Hi my name is Mary and I am a first time user of ever using a discussion blog online but have felt in my heart I need some advice and help with an issue I am having. My dr I have seen for many years moved out of state and referred me to another phychiatrist within his office. At the time of his moving away he had me weaning off clorazapam slowly and doing it as slow to not make it not so difficult as you all know , and I was doing well at it until I was having extreme chest pain and they put me in the hospital for 2 days to check to make sure it wasn’t my heart, with all this happening I knew it was the weaning off the meds that was causing it so i went back up in dosage and it all went away again, and I was almost off it…My old dr started me on this med 27 years ago and I had no idea what it was but my body anxiety was shutting down my body and it helped it all go away so i didnt question it, well not until I went to school for nursing did I find out what it was all about. He put me on .5 mg three times a day and that stayed that way for 27 years not knowing what It does later in years, so I asked my dr to help me with the weaning off it, so our weaning process was as follows: Take .5 in a.m. ,25 afternoon and ,5 evening dose for 2 weeks then cut morning dose to .25 afternoon to .25 and evening .5 for 2 weeks then finally .25 three times a day for 6 weeks and then starting the last of the wean at this point the same as we did the first .25 till i was off. My new dr went from .50 3 times daily to .25 two times a day starting right away to get off it, that is over 1.0 mg a day off it all in one day and forward , I am already sad and crying because I dont know what to do, I have been there and I know how hard it was just to get off the way my old dr did slowly…..anyone out there that can help me with what to do I am so scared and I don’t think she knows how extremely hard it is to get off this stupid stuff or that I really do want to do it, but please make it as painless as possible if there is such a thing with these meds. At 56 I didnt think I would have to go through menapause and this hell(sorry about the word but so true) all at once…at times I think it would be easier to just get cancer or something and die. Sorry but its true if you have been there you will understand. PLease help me!!!
You really sound scared as I am also. I've been taking Klonopin for approximately 25 – 30 years and my doctor is finally taking me off of it – thank goodness! It may be a great drug for a short period of time but horrible to wean off of it. My doctor cut me back to 1.5mg three times a day to 2 times per day – so far, so good – but it's only been a few weeks. I'm moving to Colorado the end of this month so I'll need to find a new psych. so I don't know what road he/she will have me on. I"m 72 so anticipate having the same psychical and emotional problems that you have. I wish someone had told me sooner that long term use is really bad for you. It was great in the beginning but now it's just any addiction. Good luck to you in getting off of it and feeling human again.
REPLYHi @johnhans I noticed you mentioned that you did not have the problems of withdrawals from clonazapam as many others do. I was wondering how your last doses went and how much you cut at the end? I am close to getting off totally and am wondering what to expect with no clonazapam in my system. It has been almost 6 months since I started my taper of 1.5mg. I am happy with my taper so far. Thank you in advance.
Liked by Leonard
@fluffykitty I did not taper off real gradual. I just went from .5 to nothing and then did take one after several days, but that was it. My body does not seem to digest medicine as well as others so the 1.5 mg I took was not much for me. I believe that everyone is different in how they react to their meds so you may be different. I have entered my info to encourage others that it can be done if the doctor wants you to go off the clonozepam.
Liked by Leonard, fluffykitty
Thank you for your post. I’m new here. I’m on .75mg of klonopin for 10 years and looking to start tapering after a month long of withdrawals from a bad batch from pharmacy. I was originally prescribed it for insomnia and am now seeing what a horrible drug it is. Would you mind telling me the dose of cbd you use and is it straight cbd? Does it help with insomnia? That’s my biggest fear of starting the tapering. I appreciate any help.
Liked by Leonard
CBD helped me immensely with withdrawal symptoms while tapering off Klonopin. It also helped with anxiety. I'm a medical patient in Canada so I have access to medical-grade CBD from the major LPs however, I will warn you, it's not cheap at $90 for 40ml but worth it to help temper those withdrawal symptoms. It helped a lot on this difficult journey to get completely off Clonazepam and I would recommend it. My journey started on Dec 18' and was finally off by father's day. And no, it was not planned that was just the way the taper timing eventually worked itself out with the taper schedule. I was taking 2.0mg every night for reference. Now I'm working through insomnia problems. Always something…
REPLYHi, @gettingbetter75 – just wanted to suggest, given your mention of sleep problems, that you might look at this Connect discussion on insomnia https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/josephene-i-am-having-terrible-insomnia-as-well-nothing-seems-to-help
Liked by Leonard
What makes any of you think the SSRI Medications are safer than benzodiazepines? This has been a false impression created by drug companies an perpetrated by physicians who believe frug companies. Pick your poison. Many take Benzos for years with no problem. Just try coming off an SSRI after years of use. And two together??? Just asking for serotonin syndrome
REPLYNew to this group, and hope it is at least supportive. I am back at Mayo this week for lung cancer follow up, CT on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the hell of withdrawal from Clonazepam, (started August 2016) and then my psychiatrist totally dropping my sertaline this summer is wreaking havoc on my body, emotional state and my brain. I so need another human being to connect with as it seems VA and other providers just don't want to admit that it can cause so many problems. Knowing how much stress affects everything I am seriously worried about my cancer. Will someone at Mayo at least consult on this issue???
Liked by Merry, Volunteer Mentor, Leonard
@jakedduck1
@There was a Psychiatrist in Europe who was depressed and had a drinking problem so he started taking Klonopin, unfortunately when it came time to stop he took his own advice and stopped it in 10 days. Needless to say he suffered greatly. He learned something from the experience though. Now he is an advocate of the 5-10% taper.
Wishing all well,
Jake
Liked by lauren123, falon, fluffykitty