I can't remeber who it was, a couple of weeks ago, who said they had withdrawn from a benzodiazapine ( In my case clonazepam (Klonopin). I'm a young 65 and, in spite of doctors and a pharmacist telling me to withdraw half a tablet every week to two weeks, I found I cannot do that. Maybe when I'm down to only half a tab my body can take that, but I have managed to get myself down from
2 ½ 0.5 tabs to 1¾ tabs a day I simply cannot go that fast anymore. He's using a very small smount of seroquil twice a day partly because I had high levels of anxiety for so long now I was being to have a few short hallucinations.
I DO want to come off clonazepam because I'm older ( somewhat 😉) now and it's not that safe in older ppl 'they' say. I don't crave it or have to fight not to increase it but my body has clearly developed a physical dependency on it after 25 years!
So it was suggested that I find a couple or three ppl who have successfully withdrawn from it that will understand me when I have those ' witching hours lol, where I want to run around my yard screaming help. An exaggeration but a do have a few hours each day that are VERY hard.
I don't need anyone to tell me I'll never get off of it or why not stay on it. I'll never find a doc who would go for that nowdays and even when I was on 3 a day I still had breakthrough anxiety. I wouldn't go any higher than 2.5 or 3 a day max.
My instinct says no more than ¼ of a 0.5 tablet every 3 weeks. Even that will be hard. My research says that the highest success rate is around 4 months to withdraw.
Any takers to offer ideas, encouragement and support over this next several months while I do this? It's weird because I'll still have GAD and panic disorder plus C-PTSD after I come off and I don't want to stay on seroquil very long.
Help.
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Hmmmm. Well I know I need to go very slow. I'm appalled that my psychiatrist said half a .5 tab every week. OMG. I would have to be locked up! Lol. I have 6 repeats left on my prescription so I am starting to wonder about maybe ¼ of a tablet a month. I want to give my brain a chance to start producing it's own GABA neuro transmitter. That won't happen over n ight.
Try non prescription techniques such as CBD, music/relaxing sounds. Basically, start looking at grounding techniques. Your intake is quite high, so I would expect a very slow taper. Have a look at slow tapers techniques via the google.
Thank you for the tips. Withdrawal is a great motivator in my case!! Haha.I cut another ¼ tab tomorrow. 1.5 tablets. Is that a high intake? I WAS at 3 tablets. Yes, I am going thru it but you are all so supportive plus I joined 'Benzobuddies'. They have good suggestions for a slow tapering. I think 3-4 months is reasonable but I may go a few more days at 1.¾ tabs as I'm only just feeling a bit better and perhaps a few more days won't hurt. Watch this space. 🤪🤯😊
Daily use of any dose for a prolonged period I would consider a high intake. Your body soon becomes tolerate to it so I’m surprised you’ve managed to have the same effects with the same dosing regime for many years. I am surprised you was prescribed this amount unchecked for as long as you have.
Everyone taper experiences are different. The important thing is to go at a pace that is tolerable to you.
My doc, 25 yrs ago told me it was safe! Since then it eas just an automatic renewal each yr. By my primary doc and psychiatrist.
Yes, I see what you mean. 25 yrs would be a high dose. I got as high as 3 0.5 tabs a day. Honestly, I took lots of CBT courses and deep psychotherapy because I thought the anxiety disorders were just getting worse! Now I see it was tolerance. But it took a change in doctors. I suppose I heard talk of tolerance and dependency but I didn't want to hear it I guess. After reaching a point of desperation a friend told me her story. I panicked because I truly believed I needed that high a dose and more.! Then I realized it was n't doing me any good at al. So I made the decision myself to come off it. I don't know HOW I got down to 1¾ tabs without group support. I have decided that for me, personally, I'm going to go slow and steady as possible over 4-6 months. That's the plan for now. Now I have this group I believe I can do this. I'm managing so far but, as expected, strong withdrawal symotims, but only for about 5 days, then it dtarts to improve slowlt. ¼ tabs every 3 weeks. Will adjust as needed but I know it's not a good idea to increse. At least for me.
It sounds like you’ve got this. Be mindful as withdrawal symptoms can become severe and prolonged at any point during a dose cut m, sometimes many months later. As I said everyone is different.
Those rouge psychiatrists and GPs have a lot to answer for. Too many of them around still.
These days all sort of other drugs are given to manage anxiety before benzodiazepines quite often due to their addictive nature. There are always exceptions especially if it anti necessarily for anxiety.
