After a particularly hard time I was put on daily clonazepam. Started at 2 mg a day then dropped to 1 then .5. At .5 I started to have difficulties sleeping and breakthrough anxiety.
I spoke to an addictions specialist who said go back on and taper more slowly. Once again, at .5 (.25 twice a day) I'm having anxiety and diarrhea. I have only been on them for about 2 months.
I've been reading about the Ashton method and I think that's going to be the best taper for me.
Does anyone have some success stories about tapering using the Ashton method or any other advice?
Thank you so much, I find the people in this group very supportive.
Big hugs to all.
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Weeniedoglady
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Hi. There’s been alot of discussion about clonopin on HU over the years I’ve found. Take some time to search and review it. I’m certainly not the best person to give advice on clonopin. I don’t have a success story but I will share what I know and have experienced. (It seems like prescribers and pharmacists don’t ever give patients any clues to what they’re getting involved in with clonopin.) I’ve been on it since 1995, yes it works, yes the brain builds a tolerance, yes it’s habit forming, yes it’s very addictive, yes weening or tapering off of it is awful, yes just stopping taking it is a nightmare (yes it can be fatal), yes withdrawals from it are terrifying. Tapering off of it is like a withdrawal, withdrawal is unavoidable. Tapering is an attempt to manage that.
What’s going on? Simply, the drug shuts off part of your brain and supplies it with its variation of the chemicals the brain would be making on its own, cutting back or cutting off means the brain needs to reactivate its natural production of what’s missing, the result of which has all of the characteristics of an anxiety attack and then some. It’s your brain withdrawing, your body is only doing what it’s being told to do.
It is actually quite serious and dangerous to stop taking clonopin abruptly or gradually apart from dealing with the overwhelming symptoms of withdrawal. It depends on the person and how long you’ve been on the drug and how much was being taken as to the severity of the withdrawal symptoms. In some cases prolonged use could result in the withdrawal never ending, you’ve only been on them two months but that’s long enough to experience withdrawal.
If I’m not mistaken the Ashton method for clonopin tapering involves cutting back while taking diazepam simultaneously. Something referred to as substituting. The only thing that can alleviate those symptoms from benzodiazepine withdrawal is more benzodiazepine. Its best to detox under a supervised setting, preferably with a professional that is versed in and educated on benzodiazepines.
Again, taking clonopin and/or coming off of clonopin is a very serious thing and should be respected as such. I’ve had my failures.
It is very risky to consume alcohol while taking clonopin.
I’m on 1mg. I been on 2 mg for many many years.. I’m looking support who can advice and support me with tappering because I see I can’t do it by myself… It’s very difficult journey. I’m single and I worried for my 13.6 years old daughter..
Also I’m working a lot..Sport, swimming, walk, travelling helps me to think less about all situation…
I didn’t tried Ashton method… I’m not sure how to do it…
In the response from litenevergoesout they posted a link that describes the Ashton method. You could show it to your doc. That's what I'm going to do. Good luck. Big hugs
I tapered off of clonazepam without any issues and my suggestion is to first of all, make sure you are emotionally stable and are having minimal or no anxiety issues before starting a taper. The other thing that helped me was realizing that meds alone weren't going to resolve my anxiety/panic issues, that anxiety is a paradox, the more you struggle and resist it the more it persists so I needed to understand what anxiety really is and how to constructively deal with it and change my behavior with it. I found the DARE Anxiety book and youtube videos helpful and you might also check out the youtube of Paige Pradko as well as Emma at Therapy in a Nutshell.
I also found that doctors typically have no idea what withdrawal is really like and you need to double or triple the tapering time they recommend. I used two and three week tapering intervals for each reduced dosage amount and I used a xacto knife to cut the pill in smaller parts. Make sure you are eating healthy, sleeping well enough, etc... to help reduce side affects and mentally be prepared for some ups and downs as you are going through it.
Thank you so much for this. I'm actually a member of the DARE FB group! I also jog, meditate, gratitude journal, etc. I work hard at it. I have made an appt and am going to insist on a really slow taper, by using a compound so I can go as slowly as I need. But I needed to hear your message today that you pulled through so, thanks again.
You're welcome an good for you, you're on the right track. Knowing what is going on helps reduce the fear around it. Those of us with anxiety tend to have issues with change and control but the reality is we only have real control over our next breath and change is the only constant in life.
I'm just learning about it, but it's a method of tapering benzos developed by Dr. Ashton who worked in a benzo detox clinic for many years. You replace shorter acting benzos with longer acting ones and slowly slowly reduce your dose...if you Google it you can find lots of info...
I wanted to add my own experience with Clonazepam and my own success story in quitting. I made this post in response to another thread a long time ago, and thought I would re-post it here for whatever benefit it may give you.
