Scared of being taken off clonazapam

Iloveanimals25 · Feb 06, 2025, 09:46 AM

My process wanting to take me off of clonazapam. In 35 increments. So go down to 1.75, 1.50 etc. He is wanting to space them out in four months. So let me get used to each lowering. Now he's not wanting to do it right away. But he told me that everyplace is taking people off benzos.

I've been taken off lorazapam before, and it was awful. Have any of you come off a benzo successfully?

Moose72 · Feb 06, 2025, 12:28 PM

My Pdoc isn’t taking me off Klonopin????

Blueberrybook · Feb 06, 2025, 01:40 PM

I have, and it is possible. I wrote you a response in the bipolar check in thread. But yes, I went from 4 mg clonazepam daily to nothing and have been off it for several years. My pdoc told me he too is taking his patients off benzos as much as possible and refused to re-prescribed me benzos a couple instances when I really, really wanted them. But I did make it through the rough patches. The positives are I am much less forgetful than I was on benzos, not losing so many common words when speaking, and suddenly, I was able to read books again. I had a slow taper too, and it sounds like your pdoc has a do-able plan. It took me a year to fully taper off, so it's not a fast process, but it can be done. I had been on clonazepam over 10 yr.

Nammu · Feb 06, 2025, 01:45 PM

I went off mine on my own and long before it was a thing. I didn’t like what they did to me. It was awful but once I was off I felt much better and more stable.

Blitter2014 · Feb 07, 2025, 04:29 AM

I came off benzos and hypnotics approximately a year ago. Not pleasant and well worth it. They messed with my head, and whilst they were sedating, they were, for me, a brain-deadening drug that I kept needing to up the dosage for them to continue to work. Many many GPs no longer prescribing due to the lawsuits.

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splitimage · Feb 07, 2025, 09:49 AM

I came off 3 mg of clonazapam without too much trouble. I did a very slow taper - took me around 18 months. Slow is definitely the way to do it, and your Dr. sounds like they have a good schedule for you. You might want to google the Ashton Manual. It's an excellent resource for different ways of getting off benzos. I used one of their methods in my taper which was basically to cross taper me onto Valium, which I took while tapering off the clonazepam which pretty much prevented withdrawal and then i did a fast taper off the valium.

Tart Cherry Jam · Feb 16, 2025, 12:32 AM

I came off cold turkey without ill effects, but it was not doing a thing for me. Possibly, because it was acting as a sugar pill, I had no dependency on it and for that reason did not notice that anything was amiss.

WastingAsparagus · Feb 24, 2025, 05:19 AM

I am currently on my journey to lower clonazepam. I was taking 3.5 mg. Now I'm on 3.4375 mg. It may seem like a trivial change, but it's huge for me to lower the clonazepam. Anyway, my prior experience has taught me that it is very difficult to lower the medication. It can be done, however.

Blueberrybook · Feb 25, 2025, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WastingAsparagus

I am currently on my journey to lower clonazepam. I was taking 3.5 mg. Now I'm on 3.4375 mg. It may seem like a trivial change, but it's huge for me to lower the clonazepam. Anyway, my prior experience has taught me that it is very difficult to lower the medication. It can be done, however.

You definitely can do it. I had been taking clonazepam around 10 yr. I was at 4 mg when my pdoc wanted me to start tapering as he felt it had a lot to do with my forgetfulness (as it turned out, he was right, I'm much less forgetful now). It was slow tapers, I did it with his help as I was ready, some weeks as much as 0.5 mg (especially at the beginning), then in 0.25 mg increments, sometimes I'd go a month between steps, sometimes 2 or 3 weeks and at the end I was on 0.25 mg but taken every other day and then ONLY on days when it was necessary and then it became I was taking it maybe only once or twice a week and that's when finally I stopped it altogether. Though I still am on a host of meds for anxiety...buspirone, propranolol, hydroxyzine, prn Seroquel. 25 mg seroquel is not quite the same as a benzo but it does pretty well for me in a pinch. It took me about a year to taper off.

I actually have fewer panic attacks OFF benzos than I had once I had become tolerant of my dose of clonazepam. I still DO have panic attacks, but not as often, anxiety though much less since I've stopped listening to and reading the news and politics, I never realized how much that affected my anxiety until I cold-turkeyed it! I've had to use deep breathing (jury's still out on how well I manage that, but what else can you do when a panic attack hits you when driving and there is no place to pull off?).

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