Klonopin taper

Posted by dawgbone @dawgbone, Jul 31, 2017

I have been on some kind of benzo for almost 40 yrs. I am trying to taper from 1.5-2 mgs of klonopin daily . Began in mid may 2017 and my last cut was very small on 7-2-17 to get to 1mg. Honestly feels like i am dying. I also take trazodone 75 mgs and 4 drugs for high blood pressure. I have been researching gabapentin and seroquel to help with the withdrawal symptons. Please offer any suggestions or help. I am 69 yrs old and cant even leave my house to visit my kids and grands. Thank you for any help!

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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?

REPLY
@marcia115

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?

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Are you trying to get off? I am. I was on 2mg a day one in morning 1 ar night. I gave taper down to half of .5mg at night. I have been in since March of 2020

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@artsy6013

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.

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Exercise does help with anxiety and sleep. I ride my bike 10- 13 miles a day. I am trying to get off klonopin and seroquel.

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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

REPLY

Now age 79 and still taking Klonapin which is Clonazepam or Rivotril here in Canada. Originally given to me along with Zoloft for sleep. Long story short, on it for about 15 or more years as didnt used to keep track,... only 0.5 a day but doesnt matter, its still addictive. Here in Canada someone tried to sue a Dr. for not telling him it was addictive and only after less than 6 weeks if I recall.. and he didnt win his lawfuit. My psycghiatrist at the time, very nice woman.... then she left and family Dr. over over and prescribed for many years, as did a new dr. who thought he was super-doctor but never even asked me why was taking them along with Zoloft! Anyway, I took myself off Zoloft cold turkey in 2018 when told had gluacoma and these were bad for it, but no one told me that Rivotril also was bad. Six months later, a Dr at emerge told me to take last 5 Rivotril pills and go back on Zoloft ... after many years on Zoloft and then off 6 months, went back on and had heart pounding in night and sometimes day, emergency dept. etc., and guess what took mysef off zoloft again! But..heart pounding stopped 2 days later! BAck to Rivotril, my family dr said other dr should not have taken you off Rivotril and he gave me half dose... and now 2 yrs later back on 0.5.... these are only a few of the meds that are addictive: my issue is NO ONE TOLD ME THEY WERE ADDICTIVE...big difference. Anyway I could go on and on an on I think now am going to be 80 in October they are saying give the old gal the meds she'll be dead soon enough. Sorry but thats how I feel and I have read that the reason drs do not take their patients of such meds is because they can't or its too time consuming etc. so leave them on it... sorry dont know abut the L theanine but please check it out before you start, and make sure it is easy to STOP. J.

REPLY
@g0ldengirl1952

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

Jump to this post

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.

REPLY
@reese1

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.

Jump to this post

Hello Reese, I will make a note of the Buspar, anti-ansiolytic, and ask my doc. It might be an option for me. The klonopin was originally given to me for what they called spasmodic torticolus. My neck would pull to the left, and it eventually stopped doing that but I developed a tremor in my head, and left hand, some in right but not as bad.

The doctors up at OHSU (neuro in Oregon) shot botox into both sides of my neck for 9 months, but I had to keep taking the klonopin.

I kept telling myself, and doctors never seemed to worry, that my little pill wasn't going to harm me and if I didn't take it for a couple days, I felt awful so just kept taking it.

I don't know if I mentioned that I am 70 now so I do take only magnesium, and D3 for now but again, I'm looking at L-theanine. My cupboard is full of things I couldn't tolerate, for another thread. So I have to be careful of everything as I don't have any resistance to most things.