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Any time I hear someone is taking Klonopin, I feel I have to chime in due to my own experience with it. It was prescribed to me more than a decade ago for panic attacks primarily, but I kept taking it for generalized anxiety. I kept taking it for that long because I figured the doctor treating me knew best and didn't question it. It might have helped initially, but for many of those years I don't think it was really helping at all. Then I finally decided to learn more about it, and found that it's only supposed to be prescribed short term. I had already been on it for years at that point.
I finally decided to taper myself off of it after all of those years not really knowing what I was doing as far as a tapering. It turned out to be a disaster, to the point I was feeling as if I was going to lose my mind, and felt I was on the brink of having hallucinations. I really didn't know what was going on but I knew I had to go back on it to stop how I was feeling, and finally found another doctor that prescribed it for me. So I went back on it for many years again, not because I felt it was really helping my anxiety, but just to keep from feeling like I had.
Fast forward, about a year ago I decided to try tapering again, but this time with the help of a doctor. I got down to a certain dose, at which time the doctor said I could quit. About 4 days after doing so, I started to experience the same withdrawal symptoms again that I had many years before. I told the doctor I wanted to go back on a small amount because of how I was feeling. She told me there was no way I was having withdrawal symptoms after being on such a small amount for as long as I had been before quitting, and wouldn't prescribe them for me again. This told me that even some mental health professionals don't know how sensitive some people can be when trying to quit. Needless to say, I found another doctor that prescribed them to me. Looking back I don't know whether that was a blessing or a curse.
Fast forward to 6 months later, I once again was determined to taper off with the help of the same doctor that had been prescribing them for me. I was determined this time, and began a taper that lasted months before finally quitting. I was successful this time, but I've still paid a price and had to go through some tough times with increased anxiety. I still think I'm adjusting to quitting about a month and a half ago.
I found there's many support groups for people trying to quit not only Klonopin, but other benzos as well. One is Benzo Buddies. I've learned that trying to quit benzos can be more difficult than opioids. Something else I learned along the way, is you can generally taper off a larger dose fairly quickly, but it's the last small amount that can cause the real problems.
With all of that said, what people may experience when quitting benzos can be on a spectrum. Even though I went through some rough times with withdrawal symptoms, I consider myself to be lucky because trying to quit without tapering slowly can cause a whole host of problems, much worse than I experienced.
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One thing that always seemed counterintuitive to me, was the fact that it's much easier in the beginning to taper from a larger dose to a smaller dose pretty quickly (let's say from 2 mg. to .5 mg.) but the last little bit from .5 mg. down was the hardest part. It's seems this is where you're at. I do know the major key is to go slow, as slow as you feel you need to go. You also have to know in your heart that the clonazepam is doing more good than harm than good, as this was a big motivator for me in quitting. Of course a lot of the struggle is psychological as well.
I wish you the best. You haven't been on it long, so that's the best thing you have going for you. I was on it for decades. If I can do it, so can you.
Thank you so much for your reply. Even though I've only been on it for a few months now, I've done my research and im doing a cut and hold taper. Using a pill cutter and going down by really small decreases. I appreciate your supportive words! Glad you're off them I hope you continue to get to a place of healing
When I first started to research it for myself, I watched a video on YouTube about a guy who was super sensitive to changes in his dose. He would cut a pill with a scalpel and weigh it, not only with one scale, but two just to be sure. I was certainly not that super sensitive, but on the whole learned a couple of things for myself. The very last taper ( let's say .25 mg. and below) was always the hardest part of the taper. While tapering I always monitored myself especially after I tried to discontinue, and generally found if I was going to notice any signs of withdrawal it would be after about 4 days. How bad they were, if any, would dictate whether I continued to taper down.
But yeah, go as slow as you feel you need to because that's the most important factor to be successful. I know you can do it. Our own minds try and tell us we can't.
Yeah funnily enough I was taking my psychopharmacology course while attempting to taper my SSRIs which is what got me into this trouble in the first place. Sometimes a bit of ignorance is bliss 🤦🏼♀️
yeah all these super sounding go terms for having cold sweats or itchy burning skin or jitters. It wasn’t until I studied what was actually going on that I realized how evil some prescription drugs are. ‘Oh the dr that looks at my urine gave me some pills what could be so dangerous in that?’
15 years on SSRIs no one once told me they can cause dependence or warned me of the awful withdrawal I may suffer .....which is why I'm so nervous about the clon. I may try a hyperbolic taper of the SSRIs later down the road. Not ready yet.
I use Clonazepam for Status Epilepticus a severe type of epilepsy, to go with another medication that prevents me from having seizures . I only use Escitalopram at a low dose for my OCD & anxiety.
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