I am having a VERY difficult time with Klonipin withdrawal

All your advice is excellent except for the addiction center. Useless and quite dangerous for Benzodiazepine withdrawal. They will whip people off and shove more meds on them, which are just as bad.

Please don’t advise addiction centers for those who became physically dependent and have been taking “as prescribed”. There is NO CRAVING or PLEASURE SEEKING involved. This is horrible advice. I’m shocked. Please educate yourself.
Apologies if this seems harsh. It is. Benzodiazepines are a brutal drug to discontinue. Please don’t make things worse for someone who is afraid and struggling. There are a lot of other places to turn for support. That’s basically all one is going to get right now. Rapid withdrawal IS DANGEROUS! And yes, 3 months is rapid.

@cking56, Harsh is OK. I can handle it. I do appreciate not using ALL CAPS TO EMPHASIZE though. Educating yourself is a two way street. Of course rapid withdrawal is dangerous, which is why I replied in the first place and no one said there was craving or pleasure seeking involved, you implied that and we all know that people can become addicted to prescribed medications. There are two sides to every coin so to speak.

Addiction doesn’t mean there was pleasure seeking necessarily. It is just so darn hard to stop this drug I thought a little help might be helpful. I wasn’t pleasure seeking myself. I was taking a prescribed amount for anxiety and it actually ending up making it worse. Any route that works for someone is worth it and many people beat drugs at those centers. I agree it is not the best way but it is a way.

Apologies for all caps, but I am sick of hearing bad advice. I disagree that people become addicted to benzodiazepines if they are taking as prescribed. If someone is abusing other drugs, such as opioids, yes, they can add benzodiazepines, and that is a horrible combination. Those people probably need a combination of recovery and therapy.

If someone is posting here that they are having a difficult time coming off benzodiazepines because of very disturbing and distressing symptoms, it’s unlikely they are looking for the type of help offers at addiction centers. The Benzodiazepine Information Coalition is tirelessly working to dispel this “addiction” link not because addiction isn’t real, but the methods of withdrawal/discontinuation are so incredibly different. What works for drug addiction does not work for drug dependence with no abuse.

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Well .. I know everyone will be angry with my email worth of advice . I do agree with you all re. Addiction centers. I have been on 1.5 mgs of clonazepam since 2014 when my dad passed away ..I was addicted within 3 months ? Had to get more Omg ! So they tried to taper , that was too fast …I know now if I tried to get off of them I’d have to do a micro taper .. however .. 3 weeks ago after recovering from shingles .. my sister passed away of brain cancer in 5 weeks ..we weren’t ready for that one . But I came down with shingles and so did my mom 95 .. she’s fine..and so am I .. but no . After the rash was gone I am left with nerve pain ? Feels like a sunburn with someone poking pins in it all the time . They put me on pregabalin.. seemed to work ok .. but 2 weeks later I noticed that I didn’t need my clonazepam? So I didn’t bother taking any ? That horrible , dreadful feeling when I would wake up in the morning once my central nervous system woke up too and realized I was in wds .. horrible feeling until I took my cpam . That doesn’t happen anymore . Now I take 2 (75) mg pills per day ..that’s it ? I talked to dr and pharmacist? They both were surprised as pregabalin is sometimes used in accordance with the tapering process .. but they’ve never heard of someone taking it and it actually took the place of cpam ? So I asked ? Am I going to have a hard time coming off of this dosage ? And she said “ no , probably still taper down to make sure “ but then I asked her “ will I start to have delayed wds from the cpam ?” She couldn’t see how ? Since cpam has been out of my system for almost 3 weeks now ..but I did keep my refill on the shelf .. bc this drug cpam is a tricky , dangerous little pill … and I don’t trust it to not come back . But I am shocked by this ?

cking56 - I do appreciate your info on this topic, you obviously have done a lot of research and understand this drug, tapering, withdrawal etc. Your advice has been welcome for me. I'm 4 months off only .5mg, stopping cold turkey due to the issues I developed, and still having minor tremors/vibrations, although I developed these while on the drug as well. Only .5 mg per day and this drug was kicking my backside. I have no idea how people can take 2 or 3 times or more than I was. These physicians should be held accountable but thats a different topic. How can a physician prescribe something that is only recommended for 2 to 4 weeks tops by the manufacturer of the drug. That's alarming.

I’m very, very sorry for all the suffering you’ve been through. I wish you the best in your healing. I’m exhausted from trying to help educate others in the safe discontinuation of benzos. So many get CT’d and continue to add more meds, which can be just as bad as the benzos to ease symptoms of withdrawal or CT. If they help, good for you. If not, there is medically sound help out there if one looks beyond addiction centers. You’ll find that, of course, benzos help in the short run or maybe even years for others, but eventually tolerance hits.

Best to you.

I’m glad you’re off, but be aware that full healing of the CNS can take many months, but with bizarre symptoms popping up all over the place. Luckily, they subside. The first couple of months off are called “acute”. I think it’s a horrible term after what most go though with long tapers or CT. CT is a tough one. Most now suggest not re-instating, but learning to cope with the CT symptoms though CBT and other relaxation methods. The CNS will take its time to come back to homeostasis. It’s a fallacy that 0.5 mg Clon is a low dose. It equals 10 mg of Valium. Not a low dose, but thank god you weren’t on more. Doctors need to be told the truth about these drugs and sadly, the patients are the experts.

Check out Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring (psychiatrist, previously of the FDA), Mark Horowitz (psychologist in the UK), and David Powers (Psychologist in training). They are the most respected and Horowitz and Powers lived through it. Horowitz is more antidepressant based, but he’s very informed. I’d suggest the FB boards, but they can be pretty alarming. No need for the horror stories, but there are too many.

Best of luck to you. Buckle up, but have faith that you’ll be just fine.