[SingDanceRunLife]

I go through periods of time where I take klonopin daily, generally for sleep, and then I just stop using it...but this time, instead of being on 1mg, I was on 2mg, so I don't think I can just stop it like I have in the past.

Tonight I'm going to to 1mg and we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping well, especially since my anxiety is much better controlled since starting buspar a few weeks ago -- I haven't taken any klonopin outside of my routine bedtime dose and I have it prescribed for 3x daily PRN and was using it 2-3x daily for a good few weeks. Buspar was a hail Mary, and thank God it worked!

Before my anxiety worsened, I slept fine with 1mg, so I'm hoping that I do, for a few weeks, and then we'll see about not taking it at all. I'd like to not take it at all anymore, at least for awhile.

I'm not really looking for advice or warnings or anything like that. My regular pdoc knows that I regularly go on and off klonopin, and my current fill-in pdoc doesn't really care what I take or do, so since I've done it without any hitches in the past, I figure I can do it again, even though it's from a higher dose.

So I guess the point of this post, this thread is to check in every now and then and let you guys know of my progress, and of course, in the ideal ending, my success.

[SingDanceRunLife]

It took me a little longer to fall asleep last night (we're talking about 15 minutes or so), but I feel that the quality of my sleep was the same, and I slept for the same amount of time as usual as well. Good first night!

[gayleggg]

Congratulations on your first night with good results.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[SingDanceRunLife]

Thanks. It definitely gave me even more hope that this is a plausible plan.

[SingDanceRunLife]

And Day 2 went just as well If it weren't for me being on buspar this wouldn't be working, but I actually think decreasing my klonopin was a good move beyond the whole having less drugs in my system thing because I don't feel as cloudy in the morning after taking the buspar. I think that 2mg of klonopin plus the 10mg of buspar 2x daily was too much for my system and it just made me tired and cloudy. If I can go a week on 1mg go well, I'll do a week on 0.5mg, and then I'll try going without completely. Faster than I originally planned, but still a lot slower than I've ever done it before.

[*Laurie*]

I'm so glad you've taken K-pin intermittently, not regularly. That will probably make all the difference while you come of it.

[SingDanceRunLife]

Originally Posted by LauraBeth

I'm so glad you've taken K-pin intermittently, not regularly. That will probably make all the difference while you come of it.

Oh it's been regularly for months now...at least since January -- this is one of the longest stretches I've ever taken it. But I've never had an issue going off it. Heck, I've just stopped cold turkey multiple times with absolutely no issues whatsoever. I'm just being careful since I'm coming off a higher dose than I've been on before, and just feeling it out myself, no real set schedule or anything.

[SingDanceRunLife]

Alright, so I've done 5 days of 1mg and it's gone swimmingly, so tomorrow night I'm going to go down to 0.5mg for 6 days. And if that goes well, I'll then stop completely. If not, I'll have to stay there until next month when I can get a refill and request 1mg pills that can be quartered since right now I have 2mg tablets, and you really can't cut it smaller than 0.5mg. But I've gone off 1mg cold turkey plenty of times, so I don't think it'll be a problem.

I can tell my body is already getting used to having less because I only took my meds about 20 minutes ago, and I'm just about ready to fall asleep, and the first day it took me longer than usual to fall asleep, and this is more regular timing for me (and yes, my body does start to metabolize klonopin that quickly -- 20 minutes or so). Another beacon of hope.

[*Laurie*]

Good! Sometimes it's the jump from 'a little bit' to 'none' that is most challenging.

[SingDanceRunLife]

I'm hoping it won't be an issue, and I'm not anticipating it to be one since I've gone from 1mg to none multiple times. We'll find out.

[*Laurie*]

x fingers crossed for you x

[SingDanceRunLife]

I can't say that I slept well last night, but it wasn't horrible either. It's just that it took me longer to fall asleep, and then I woke up in the middle of the night for a bit before falling back asleep. Hopefully tonight goes better.

[*Laurie*]

I hope so.

Somehow I neglected to refill my pill box properly a few nights ago...forgot to put K-pin in. I took what I thought were all my meds and went to bed a while later. Awful, awful...my skin was crawling all over, I felt like I wanted to tear it off. Every time I started to fall into a deep sleep, I'd jump awake. I was dreaming before I was really asleep. Freaky stuff- then I realized WHOOPS- I didn't take my bedtime dose of K-pin. Ugh. A nasty little taste of withdrawal...

[SingDanceRunLife]

Eek! That sounds awful I didn't get that...just didn't get a full night of uninterrupted sleep.

[*Laurie*]

Originally Posted by SingDanceRunLife

Eek! That sounds awful I didn't get that...just didn't get a full night of uninterrupted sleep.

You're incredibly lucky- and rare. I'm truly terrified of withdrawal. Apparently I'm extremely sensitive to it...the reason I feel I need to take so long to go through the weaning process.

[SingDanceRunLife]

Originally Posted by LauraBeth

You're incredibly lucky- and rare. I'm truly terrified of withdrawal. Apparently I'm extremely sensitive to it...the reason I feel I need to take so long to go through the weaning process.

I know I'm lucky. I guess it just takes more for my body to become dependent on something. I know a lot of pdocs won't prescribe benzos for more than 3-6 months because of dependency issues.

[*Laurie*]

Well, it gives me hope knowing there are people like you who can pretty easily come off a benzo. I think, maybe it will be easier for me this time than before.

[SingDanceRunLife]

I'm glad I could give you some hope

[SingDanceRunLife]

Again, didn't quite sleep uninterrupted, but this time I was up for less long, and I'd still be sleeping but for the fact that I have to get ready for my job orientation.

[*Laurie*]

That's sounding very good!

[SingDanceRunLife]

It is good! I also think it's good to have one less sedating drug in my cocktail because oh my lanta, taking 2mg of klonopin plus 20mg buspar (10 and 10 split AM/PM) was making me so freaking tired!!

[SingDanceRunLife]

I slept through the night last night!!! I really hope I can continue down this road.

[SingDanceRunLife]

Tonight is [hopefully] my last night of klonopin for sleep. I didn't sleep too well last night, and I'm not entirely sure why, but I have some thoughts (I was sort of hungry when I went to bed, and I went to bed too late)...so hopefully I'll sleep better tonight, and then of course, tomorrow night will be the moment of truth -- can I sleep without klonopin or not?

[SingDanceRunLife]

Slept through the night last night. Woke up early, but that's no big deal.

And tonight...the moment of truth -- can Sing sleep with NO klonopin??? Results tomorrow!

[SingDanceRunLife]

Welp, the answer is no, I can't sleep without klonopin. I gave it an hour and a half in bed, and just now gave up and took some because in my normal world I would have been asleep about an hour ago. Oh well...0.5mg is MUCH better than 2mg which is what I was taking 2 weeks ago!