Need advice on Klonopin taper

[[Ke...]]

Hello everyone!

 

This is my first post on a community forum.  First and foremost, I think it is so fantastic that a site like this exists to help people get off these terrible drugs.  It's comforting to know that there are people out there willing to help (when doctors won't) that have gone through the same types of experiences.

 

I've been on Klonopin for about 7 years, on average, I've taken 2-2.5 mg a day for generalized anxiety.  I started tapering slowly close to a year ago.  Surprisingly, things have ben going very well and I only have minor symptoms: a little bit of shakiness, trouble sleeping some nights, some anxiousness and nervousness, a very little bit of brain fog, but nothing too severe.

 

About 4-5 months ago I got down to 1 mg and I've been lowering my daily dosage every 10-14 days by .0625 mg.  Cutting 1/8 from a .5 mg tablet.  This is what it looks like: 1 mg, .9375 mg, .8775 mg, .8125 mg, .75 mg, .6875 mg, .625 mg, .5625 mg, .5 mg, .4375 mg, .375 mg, .3125 mg, .25 mg, .1875 mg, .125 mg, .0625 mg, 0.

 

Right now I'm all the way down to .375 mg a day.  As a I start to get even lower, I would prefer to switch over to Valium, but my "doctor" (glorified drug dealer) won't prescribe it to me.  I also thought about doing the liquid titration, but I don't think I will be committed enough to carry out this method.  I have a very strange work schedule in which I basically work 3 days straight and I'm not usually able to even come home at all during these days, then I have 4 days off when I'm basically home all the time, so I don't think the liquid titration is doable for me.

 

I think I'll be fine until I get down to .125 mg.  After that, I'm a little nervous to drop down to .0625 mg for two weeks, then just getting off completely. 

 

Has anyone ever tried taking a certain mg every other day or every third day, then changing it?

 

This is an example and something I was thinking about trying when I get down to a smaller dosage:

 

Day 1 - .125

Day 2 - .125

Day 3 - .0625

Day 4 - .125

Day 5 - .125

Day 6 - .0625

 

Repeat for 2 weeks, then:

 

Day 1 - .125

Day 2 -.0625

Day 3 - .125

Day 4 - .0625

 

Repeat for 2 weeks, then:

 

Day 1 - .0625

Day 2 - .0625

Day 3 - .125

Day 4 - .0625

Day 5 - .0625

Day 6 - .125

 

Repeat for 2 weeks, then:

 

.0625 for 2 weeks, then:

 

Repeat the same way, but dropping down to 0:

 

Day 1 -  .0625

Day 2 -  .0625

Day 3 -  0

Day 4 - .0625

Day 5 - .0625

Day 6 -  0

 

Repeat for 2 weeks, then:

 

Day 1 - .0625

Day 2 -  0

Day 3 - .0625

Day 4 -  0

 

Repeat for 2 weeks, then:

 

Day 1 -  0

Day 2 -  0

Day 3 - .0625

Day 4 -  0

Day 5 -  0

Day 6 - .0625

 

Repeat for 2 weeks, then completely stop.

 

Has anyone ever tried and been successful with a method like this?  Am I being overly precautious and should just keep doing what I'm doing and just go from .125 mg for 2 weeks to .0625 mg for 2 weeks, then just stop completely?

 

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! 

 

Thanks!

 

Kevin

[Guest [ba...]]

Hi Kevin!

 

What you are proposing will result in a tapering of your dose that should provide more, smaller steps than if you continue to cut by eighths of a pill.  The only downside is that the variation in the amount of medicine in your body will vary a little more than if you were to crush pills and weigh them for your final cuts.  It's not a huge difference, but on those days when you take the lesser amount, you may feel the effects a little bit more.  It's certainly not as big a swing in dose as somebody who is tapering a short-live benzo such as Ativan (which many people do).  I'm not sure that I'd do this when you get down to zero days - especially two consecutive zero days.  When you get there, it's probably time to jump.  So while my first choice would be to crumble and weigh, your proposed approach could work for you.

 

As for crossing over to valium - I think it's kind of late in the game for you to do that.  Crossing over can cause difficulties anyway.  No sense doing that when you're this far along. 

[[Ke...]]

Thanks for responding!

 

I am interested in trying the crumbling and weighing method.  What kind of scale do you suggest I purchase for this?