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~ weaning off drugs ~
I'm reading a lot of questions about how to wean off of certain drugs. To me, the first resource I'd turn to would be my doctor ... talk to him about it, why you want to get off of it, and I'm sure he would give you good advice. I took Klonopin for 8 months and noticed that I had begun to fall a great deal. My first thought was "OH NO, now this!" Well, the next thing I did was look up all the side effects of Klonopin, and there, very close to the bottom, it said, "in older adults can cause falling." Bingo! I called him, and we started the process of weaning myself off of the Klonopin.
I know I've got a great Psychiatrist who is willing to work with me, but try your doctor first .... he's probably got the best and safest way to get off of individual medications.
Barb
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@amberpep
Balance problems are a common problem with seizure medications and not only in older folks. I’ve taken them since I was 14 (55 years) and have had balance issues ever since.
I agree under ideal circumstances the best option would be to get advice from a doctor but unfortunately with the manufacturers doing little if any tapering research how can doctors be expected to properly advise patients to lower or get off their meds. Sadly, many doctors don’t listen to how badly their patients are suffering or worse yet, just don’t care.
Read more of this thread and see how many doctors stopped their patients meds cold turkey or had them decrease their dosages by huge percentages substantially increasing the probability of horrible withdrawals.
Have a blessed day,
Jake
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7 ReactionsI’ve been on Lyrica ten Yrs and am trying to decrease the amount I’m taking. My rheumatologist advised me to decrease by 10mgs/mo. That’s what safe. If you titrate faster than that you will have awful insomnia , headaches, body jerking, depression and possible seizure activity.
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1 ReactionI’m weaning off clonopin now. I was taking a low dose of 0.5 now just taking half for 2 1/2 weeks now . How long did you cut down between stages ?
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2 Reactions@barbrar2
I took Klonopin too.
I was taking 18mg a day for maybe a few years for seizures but it didn't help.
I believe that the best way to taper off a medication is by choosing a compounding pharmacy and taper by a certain percentage. The 5-10% taper is popular and successful. Yes, it often takes a long time but a substantially reduced possibility of withdrawals are worth it to me. I tapered probably over two years. Some people may taper up to 20% or so. A larger taper may seem easy when your dose is large but large cuts seldom are successful as your dose gets smaller. Read back and there are many unhappy and disappointed people who suffered intolerable withdrawal symptoms. Even though my taper was very slow probably slower then necessary at the end I had to chip off tiny pieces to continue to not have any withdrawal effects. I might have started tapering every two weeks but I switched to monthly cuts. Your brain needs time to adjust.
SLOW WINS THIS RACE!!!
Best of luck to you.
Jake
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6 Reactions@irr4et
“My rheumatologist advised me to decrease by 10mgs/mo. That’s what safe.”
I believe that's a brazen comment.
Tapering varies significantly from person to person.
I've known and read of people who could stop by cutting their dose in half then quitting with no problems.
A person here on Connect takes about one-half of one percent and has considerable side effects.
Take care,
Jake
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3 ReactionsWhy is everyone trying to come off of it? Does it not work?
@hhjgreene I think it's only natural to want to eliminate drugs from our bodies. I've done that myself, if only to see if that medication was really helping. Then you find out that either you don't need the drug anymore, or you need to continue it but hopefully at a smaller dose. It's always a trial and error system.