Tapering off Clonazepam

Had my appointment to talk about tapering off clonazepam with my pdoc on Thurs. He's agreed to use the Ashton protocol which hugely relieves me. He's also not pushing for a fast taper, he's saying a minimum of 6 months. And he wants to see me every 2 months, to monitor how I'm doing, which is fantastic.

I've started the taper. I've dropped my dose by .25 mg from 3.5 mg. I'm having some minor side effects but nothing huge. I'm staying at 3.25 for 2 weeks, then I'll go down to 3 mg for a couple of weeks, and then start the Ashton cross taper and reduction.

I'm going to use this thread to keep track of how I'm doing.

Any encouragement will be appreciated.

splitimage

I'm not especially familiar with that protocol for decreasing benzos, but it wouldn't be likely that I'd know because I've never taken benzos that often in my history. I do hope you experience success doing that! I've heard that benzos are maybe one of those drugs you don't want to depend on too much. Obviously if there's a medical need for it, sure, take it. But definitely be sure to check in here with your progress. Do you have some reasons listed out why you're going off of benzos? Maybe you could list some things just so if it gets tougher at any point to stick to the plan, you would have some motivation. Obviously I'm not recommending an all-or-nothing approach, in which you'd just plow through withdrawal symptoms no matter what. But it might be helpful to assess every couple weeks or so. It sounds like you're doing a lot to help yourself out during this process, such as meeting with the pdoc often, etc. Also, great idea in starting a thread about it.

I must have been spaced out, when I wrote he wants to see me every 2 months, I meant every 2 weeks.

I had a really bad day on day 3 of the taper, headache, earache and feeling like my ears were blocked and nausea. All I managed to do was lie in bed and listen to music.

Days 4 &5 were better, mainly some dizziness.


but after that I felt fine.


I'm holding at 3.25 for another week.

Fortunately I'm not having any problems with sleep.

That's good that you are feeling better. Take it as slow as you need to.

I'm having some nausea last night and today. I woke up twice last night, needing to throw up. And I feel horrible today.

I'm holding at 3.25 for another week. I hope the nausea doesn't continue. If it does, I may tell my pdoc that I want to stay at 3.25 for another week.

Guiness - I'm definitely taking it slow.

I did a really, slow taper and don't remember many withdrawal issues. I was on it for years, and I think I took about a year to get off of it. I now just take Xanax PRN!

I'm with you, splitimage.

The is another site called Benzo Buddies which has some good advice for tapering. Do it very slowly. Our bodies are so used this this medication it doesn't like it when we take it away.

I have managed to get down from 10mg per day (Years ago) and am now on 1.5 per day. I think this is where I will stay for the moment. I am pleased that you will be checking on each fortnight. You do need that support.

I went off clonazepam 3 months ago. I was taking 1mg/day for 25 years. My body was in shock a lot off the time. it took me three months to get off. I'am glad I did because now I feel in touch with the world. Take your time and listen to your body. Good luck.

Travellinglady - yes, slow is the way to go. It's going to take me 6-8 months or longer according to my Drs.

possum, I've joined BenzoBuddies, they're a great source of info and support.

blackcalf. Glad you successfully got off. Being in shock is a good way to describe it.

I'm still having some problems with nausea, and a headache.


But at least I'm not having any sleep problems.

Hang in there!

Drop down to 3 mg today. I'm a little nervous about it, but hope it will be ok. Still no trouble sleeping.

splitimage

Great job sounds like its going well.

Thanks Guinness,

I slept ok, despite the lowered dose, but today I have a headache and earaches, so I'm hitting withdrawal sooner than I did on the last cut. Hope it doesn't get worse in the next couple of days.

splitimage

Taking some mild pain killers might help with the pain for the moment. Maybe don't drop the dose until the pain goes away.

Today has been the worst. Headache, blocked ears and earaches, and generally feeling really tense throughout my body. I'm definitely in fight or flight mode.

Hold at your dosage then go down a smaller amount.

Yep, holding is part of the plan. I'm staying at each new level for at least 2 weeks so I have about another 10 days before I'm scheduled to decrease again.

Happily I'm feeling a bit better today, just a slight headache and earaches.

holding at 3 mg for another 1 or 2 weeks. Withdrawal symptoms are getting better.

niacinamide and taurine helped me w/ my klonopin taper. i was taking less than you, though.

thanks stillcrazy - I'll look into them.

I've been spending a lot of time on the Benzobuddies site, and it's really helping me make sense of a lot of what I'm experiencing. For example for the past 4 weeks, I've been dealing with severe dry mouth. I thought it was just that the air in my apartment was drier than normal, since it's winter. Turns out it's a fairly common side effect of withdrawal. Also people have been reporting extreme nausea and worse gastric reflux, both of which I'm also experiencing.


It helps to see what other symptoms people are having as it makes me feel better, knowing what's going on.

Benzobuddies is a great resource they can help you get through this. Great job so far.

Met with my pdoc yesterday, and he's really happy with how I'm doing. Says all the withdrawal side effects are normal and are a result of my CNS reactivating.


But he's glad I'm not finding it too debilitating.

We agreed, that I'd go down to 2.5 mg of clonazepam this Thurs., and add in 10 mg of valium. Will be interested to see how that goes. I'm so relieved he agreed to follow the Ashton Manual.

Dropped down to 2.5 mg of clonazepam and added in the valium, on Tues. So far no withdrawal effects, except my ears are maybe a little more blocked. I was kind of surprised that I was ok yesterday as day 3 is usually my bad day for withdrawal symptoms.

Fingers crossed.

splitimage

Benzobuddies is a great resource. It helped me enormously. I did the valium crossover from the Ashton method and used that to slowly taper down. Part of the Ashton method is for the patient to control the reduction and to hold when needed for as long as needed.

Saw my pdoc yesterday, and he's happy with how I'm doing. I had a very bad fall last week, and wound up with a concussion, so he wants, and I agree, to stop the taper for a while and just stay on 2.5 mg until I'm recovered. He doesn't want withdrawal symptoms masking head injury symptoms.

We did have an amusing moment when he kept getting my prescriptions screwed up because he didn't remember why on earth I was on both Clonazepam and Diazepam. I had to remind him I was cross tapering.

He wants to see me back in 3 weeks.

splitimage