I have another issue I'll hold off for now, just got up and not very coherent as I took a melatonin, 3 mg, and it knocked me coocoo and I still woke up every 2 hours. It was recommended for weaning off klonopin. No more of that, better off without it 😉 Thanks so much for getting back to me, Denise PS @reese1 , I went into other issue from 2 summers ago in my reply to lacy above 😉

REPLY
@lacy2

Now age 79 and still taking Klonapin which is Clonazepam or Rivotril here in Canada. Originally given to me along with Zoloft for sleep. Long story short, on it for about 15 or more years as didnt used to keep track,... only 0.5 a day but doesnt matter, its still addictive. Here in Canada someone tried to sue a Dr. for not telling him it was addictive and only after less than 6 weeks if I recall.. and he didnt win his lawfuit. My psycghiatrist at the time, very nice woman.... then she left and family Dr. over over and prescribed for many years, as did a new dr. who thought he was super-doctor but never even asked me why was taking them along with Zoloft! Anyway, I took myself off Zoloft cold turkey in 2018 when told had gluacoma and these were bad for it, but no one told me that Rivotril also was bad. Six months later, a Dr at emerge told me to take last 5 Rivotril pills and go back on Zoloft ... after many years on Zoloft and then off 6 months, went back on and had heart pounding in night and sometimes day, emergency dept. etc., and guess what took mysef off zoloft again! But..heart pounding stopped 2 days later! BAck to Rivotril, my family dr said other dr should not have taken you off Rivotril and he gave me half dose... and now 2 yrs later back on 0.5.... these are only a few of the meds that are addictive: my issue is NO ONE TOLD ME THEY WERE ADDICTIVE...big difference. Anyway I could go on and on an on I think now am going to be 80 in October they are saying give the old gal the meds she'll be dead soon enough. Sorry but thats how I feel and I have read that the reason drs do not take their patients of such meds is because they can't or its too time consuming etc. so leave them on it... sorry dont know abut the L theanine but please check it out before you start, and make sure it is easy to STOP. J.

Jump to this post

Hi Lacy, I'm so sorry to hear of all you've been through. Sometimes I feel the same way as I am 70 now and in our small town there is little medical or dental care. What there is for doctors, nurses and pharmacies is poor, although there are some very sweet and kind folks too. They just don't have all the training, or tools they need to help some of us.

I ask my MD lots and lots of questions and he does the best he can for me. He and the nurses at the clinic were blown away at my success with keto. Lost 30 lbs, back to my normal weight, and my A1c's are all in the safe range now, including the daily home-tests I take on occasion. I have no more thyroid issue, or blood pressure which I wouldn't take the meds for either of those things. Just nutrition and a little walking is how I started out.

I do understand too well that once we are on a drug, any drug, I believe we can become dependent but I didn't know or believe that until I tried to get off klonopin cold-turkey. While I was weaning the first time, 2 Summers ago, August 7th, I'll never forget (this was years later after the cold-turkey thing) I think that I had some sort of seizure, TIA or stroke, no tests proved that though, zero, had every test including Caratoid Artery ultra-sound, no clogged arteries, no scar tissue.

My whole left-side went numb while I was up camping 30 miles for home. My phone worked and my neighbor campers/friends called 911 and got me to the hospital. Other people think it was my Covid Vaccines, but nothing is proven. I was back to normal gradually, took 3 days, but left arm remained numb in places. Better, but not fully back, because of doing weights etc. at the gym, I believe.

Anyway, I'm writing books here so I leave that there. I hope you'll be careful weaning if you try again, or are trying. I only go down 1/4 but I admit it scares hell out of me so my anxiety is hard to overcome some days. I so want to stop asking my doctor for a refill, they are so careful and would bet some folks are winning their lawsuits, and that's why their so tight with the meds.

REPLY
@g0ldengirl1952

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

Jump to this post

goldengirl1952,
Why do you want to get off klonopin if it has helped you
all these years?
I have been on it for many years due to my Essential Tremor and it
helps me sleep. I feel very normal on it. I will stay on it till I die. It is
the quality of life not the quantity.

REPLY

the drug no longer works for my anxiety, and it's never stopped my tremors. The only thing a feel is dread having to take a pill every day that I am addicted to. This about quality of life without drugs that do nothing for my issues.

REPLY
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