Tapering off clonazepam (Klonopin, Rivotril)

Sounds like you’re in a better frame of mind today!! Doctors cannot limo everyone into the same catagory when it comes to benzodiazepines. They have to be very careful with whom they decide needs to quit their meds. As long as your benzo still works well for you and it helps you cope with your medical conditions at your age they need to leave you be. My benzo quit working and I had to taper. I did have to find a new doctor to help with the taper. The majority, even physchiatrists, don’t have the first clue when it comes to tapering. Sad but very true.

bean2649
I'm so sorry about your condition. I can partly feel what you are going through.
I don't understand, you are taking your old full subscription amount and you feel so sick again?
I think that is much too quick. Maybe that is why I feel that way too. feel very sick plus
the damn nausea is through the roof. All day long every day. He said the Meds should "leach out in a week and make me feel better" well they don't seem to have leeched!.
I had been taking Clorazepam, total 4 a day. Feel on the edge of vomiting all day long.
Doc said only take 1 a day maybe that will aleviate your nausea. That was 2 weeks ago.
Still feel that same way. Anyone know why I am nauseous all day long? This is slow torture.
Does anyone know of anything to relieve nausea. I tried anti nausea pills ONDANSETRON with not much help. I'm 78 and thinking about getting Oxycodon and be done with this torture.

My thought is I know my body better than any doctor. And there is no one size fits all approach! I have much more pressing health issues. I’ve never had any ill effects from taking clonazepam. I have never had to stop driving. In fact when we lived in Rochester, MN I frequently drove alone to my parents in Pittsburgh and then on to Baltimore to spend time with my daughter and her husband and their infant daughter. I took care of their 14 month old daughter for 2 weeks while they were on their honeymoon. I moved to Pittsburgh to take care of my parents. I drove to Baltimore often. Then we moved from Minnesota to Vermont. My daughter graduated and they moved to Boston. I did the 3 hour drive from Vermont to Boston regularly. My daughter and her husband had no qualms about leaving their daughter in my care.
I only had problems when after several surgeries my CFS got worse. During the pandemic, I developed digestive problems but seeing a doctor was impossible. I also developed agoraphobia. None of the health issues that I have had were caused by clonazepam.
So why fix something that’s not broken?
When we moved to Vermont, I couldn’t find a psychiatrist to manage my medications. It was a psychiatrist in San Jose who put me on clonazepam for panic attacks. In Minnesota I had a psychiatrist at Mayo who managed my medications. She increased my dosage. While in Pittsburgh I again had a psychiatrist who managed my medications. So not being able to have a psychiatrist in Vermont at the University of Vermont Medical Center meant that a series of Primary Care Doctors just kept renewing my prescription.
So if anyone should take responsibility it isn’t me. It’s the doctors who kept renewing my prescription. And maybe if I had a psychiatrist in Vermont I would have been taken off the medication. But the University of Vermont Medical Center had trouble hiring doctors and then keeping the ones they had. They tried to prevent a group of doctors from establishing a medical center not associated with UVM. I have contacted Sen. Bernie Sanders many times about the state of healthcare in Vermont. He’s been very receptive to my concerns. In my last communication with him I told him that I was leaving Vermont but I still care about the people of Vermont. No drug or illness has affected my ability to communicate effectively. I am a published author and I did the book reviews for the newspaper in Rochester. I worked on a very intense inpatient unit at Methodist Hospital. I was the Unit Secretary on the hematology unit. Then when we moved to San Jose I worked on an oncology/hematology unit at Stanford University Hospital. Taking clonazepam had no effect on the quality of my performance in what many Unit Secretaries considered the toughest one in any hospital. I will fight for what I believe is best for me.
Our healthcare system is broken. It was broken before Covid and Covid made it worse. This is unacceptable in what is supposed to be the greatest country on earth.

Bean,
I agree, but don’t be so sure a psychiatrist would’ve handled the clonopin any better. Hopefully, he/she will be up to date on benzodiazepines. If you’re happy staying on the higher dose, I sincerely hope it helps you live a better life. If you decide to taper off though, I’d hope you’ll do all the research (Ashton manual is a great start), and remember to go as slowly as possible (minus 5-10% of last dose each time) and hold until withdrawal symptoms are under control. It needs to be taken seriously. I’m disgusted that your doctors pulled you off so quickly, but I’m not surprised. Best of luck to you. I used to live in Rockport, btw, just next to Gloucester.
❤️

I’ve been on Klonopin for almost 40 years after a very traumatic event that went on for several months. Now, I am having many symptoms including chest pain and head pain. My doctor didn’t want to up my dose to 2mg but I talked her into it. I don’t know if it will help? I have tried to taper before with shaving off the smallest amount possible but couldn’t take the withdrawals after day 2. I wish you luck!!

I understand you completely because I'm on clintonazepam too and it is very addicting and the withdrawal is very scary. Feels like your throat is closing. Your chest is pounding your hurt palpitations. You become very dizzy. You become very weak. I hear you cuz I was really done weaning off but I went up again too because it made me feel better