here where I live, small town.

I hate being dependent on this drug. I work out at my gym and walk for exercise. I'm also basically a keto gal and and control my T2 Diabetes with food alone, no more drugs will I ever take unless I'm too non-coherent to tell them "keep that junk away from me", unless I truly need something for an accident like pain meds.

I believe in conventional medicine, don't misunderstand, I just know that getting hooked on benzos was something I did not understand would happen until many years later. Now I do my best to take responsibility for my own health, read, especially into alternatives to try first.

I am going to try the L-theanine just to see if it may help me. I've already seen reviews that some hated it, but also about half the reviews are very good. Feedback welcome, and mostly, I guess I would just like to be with others that understand, and I can come here and talk with folks about this. Thanks much, Denise