Withdrawal from Clonazapam while having a cold

[[ru...]]

Hi everyone. I started out 6 months ago taking Xanax and Prozac due to a lot of life stressors that happened around the same time including moving out of state, buying first house, husband losing job, mom going through chemo and having to start my personal business from scratch. Xanax stopped working for me about 3 months into it so my doctor switched me to Klonopin. I take 1 mg/2x a day. At the time I started Klonopin, I stopped taking Prozac cold turkey and had no problems fortunately. I don't have a new doctor yet and so I've turned to the internet. I really want to get off this medicine. I feel like a zombie. I've gone a few days without taking the Klonopin because I have a cold and didn't want to be taking too much stuff but I woke up today in a sweat, freaked out on my husband and cried in the bathroom over I don't even know what. My husband gave me .5 of my Klonopin and within an hour I felt "normal". I was kinda thinking since I hadn't had the medication for a few days that I could just not go back on it but I know this is not possible just from reading some of the posts here. We won't have insurance for at least a month so I'm kinda screwed. I do have about 30 pills left and was wondering how best to taper off and how to do so while I have a cold. I know some of the withdrawal symptoms mimic flu but I have a house full of sick people so I know that I have a respiratory infection that's not related to withdrawal.

Mentally I'm kinda fuzzy. I feel like I can't concentrate and I'm so restless. I just want to feel like me again. Right now I feel so discombobulated.

[[me...]]

Hi rubberbandgirl.  Welcome to the forum, we're glad you found us!  We generally recommend a taper rate of about 5-10% every 10-14 days, though individual rates vary.  It's important to not taper off too quickly, since doing that can produce significant withdrawal symptoms.  Even if you do have symptoms, though, rest assured they are temporary and will go away in time.  Typical symptoms include, but aren't limited to, anxiety, depression, head zaps, cog fog, many odd physical and mental symptoms, and so forth. Here are a few links you may find useful:

 

General Taper Plans

 

Withdrawal Support (during your taper).

 

The Ashton Manual is an authoritative source on what to expect in withdrawal and recovery.  Dr. Ashton is an expert in the field.  She describes and explains withdrawal symptoms, and there is also a section with withdrawal/taper schedules.

 

Please take the time to Create a Signature.  This will allow others to see where you are in the process so they can better support you.

 

Again, welcome!

 

 

[[ba...]]

hi ruberbandgirl , i love that name it reminds me of how i  have a big  plastic bag full of rubberbands 1000s that i got a few years ago that i found in a office i worked at that somoene was throwing away that i took home

 

mm im sorry to hear about your insurance loss i have a state funded insurance called indigent its FREE to get and each county in america has an office so look on google and type in your county name & indigent health to find an office close to you. i hope this helps you & god bless you

Katie (babyangel)

[[Lo...]]

Hello Rubberbandgirl,

 

I found klonopins to be very long lasting. There were times when I wasn't doing anything stressful when I could wait 60 hours to take my next dose instead of 48 without noticing any symptoms. Some people metabolize meds slower/faster than others. Pushing back the hours til my next dose helped me more at times than reducing my dose. Someone just suggested I wait til I felt anxious to take another pill and at times it was as long as almost 3 days. That was my experience cutting back, anyways. 

 

What you described, wanting to cut your dose from 60 pills to 30 pills, that sounds like a lot to me.  I wasn't able to cut back that much, that fast. I cut back from like 1 mg to .8 mg and that is more than the suggested 10%. Couldn't cut off a smaller amount than that as the pills were small to begin with.

 

I know the feeling you are talking about, knowing you can't stop cold turkey taking meds that have some negative effects. What I did is promise myself I wouldn't go back up once I got my dose down. That helped me a lot to feel like I was doing all I could do to chip away at my benzo problem. I also didn't tell people as they cant understand. Wish I had found this site years ago! I hope this helps you. Best wishes and I really hope things go well. Good luck also with your cold!