Anyway, take care and as I said it sounds like you for this.
I found that klonopin helped reduce my anxiety but it did not heal it. What helped me was learning that anxiety/panic is a paradox and the more you fight it or struggle with it or deny it the more it persists so the solution is to understand that it won't hurt you and that the anxious thoughts are lies and to not believe or listen to them and embrace the anxious feelings because they won't last long are really just excess adrenalin flowing through your body. I found the DARE Anxiety book, youtube videos and their phone app very helpful. Also make sure your hormones, thyroid and adrenals are functioning properly because they can cause or contribute to anxiety/depression if not.
i successfully tapered off of klonopin but I went 3 times slower than what the doctors recommend and I used a pill cutter to cut my pills in halves and quarters.
Btw what dose of klonapin were you on? I am on 0.5. So did you reduce at ¼ tablet every 3-4 qeeks? Faster of slower? I rhought when I'm down to 1 tab I will ask for them in 0.25 mg tabs and take that last tab even slower. Suggesrions.
I was on 0.5mg tablet and then started cutting it in half and did 0.25 for 3 weeks and then I started cutting that half pill into halves (0.125) and did that for 3 weeks. Then I started skipping a day and did the 0.125 pill on alternate days for about 3 weeks. I used an xacto knife but a pill cutter is probably better and those are usually available at a pharmacy. Slower is definitely better. My pharmacy said at the time that they couldn't get 0.25 pills but I don't know if that is still true. I didn't have any issues tapering off except that I started having itching over parts of my body which is one of the common with drawl side affects.
Thanks designguy. Very helpful. Yes I'm thinking that since I have been on it 25 years and am currently down at 1¾ .5 tabs divided over 3 x a day maybe I ought to look at 4 weeks in between cuts and maybe a couple of extra weeks at the last little bit. I guess I'll need to see how I feel with each cut. Currently I experience short times of anxiety, profuse sweating moments if mild dizziness and body pain in sites of old injuries. Thats at cutting .012 ... or a ¼ tab every 3 weeks.
I do try to remember the paradox: what I resist persists. Hard to let go but deep slow breathing at difficult times does aid it releasing that 'nameless dread' that suddenly hits me. PTSD and GAD don't help. Had panic attacks when I was 5 and used to run home from school because I was afraid something would happen to my Mom. I do thought stopping by clapping my hands or shouting No! out loud or in my head, slow deep breathing, body scanning for tension and mindfulness . Very tiring but I need to make it a way of life because since I was a kid a 'big' feeling always called for medication. Lots of practice still needed to not let that happen again.
You're welcome. Like i mentioned earlier is that the DARE Anxiety book, youtube videos and their phone app helped me a lot to understand what was going on which helps take some of the fear about it away. Once I started to feel just a little bit better I started daring the anxious feelings to happen and even get bigger and leaned into it, and I slowly realized that I would be ok, that the anxious feelings were just uncomfortable and would dissolve. It takes commitment and persistence but it works. The other very helpful thing is to practice simple mindfulness meditation to be able to observe your thoughts and let them flow in and out of your brain without attaching to them. it's our attachment to the thoughts that trips us up but the thoughts are meaningless if we don't attach meaning to them. It also helps in being able to reframe a negative thought into a positive one.
Awesome. I guess what we resist persists. I posted a reply to ...I forget her name but I outlined a true story along these lines. It bappened to me 32 years ago. Thanks!
You're welcome. Another thing to be aware of with anxiety issues is that it's helpful to understand why and how you developed it because anxiety can be the result of repressed emotions trying to get your attention through the anxiety to acknowledge and process them in order to heal. For instance, I finally realized that a big part of my anxiety was from repressing my anger and rage at the way I was raised and being punished and shamed for showing any signs of even normal anger. I spent time in therapy getting in touch with it and processing it and even did emdr therapy which helped me process it all and desensitize myself from it.
I have been on a very high dose of lorazepam (more than 3 mg) for 12 years and I am 76 years old (male). Since klonopin has a longer half-life and is "stronger" than lorazepam in that sense my dose is probaly equivalent to 3 mg klonopin as far as the amount of a benzo in the body at any given time. I have never tried or wanted to come off but I am responding to you just because I was told that if I ever did I would probably have to go thru an "in-patient" withdrawal course (in the hospital overnight and/or all day at a clinic) for at least 2 weeks and then be monitored closely afterward till I was off. Maybe you need something like this.
