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Do you need to taper Klonopin taken briefly for sleep, anxiety?
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Nov 6, 2022 | Replies (52)Comment receiving replies
Can anyone provide me with a more definitive description of what it means to “ go slow”. I think I am but suffering terribly with withdrawal. My psychiatrist doesn’t seem to know much about tapering and I have zero confidence in him.I’m 71 years old and do not take drugs well, having tried three different antidepressants that either didn’t work or made me nuts. The only thing that worked was klonopin and have been taking it for about 14 months with a daily dose of 1 mg that I divide into 4 doses a day at .25 mg. I was never comfortable taking klonopin but every doctor or therapist I spoke with assured me that I was on a very low dose and not to worry. I wish I did my own research because nothing could be further from the truth. I started to suffer from tolerance withdrawal and so I had two choices, either up my daily dose or get off of it. I started to think the klonopin was the actual source of my anxiety and so I decided to get off it.I asked my doctor to give me a prescription for .125 mg which I was told is the lowest dose I could get and that is what I’m using for my taper. I’m tapering down .125 mg every two weeks. I know I should be tapering at 10% but the math doesn’t work when you start to reduce the daily dose. My first taper was 12%, second taper was 14% and things were going, for the most part, pretty good. Lately it’s becoming a nightmare. It’s been 3 months now and I’m down to .375 mg daily. Tonight I’m scheduled for another taper reduction by .125 mg which would be bringing me down 33%. Don’t know how to avoid this since i only have the .125 mg to work with.I want this nightmare to be over as soon as I can but worried I may be going to fast. Is four months a safe taper from an original dose of 1 mg? Any feedback or guidance would be greatly appreciated since I’m doing all of this on my own having no faith in the medical community. Thanks
Replies to "Can anyone provide me with a more definitive description of what it means to “ go..."
…oops, make that ill..
Thanks for asking. I’m now down to .25 mg klonopin daily and if there are no surprises or new symptoms I should be done in 4 weeks. Physical symptoms haven’t been too bad, sleep being my biggest but depression, anxiety, and everything I look at or hear being an enormous trigger are my biggest problem. It can be maddening at times and drives me crazy. I think the most constant negative thought is that now that it’s summer all my friends and family are busy traveling and having active lives and I’m STILL just sitting or laying around.
I live on 10 acres in the Catskills Mts and these last 3 days I can’t even go outside, take a walk or just sit on my porch and enjoy nature. The sky is yellow and it’s freaking me out. I know it will go away but, if I felt trapped before, now I’m really having a hard time with my self imposed prison.
What also frustrates me is everything I read about tapering and recovery says you have to make the effort to be positive. It’s hard and I’m not doing that well and then I blame myself and my self esteem which is already at rock bottom, takes another big hit.
So, as much as I should feel lucky that my taper experience isn’t as bad as some of the things I read from other’s, I don’t seem to be able to pull myself up and out of depression and pessimism about my future.
I’ve just started with a new therapist that went through what we’re going through so I hope that will help. I know I must be patient and keep thinking I will get there so I’ll leave this with the thought that I’m getting BETTER!!! Thanks again and good luck.
Thanks for writing such a clear picture. I too have begun a taper off Klonapin but am still at 1mg day. When I miss even a partial dose, it’s hard to get to sleep, even though I take Trazodone for that. It’s pretty reliably helpful.
I think having something that used to comfort and help with anxiety, etc is rather depressing in itself. I have had this drug available for years and presume I will miss it greatly.
But my brain cells don’t like it and I know turning to alternatives is all I can do. Exercise, sleep, etc. too. Good luck!
I think I’m progressing but my definition of progress means I’m having a couple of good moments in a day where I actually feel calm and happy. Then I get punished for this moment of joy by having some of the worse withdrawal experiences since I started 3 months ago. Still I would like to think that all of this is a sign I’m turning the corner.
One of the taper coaches who’s name you probably know (not sure if we should mention names, so I won’t) said when you get down .25 mg klonopin or whatever the equivalent is, you will start to see windows of recovery appear. He’s seen this many times and so maybe I’m projecting that onto my experience or it’s really happening.
I think I would be making more progress if I could get some quality sleep. Sorry to hear about your sleep problems. I wish there was some way to get relief but there isn’t any and we do battle with our beds every single night.
Hope all goes well with your Dr visit. Hope the doc know about what we’re going through. Most don’t have a clue. I just picked up what should be my last klonopin refill a couple of days ago and I felt pretty good walking to my car. I victory lap of sorts I guess. I then thought now that I don’t need my drug dealer Dr anymore I will write him an email telling him how horrible I’ve suffered these past few months and telling him there is no such thing as a safe, low dose. I remember many times asking him if it was ok that I’m still taking klonopin after a year and said I was concerned. His answer was always “don’t worry about it, you’re on a low dose (1 mg).”. Well that low dose is killing me and taking a big chunk out of my life. There is no such thing as a safe low dose. Haven’t sent the email yet. I’ll let you know when I do. Don’t think it will change him at all, what do I know about benzodiazepines. I’m not the doctor with John Hopkins diplomas on the wall. I wish we had that opportunity to be able to confront them with what they’ve done to us and what they’re probably doing to others right now.
Well enough of my rant. Back to your question and thanks for asking. It’s been rough but I think I’m getting better.
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You're on such a low dose and from what u said you were tapering from, was also aow dose so I think u should be absolutely ok. I've tapered myself off benzos and I was taking (very) high doses compared to what you were on. I'm doing ok. I'm down to 1 1/2 mgs a day. And feeling good. Good luck.