What is the best way to taper off Klonopin?

I've been on a number of drugs for anxiety for over 20 years. I'm a healthy 64yo woman. First it was Celexa from my GYN around 2001. In 2008 I started to see a psychiatrist and marital counselor. She added Wellbutrin and Adderal, I was working 60+ hours a week. My GYN added 1 mg Clonazepam to the mix somewhere around the same time. I have since retired, remarried and no longer take Adderal. But I've been taking C for 10+ years at bedtime only, sometimes less.

However, at night, I would smoke some cannabis and drink probably 1/2 bottle of wine, THEN got sleep with .5 mg C.

I live on the east coast and have a dr at Mayo in Jax and I also live in the southwest and have a concierge dr here, who I had while waiting to get into Mayo program.

I went to my concierge dr in NM bc I was starting to worry about my memory. Recall during the day was suddenly awful. This dr reevaluated me and we did brain testing, all was fine. But he knew some things about ADD and said not everyone benefits from drugs like Adderal. There is a drug for high blood pressure, called Guanfacine. It is now being used for those with ADD/ADHD. It worked like a charm!

However, in evaluating my daily RX, I felt like I was taking WAY TOO MANY drugs that effected my brain and wanted to taper off. I had tried tapering off Celexa twice in the past and I would just have such a short fuse with ppl, I said forget that. I think I could taper off Wellbutrin and my goal is to taper off C.

So I tried to taper off C myself. My dr knew this but never mentioned how I should do it. So I started cutting back to .5mg, then .25 mg every other day. Some nights none. About 2 weeks later, we went on vacation to EU and while there, I bought a tincture in AMS to help me sleep. (NOTE: Cannabis in AMS is not regulated, God only knows what was in that tincture.) Then I started having terrible stomach pains so I thought it must be the guanfacine and I stopped taking that cold turkey. It was a driving trip. On the last day, i got in the car and could not think. I mean I could not figure out how to set the GPS, how to use the GPS on my phone, how to follow the map, nothing. I freaked out and thought I better take the guanfacine, but one should take it at night bc it can make you sleepy. Duh, I was so panicked and confused I forgot that. The rest of the day was a disaster of getting lost, missing ferries, missing lunch plans with others. So we finally just drove to the hotel. The next day we headed home.

When I got home, I threw away all my cannabis products away and have had none since, over 2 months. (It is legal here.) The easiest thing I ever did. But I kept trying the Clonazepam taper. I started feeling so weird. Night sweats, nightmares like crazy (one in which I was trying to not breath bc I was hiding from something) I woke up and my heart was raising, I felt like I was suffocating. I spent the next two days in bed researching HOW TO TAPER OFF CLONAZEPAM. I had no idea it would be so hard. Apparently there are two phases of withdrawal. The initial phase is not as difficult as the one that comes a few weeks later as described above. So I called my Mayo dr and have an appointment coming up next week with a psychiatrist to evaluate all these drugs and try to eliminate most. I just went back to .5mg until then.

Online, it says one should only take C for 9 weeks. How is it that so many of us on this thread have taken it for decades?! I've never abused C, unless one considers I should not have been having as much alcohol as I was and still taking it to sleep.

Alcohol is the other thing. Since I dropped the cannabis, I have been drinking alot more wine. Like most nights almost a bottle myself. I've started an app to help me cut back and it helps. I really want to cut way back or stop. This is the last phase of my life and I would like to go back to reading and exercising and doing things I love to do, cooking, gardening. And I have a grandchild now.

I also have a husband who has been diagnosed with Alzheimers. He is in a very early stage but I am his caregiver and it is a 24/7 job. So all the more reason to be at my best physically and mentally.

Anyway, this has been my journey with Clonazepam and all the other ways I have tried to cope since I was in my 40's. I'm ok, I just want to be better without so many pills and so much wine. I wish those of you wo are in a similar place the best.

It took me about 7 1/2 months to taper off 1mg of Klonopin and I am now benzo free. It was not easy and I did have withdrawals, mostly related to feeling jittery and irritable during the day, a worsening of my laryngeal dystonia, insomnia, bad dreams and muscle twitches. I'm getting better and now taking 7.5mg of Remeron for sleep. I think it works pretty well but I usually have one sleepless night a week. I would decrease my dose every 6-8 weeks and experience an adjustment period - all the way to 0.125mg, then stopped. Good luck, I'm sure you can meet all your goals with help.

It took me about 7 1/2 months to taper off 1mg of Klonopin and I am now benzo free. It was not easy and I did have withdrawals, mostly related to feeling jittery and irritable during the day, a worsening of my laryngeal dystonia, insomnia, bad dreams and muscle twitches. I'm getting better and now taking 7.5mg of Remeron for sleep. I think it works pretty well but I usually have one sleepless night a week. I would decrease my dose every 6-8 weeks and experience an adjustment period - all the way to 0.125mg, then stopped. Good luck, I'm sure you can meet all your goals with help.

That’s encouraging. I’m tapering and it’s not easy. I’m glad to hear you did it over a long period of time. I’m on week two of tapering .25. I’d that the amount you did ? Maybe .125 would make it easier.
MJD

I agree that it is not easy. I started at 1mg and decreased to .75, then .5, then.25 and lastly .125mg. The decrease from .5 - .25mg was difficult and I had more withdrawal symptoms than the other decreases. At .125mg, I didn't feel like it did anything so I did not stay on it for very long. It's a little over 2 weeks since I stopped altogether and I feel like my nervous system is healing. I tapered every 6-8 weeks. If you are now at .25mg, you might try the .125 tablets. Go slowly. Good luck!

So happy for you ! I wish I could do the same . I take 0.5 . I have severe anxiety , depression and insomnia. I take it for anxiety , it does not make me sleepy . My husband has cancer and I am worried 24/7 .

It took me about 7 1/2 months to taper off 1mg of Klonopin and I am now benzo free. It was not easy and I did have withdrawals, mostly related to feeling jittery and irritable during the day, a worsening of my laryngeal dystonia, insomnia, bad dreams and muscle twitches. I'm getting better and now taking 7.5mg of Remeron for sleep. I think it works pretty well but I usually have one sleepless night a week. I would decrease my dose every 6-8 weeks and experience an adjustment period - all the way to 0.125mg, then stopped. Good luck, I'm sure you can meet all your goals with help.

@con123 Thanks! Meeting doc tomorrow.