An in patient program would be a good start, though I have cut slowly down to 1¾ 0.5 tabs myself and am about to cut to 1½ tabs tomorrow. The thing is, the medical protocol is rapid detox. I couldn't manage that I don't think. Though everyone here has been super helpful ... I LOVE this group... I joined an online group called 'Benzobuddies' as suggested by someone in this group. Given my history and dose they suggest a very slow tapering over 6-7 months to give my brain time to start producing it's own GABA neuro transmitter. I guess that can take many months with some ppl. If you ever choose to come off it I'd recommend that site. Benzobuddies.org. For me, at 65 and after 25 yrs on it, low and slow wins the race. It still helps my anxiety a bit but but only a bit. For it to help like it did 24 years ago I'd need 5x the dose I was on ( 0.5mg 3x a day).
Anyway. If you are not having any issues with it and it's helping then why come off? Of course that is your call. Cheers
Yes, it would be rapid detox, and some people can handle that and some can't. Will cross that bridge if and when I come to it. And I have managed to maintain on the same dose of Lorazepam for all these years; I read that some people can do that, never really needing to up the dose, and I guess I am one of them (also taking 2400 mg gabapentin per day; does help with the anxiety).
How long after you finished with xanax woukd you say that all withdrawal symptoms were gone. How do you manage your anxiety now? I guess I need to practice my anxiety management skills. Withdrawal is a good motivator! Haha. I am slowly approaching 1 0.5 tab of clonazepam. At 1 tablet I thiink I will stop for a while and give my brain a chance to kick in. After 25 years this is one of the scariest things Ive done. However I hate the idea of a drug controlling me. Benzos ought to ve much better controlled. Like, a doctor cannot orescribe them for nore than a couple of months. Still, some plmpl do manage them well.
I am on gabapenten for degenerative disc disease and nerve damage from a stroke. But I'm really watching the dose carefully.
I came off of Clonazepam in 2019, but I had a low dose for 10 years, about 0.5 at my highest. I was taking it for Panic Disorder. My psychiatrist told me she could no longer justify me taking it for more than 10 years; so she tapered me off of it gradually. I took .25 for 4 weeks, then .125 for another 4 weeks and that's it. I'm not going to say it was easy because I did get the brain freezes quite often during this time. Then when I finally was off completely, I developed anxiety that became worse over time. I am now on Zoloft for anxiety and depression. It has helped; but I continue to have mild anxiety. If you need to chat, I'm here for you.
I'm still trying to get everyone on hear sorted as far as who has said what but it's mostly been very helpful. I'm not sure that my paxil is still working. I'm on 60 mg once a day for the last 22 years! The max is 60. I'm also on wellbutrin and I believe it is helping. I'm wary about Busparone. My psychiatrist put me on it 2 years ago. He assured my my body wouldn't develop dependence. I hope he was right! However I will be glad to be off of the clonazepam. I likely should slowly come off of the Paxil in the next year or so. By now it's likely not helping anyway though it is excellent for depression that involves a lot of anxiety or panic attacks. If it was still working like it did in the beginning the anxiety wouldnt be as bad as it is and I wouldn't be in a moderate depression. They used to put me out of commission for monthscat a time. Ultimately Id prefer to be on 1 antidepressant and one non benzo anxiety medication. Not sure if that is reasonable as I also have a rare motor neurone disease called Primary Lateral Sclerosis ( a much milder, less lethal type of ALS), and very advanced degenerative disc disease. I've also had 2 strokes and have partial paralysis in parts of my left lower leg and foot. For those diseases I am on the muscle relaxant Baclofen ( max dose) and 400mg gabapentin 3x a day, ( all that and a divorce after 30 yrs, 18 months ago).
The problem is that any medication becomes less effective after a couple of years. So I'm trying to find alternative methods of pain management.
Having said all the above ( I did go on!) lol, I truly DO try to help myself . Tho I use a walker when I do it ( or a cane), I 'Mall Walk' with a friend 3 x a week until I am really tired. I worked up to 4km over 4 months. I do stretches daily, I do guided meditations and slow deep breathing exercises. I have to lighten up on myself! Ive had bouts of depression, anxiety generalized anxiety also panic attacks since I can remember and I'm 65.
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.
First, I'll give you the short list of what I did that finally worked for me, the key phrase being "what worked for me".
1. For myself, I found that the last .5 mg. I was taking, was the hardest to taper down from. I think there's a lot of anecdotal evidence that this is true for a lot of others when tapering from clonazepam. I think the #1 key is to go as slow as you need to, no matter what the doctor is telling you.
