Klonopin not helping

[[rr...]]

I recently did a taper from .5mg to .025mg over the course of a few months which overall went really smooth. However, I upped my dosage back to .5mg daily and now I am not seeing any benefit to being on it. I no longer feeling anxious beyond control without it, and I almost dread taking my dosage because all it does now is make me sleepy and put me in a brain fog. As soon as it kicks in I don't see any of the calming effects, but rather just feel tired and dead and like I don't want to do anything from cleaning my room to focusing on life goals. I am going to taper again soon, probably stabilize at around .3mg...just enough to avoid everything I just wrote about, and also not suffer from the rebound effects of dose reduction. I will stay there until I feel I am ready to get rid of them completely. Do these symptoms indicate anything about my overall levels of anxiety? I feel as though it's hindering progress at this point, rather than bridging me to recovery. I drink a ton of coffee and still don't feel anxious even in the morning, but as soon as I take my klonopin my day feels shot. Anyone else have experience or knowledge about this?

 

-- RRE1991

 

Tomorrow is a new day, everything will pass.

[[be...]]

I have to ask, why did you up your dose back to .5 mg.? How long have you been on this dose?

[[Be...]]

It kind of sounds like your brain adapted to a lower dosage, then you upped it and now you are getting the stupefying effects of over medicating. If you are able to manage your anxiety through other non-addictive means, then it sounds like tapering off is a decent choice. Better sooner than later before tolerance sets in, then you are pressed to relieve symptoms by either up dosing (not good) or begin a taper out out duress.

 

A thoughtful question has been asked, when did you up dose to .50 mg, and how long have you been on it?

 

Bennie

[[rr...]]

I updosed around Christmas partly because I felt I was tapering too quick (steady 10% of previous dose) and the holidays are always hard for me. I've been consistently back to .5mg for about 3 weeks...is this long enough to the point where my previous taper is a wash? I'd like to begin at .4 ASAP. I also know up dosing is never good and will not do that during my next and final taper.

[[be...]]

I updosed around Christmas partly because I felt I was tapering too quick (steady 10% of previous dose) and the holidays are always hard for me. I've been consistently back to .5mg for about 3 weeks...is this long enough to the point where my previous taper is a wash? I'd like to begin at .4 ASAP. I also know up dosing is never good and will not do that during my next and final taper.

 

Three weeks is a wash, IMO. If it were me, I'd start back at .5 mg. But I have to wonder once gain, you said you updosed partly because you thought your taper was too quick at 10%? And now you want to drop it to .4 mg ASAP. Don't you realize that's a 20% drop, not 10%? You're twice worse off with what you want to taper compared to how much you tapered at first. If you drop by .05 mg than you are still dropping by 10%. Capish?

[[rr...]]

I updosed around Christmas partly because I felt I was tapering too quick (steady 10% of previous dose) and the holidays are always hard for me. I've been consistently back to .5mg for about 3 weeks...is this long enough to the point where my previous taper is a wash? I'd like to begin at .4 ASAP. I also know up dosing is never good and will not do that during my next and final taper.

 

Three weeks is a wash, IMO. If it were me, I'd start back at .5 mg. But I have to wonder once gain, you said you updosed partly because you thought your taper was too quick at 10%? And now you want to drop it to .4 mg ASAP. Don't you realize that's a 20% drop, not 10%? You're twice worse off with what you want to taper compared to how much you tapered at first. If you drop by .05 mg than you are still dropping by 10%. Capish?

 

 

I probably will start at .5mg again and go down from there, but when I say 10% I mean of the starting dose. A 10% cut is much stronger at lower doses, so I may cut 10% of previous dose I just cut, which will take much longer but I also won't have the symptoms I was experiencing that caused me to updose. The fact that I feel like I'm over medicating right now at .5 is the only reason I would take that initial big chunk before tapering normally. 

[[Be...]]

Hi rree1991,

 

Would you please make a timeline type signature indicating your taper with dosage so we can get an easier read on your situation? Thanks. If there are specific questions about tapering plans, you might want to start a thread under withdrawal support.

 

Bennie

[[xe...]]

this process can be so long, and so difficult, it's just impossible to maintain a consistent state of mind through it.

 

Going up and down in dose does not help and just makes things longer and harder... and yet, knowing and believing that, I probably updosed a dozen times during my tapers and even reinstated tiny doses three or four times after stepping off because it got bad and I lost my nerve.

 

Don't obsess over it all any more than you have to. Live your life, try to make sure the dose is going down and not up if you do want to get off the drug eventually, and then you just have to be patient. It sucks, but it is what it is

 

At the very end of my taper after being off for about 3 weeks, my last benzo use was to very briefly reinstate klonopin (maybe 5 days at 0.25-0.5mg, followed by a 2-week mini taper). I remember the first day I took 0.5, feeling drugged and on benzos again, and thinking "this dirty, dirty feeling from the drug may be even worse than the anxiety I am trying to escape".