Switching from Clonazepam to Diazepam help!

[[le...]]

I have been prescribed 2 different benzos for many years for extreme anxiety/agoraphobia, they are Diazepam 10mg which I take every morning and 1mg Clonazepam which I take every evening. I have been reducing the dose of my Clonazepam for the past 2 years and have got from 1mg to 0.125mg......Now I am at 0.125mg I am finding it impossible to reduce it any further. The Dr said he can give me more Diazepam. Is there any real difference between these 2 benzos, will I feel anxious when swapping from the 0.125mg Clonazepam to say 3mg of Diazepam as I am already nervous even thinking about it!

 

Any help would be great.

 

Thanks in advance.

[[Jo...]]

Hi leolion,

From what I have read there is no, or at least minimal, differece between the way benzos work.  The major difference seems to be the duration of time it takes the body to break down the chemicals.  The difference in what they are supposed to treat: Panic, GAD, or whatever, was invented by big pharma as a way to boost sales.  That being said, some people seem to find Valium unpleasant but it doesn't sound like you are one of them.  It may be because Valium breaks down to some intermediate chemicals that still have a therapeutic effect, whereas  K. and most of the others break down into non-active chemicals directly.  The biochemistry of V. seems to be what gives it the dual action effect of quick relief followed by longer term action. 

 

I would be inclined to keep it simple and do what you are thinking of doing.  Replace the K with 3 mg V and dose twice a day until you see how it works. 

 

Is it your intention to cut out the drugs altogether, or just the one?

 

 

[[le...]]

Thank you for your help.

 

I wanted to get off Clonazepam first as read it was harder than Diazepam......Once off Clonazepam then I will give it a few weeks then start to slowly withdraw from Diazepam.  I find Diazepam seems to make me tired and clonazepam does not, in fact I am sure Clonazepam works better for anxiety than Diazepam. I am one of these really strange ones as in if I increase the dose of my Diazepam I feel even more anxious, should be the other way around!

 

For some reason I am really scared about swapping the last bit of Clonazepam for Diazepam, I really dont know why this is.....But I cant taper down anymore than 0.125mg of Clon so I have to do the swap to Diaz.......Why am I so nervous about swapping over though?

[[re...]]

I have been prescribed 2 different benzos for many years for extreme anxiety/agoraphobia, they are Diazepam 10mg which I take every morning and 1mg Clonazepam which I take every evening. I have been reducing the dose of my Clonazepam for the past 2 years and have got from 1mg to 0.125mg......Now I am at 0.125mg I am finding it impossible to reduce it any further. The Dr said he can give me more Diazepam. Is there any real difference between these 2 benzos, will I feel anxious when swapping from the 0.125mg Clonazepam to say 3mg of Diazepam as I am already nervous even thinking about it!

 

Any help would be great.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I was originally on Clonazepam  (klonopin) and crossed over to diazepam. It wasn't easy... but it is possible. I did it. I did feel very uncomfortable, but I think you'll be fine. Just a hump to get over... It is doable, at least it was for me.

[[Tw...]]

Just make sure to crossover slowly and you should be ok

[[Ma...]]

You shouldn't have any major issues crossing over since you are on a low dose of clonazepam. I'd axe that clonazepam out of your life.

[[le...]]

Thanks greatly for the helpful replies.

 

Shall I just swap the 0.25mg of Clonazepam for say 3mg of Diazepam?

 

I am also taking L-theanine, seems to be helping a bit.