2. I kept a personal journal to keeps notes about how I was feeling every day when I started to taper off. I found this useful to look back on as a reference while I was tapering.
3. With every taper, I would wait a minimum of two weeks to see how I would react before attempting to taper down further. This is where my journal came in handy, and whether I felt I needed to wait longer before my next taper. If I felt I had been doing well enough for most days during those two weeks, I would taper once again. What I found for me, was that if I was going to have any withdrawal symptoms, they wouldn't start until about the 4th day after a taper.
Here is the post I had made previously for someone else:
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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.
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. 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.
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I hope in some small way this will help. It can be done and you will do it. Can you do it without any discomfort? I would say no, but you can minimize the negative symptoms while tapering. Let me know if something wasn't clear to you, and I'll be glad to try to explain further.
Edit: I also wanted to ask if you take all of your clonazepam once a day, or split it up during the day? If you take it once a day, you might try splitting the dose up and taking it twice during the day while you taper. I did this until I got down to the last .125 mg. When I felt I could go down from taking .125 mg. a day, I would take it every other day, and then finally every third day. I found this to be more successful than trying to just go cold turkey from taking it once day. Slow and easy as you go.
Also, just to give you some reference, I was taking .5 mg. twice a day when I decided to taper down. It took me about 15 months until I was finally able to quit for good. I might have been able to go faster, but after trying to quit twice before, I wanted to ensure I would be successful this time.
Most importantly, as always, this was my experience and everyone is different. I just wanted to give you some ideas that worked for me.
Mofro I THINK I may have missed this one. WOW. You have no idea how much it helped me! I joined Benzobuddies.org and they explained a similar tapering plan. I think I can only get 8 months max worth of refills to taper so ... now have gotten from roughly 1 tab ( .5mg) 3x a day down to ummm m1¾ tablets devided roughly over 3 x a day. I am going to see if I can do a cut down to 1¼ tabs divided over 3x a day with this cut so i can drag out the last 0.5mg slooooowly over several months. What do you think? I guess if that turns out to be too much ( .25 ) I could up it a ¼ tab for a few weeks. Dya think this might help? I have been on it for 25 years so this won't be and hasn't been, easy at all. Anxiety has noticeabley increased but still manageable.
Glad I could help in some way. I joined Benzobuddies as well when I was looking for ideas on how to taper. If you're successful in tapering over time, your 8 months of refills will last longer of course. I personally think it's a good idea to spread your daily dose out rather than take it all at once per day. I think you have a good plan, and I always stress to others to take it as slow as you feel you have to. If you feel you have to taper back up, don't beat yourself up for it, that will only make things worse. Just go back to the last dose and go a bit slower. I also suggest the journal to keep track of how you're doing, if you don't already do that.
Here's something else to think of, if you haven't already. It's entirely possible when you start to taper down, that some anxiety will just be anticipatory anxiety, either because you might not feel you can quit, or that you'll start to experience negative side effects. It's not easy to differentiate between increased anxiety from tapering, and the anticipatory anxiety, but keeping that in mind may help. One other thing I had to keep reminding myself of, is if I started to experience increased anxiety, that didn't mean I still needed to be on the clonazepam, but rather because I'd been on it for so long, so some withdrawal symptoms should be expected. But again, the slower you go, the less symptoms you should experience. I wish you luck, not that you need it, because you can do it without any luck. Reach out if you need to.
Great info! I was on A LOT of benzos for 25+ years due to chronic insomnia. I mean REALLY REALLY bad insomnia. Nothing worked except these. Fast forward three years ago I read about HOW bad long term benzo use is and then developed profound anxiety. Like every second of every hour of every day I have severe stomach issues and migraines. I am now on 15 mg of temazepam (down from 30mg). Like you said, the last bit is the hardest. I have tried to get off the 15 and I don't sleep at all. I don't know really what to do. I sometimes wonder if my case of anxiety is the worst in history. I am like a functioning alcoholic but with anxiety. And I'm only 53, and I am starting to get macular degeneration and cognition issues from being in a perpetual state of fight or flight all the time. This has been going on for about a year and a half. I've done meditation, red light therapy, exercise, grounding mat, supplements, and rewiring your brain programs and nothing has worked. I am now waiting for a vagus nerve stimulator. Before all of this, I had a great life. This has all caused so many problems and other health issues, and a lot of problems with my marriage. My husband doesn't understand anxiety at all and keeps asking "When are you going to be over this?" I think anxiety and depression F up your brain and you just can't get out of your own way. If anyone else has any suggestions, would love to hear.
