Klonopin Taper below .5 mg: Speed it up?

[[sw...]]

Hello Fellow taper folk:

 

I've been on K for 12 years now. Was diagnosed with everything under the sun.  Then I found BB and something clicked.

 

This is a copy of a PM I sent to another member, but I though I'd ask the general taper community

 

I started a taper from .75 mg in December, but was given a 33% cut to start. I reinstated to .6875 mg and then C/H till I reached .5 mg.

 

At this point (late May) I started a liquid taper at .7% per day. Been OK, and I am frustrated that it will take till the end of the year before I actually am off the poison and start to really suffer (and recover) LOL

 

Since my symptoms have felt manageable, I have decided to double the speed to 1.4% per day. Now in my 2nd day at new titration speed. I am currently at .350 mg per day, in two doses.

 

Do you think this is too risky? I was planning to simply slow down if symptoms got bad. But the last thing I want to do is go back up if I get slammed with Sx.

 

Curious if any of you have experience in this area.

 

Thanks,

 

swammi01

[[Th...]]

Hi, in my case it was doable to cut quite a lot in the beginning but became more difficult the smaller the doses became. There was posts recently saying that part of healing happens already during the taper and slower you do it less symptoms you will get in the recovery period. I believe it is true and decided taper slowly last part of my taper and let my body adjust to low benzo amount before jumping.

[[Kr...]]

Hey Swammi, I am no expert here, just a fellow benzo sufferer, but I relate to being frustrated with how it might take until the end of the year to get off this junk.  If my symptoms were manageable (like you say yours are), I would definitely be going faster.  Could you keep going at your increased reduction rate and then hold if the symptoms worsen?  That way you won't be going back up, just holding.  And then hopefully you could stabilize on a dose before resuming your taper.  I hope your body adapts quickly to the new reductions!  Good luck.

[[be...]]

4+ years and I don't mind since I am very functional...........

[[sw...]]

4+ years and I don't mind since I am very functional...........

So Benzo girl....are you saying that crossing over to Valium and Gabapentin have made you functional because you are off of K? I don't under stand your reference to 4+ years.

 

Sounds like your life is pretty much back to normal?

 

Tommy

[[So...]]

Hey so first of all congrats on being almost off this stuff! What I can say on this site is that you truly know your body best, I tapered very quickly and jumped at .125 mg of klonopin and it was the best decision for me, I had already been tapering for 6 months and I knew I would be fine if I jumped, yes the first two months were hell but it got better and now at 3 and a half months I am pretty much healed. Do what feels best for you

[[do...]]

Congrats on being almost off.  I too feel like I want to go faster. I have been reading a lot here, I would follow your gut instinct, like songbird said,  you can always hold if you need.  Please do check in and let us know how you are doing.

[[sw...]]

Congrats on being almost off.  I too feel like I want to go faster. I have been reading a lot here, I would follow your gut instinct, like songbird said,  you can always hold if you need.  Please do check in and let us know how you are doing.

Thanks "dogsmakemesmile", Love your name.

 

I honor you for tapering and the ability to maintain your day gig. I first lost my marriage, and continued to work for another 5 years but was unable to continue my demanding job. Good for you for staying at it. I wish I had been able to.

 

Good to see someone in my shoes who feels (as I do) that the meds are the problem. I am 5 months from jumping but look forward to reducing the anti-depressants too.

 

Take care,

 

Tommy

[[be...]]

4+ years and I don't mind since I am very functional...........

So Benzo girl....are you saying that crossing over to Valium and Gabapentin have made you functional because you are off of K? I don't under stand your reference to 4+ years.

 

Sounds like your life is pretty much back to normal?

 

Tommy

 

I dropped the gaba. 4+ years means how many years that I've been tapering. With more to go. It took me a while to get rid of 6.5 mg of K. Now I am from 70 mg of Valium down to 19. I am having a bit of trouble with sleep and fatigue. My blog pretty much spells it out and I just started it so its not that long.

[[sw...]]

Hey Swammi, I am no expert here, just a fellow benzo sufferer, but I relate to being frustrated with how it might take until the end of the year to get off this junk.  If my symptoms were manageable (like you say yours are), I would definitely be going faster.  Could you keep going at your increased reduction rate and then hold if the symptoms worsen?  That way you won't be going back up, just holding.  And then hopefully you could stabilize on a dose before resuming your taper.  I hope your body adapts quickly to the new reductions!  Good luck.

Kristin: Thanks for the reply. I had forgotten that I had posted here. At any rate, the increased taper rate lasted about 4 days and I got slammed with sxs. I held for about 8 days and then resumed the taper at the old speed. I am down to about .240 mg now. But sxs gradually increasing. I noticed the big jumps in the beginning for you before you switched to another drug. My Pdoc does not want to switch to another drug (like valium) unless I simply can't continue on the K.  Blessings, Tommy

[[Ph...]]

If your symptoms seem manageable, I think that 1.4% per day (or 10% per week) is reasonable, but I certainly would not go any faster. One thing to consider is that with a longer acting benzo like klonopin, sometimes the symptoms don't really show up until a couple of weeks out. So you think that the cut you just made the other day is causing problems, but really it could be the accumulation of cuts from the past few weeks. And then you're stuck thinking 'should I hold, or go back up?'. Sometimes it takes a little while to restabilize. Everyone wants to rush off of this. I can completely relate. But the idea, at least for me, is to remain functional during my taper. Best of luck whatever your decision!

[[sw...]]

Thanks Pharmguy:

 

I am currently at about 6.5% per week. But as the spreadsheet I am using is linear, that percentage is steadily increasing and will be as high as 42% at the very end. Obviously, If I kept the percentage at 10% per week or less till the end, I would never reach zero. Do you know of a spreadsheet that deals with this? Perhaps, one exists that makes a compromise between a linear taper and an exponential one? (It appears most people don't worry about this. Did you?)

 

Thanks,

 

Tommy

[[Ph...]]

Haha, you're right.. Doing 10% cuts will never actually get you to zero! And I know how once you start getting lower and lower, those 10% cuts become so miniscule, and it can take forever. I haven't even started tapering yet, and don't really have an exact plan in place once I do. To start off with, it will probably be along the lines of 10% every 2-3 weeks, but might speed it (increase % cuts) up towards the end, jumping when it feels right. Also, I know that I'm going to at least partially base my cuts on symptoms. My only real point with my previous post is that I don't believe that there is any need to rush it. Hopefully someone else can provide a spreadsheet closer to what you're looking for. Best of luck!