I can only express my sympathy for you having someone ask you when you'll be over your anxiety. Wow, talk about one way to make things worse. I've had to accept the fact that someone that hasn't experienced a certain mental health issue, will never be able to understand. They can certainly empathize, but they'll never get it.
I also get the way you feel about your level of anxiety. Just because I beat the clonazepam, certainly doesn't mean I still don't struggle every day with it. Yep, feels like the fight or flight switch is wired on. It's a state of hypervigilance if you will. As for your taper off of the last 15 mg., I don't know how you're doing it, but slow is the only way to go. Some people are so sensitive, they have to take a razor blade and shave a bit off every so often, and some people even have to weigh it on a scale. I was fortunate enough not to be that sensitive myself.
I've had my anxiety for years, but I never really had issues with sleep or insomnia. That is up until about 2 years ago. Before my dad passed away, he was taking trazodone because he had problems getting to sleep. I asked my doctor if I could try it, and I was fortunate it worked for me too. Since I started taking it, I've started to taper down on it and so far have been successful. I think you're in the best place to keep searching for something that may help. It sounds as if you're tried a lot, but don't give up. I hope your husband can give you more support.
Wow I could relate to your post. Out of the blue we see or read something and suddenly feel out of control. Boom. Anxiety, panic, health problems. Some intense anxiety is grounded in the word ' control'. Not saying we are controlling ppl. Just saying it hits us that something is controlling us and we have no way of stopping it ... we think. So maybe, I dunno this may sound out there, but try finding something that is a power greater than you ... a concept, the moon, someone from history you admire a lot ... a powerful figure and SURRENDER. Its a paradox isn't it? To regain control we surrender control at an emotional level. I 'accidentally' did this 32 years ago. I was having back to back panic attacks when, to my HORROR I tried to stop drinking and could not! No matter what I tried I could not stop. I did finally get help and am now 32 years sober, but that night I laid down and looked at the stars. I wanted to die. One star seemed brighter than others so, believe it or not, I talked to it! Yep, I did. I said " ok I give up. If I'm going insane it has to be better than this. So, I am willing to go insane. I felt it at a gut level. I guess I 'let go'. So what if I have panic and anxiety. That's my life now. So if I'm going insane let's just get it over with. To my astonishment the panic attacks just stopped. I was exhausted and slept deeply for the first time in so long.
So somewhere along the line I must have taken back whatever I let go of. 7 or 8 years later the anxiety and panic started again. I accidently got locked in a sauna . The staff thought everyone had left and locked the door. I felt so out of control! It was about 20 mins before the staff heard my screams and opened the door. What I ought to have done was re-surrendered control but I didn't The desperate need for control translated into panic and anxiety.
For me anxiety is that awful feeling of dread. Being out of control. Panicky. Instead of letting go at some point I started with the medications. THEY became my Higher Power. I leaned on them like I did on that star years before. Now as I come off of clonazepam I am trying to let go of control again. Or the need for control. I know I'll find it again. There has to be a positive power far greater than me out there somewhere
I hope this didn't offend anyone but especially you. You've been through enough. The medication does not control us. Yes, you can come off of the benzodiazapine AND find a way to sleep. Heck, surrender that too. I wish there was a formula for 'letting go'. But maybe make this group your 'Higher Power' for now. Lean on it. Let go. We don't have to carry this weight all by ourselves. Keep talking, posting. Hope something in my ramblings might help you. 😊
Thanks so much for that comforting response! I’ve been thinking about it for two days. I feel for all the people on this site and wish none of us had to deal with what we are. It’s so crazy (literally) that some of us on this earth are plagued with these burdens while others walk blissfully through their lives never having to deal with mental health problems. I am currently reading a book, “Thriving with Anxiety”, and it points out that we are more sensitive, compassionate and loving people and actually have higher IQs because of our analytical minds. Anxiety can be looked at as a motivating factor that helps us get things done , and done competently. I’m trying to embrace that in my brain, and hopefully my body will follow suit. It would be so nice to just “be” with no stomach pains, high blood pressure, and major migraines. To feel nothing, but in a good way. But I am grateful for the people who share on here so we do not feel so alone. Peace and love 💕 We all are just a work in progress!
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HELP I NEED CONNECTIONS
A regular dose of benzos
I need some advice...
I just need some support 
