Desperate for help tapering off Klonopin.

[[Ly...]]

Thanks, Jim, for taking the time to answer this for me.

 

I hope your trip is going well. 

 

I would like to start tapering the 5% by the 20th, which is 2 weeks since my last taper.  Could you please tell me how to do that?  I have .5 clonazepam tablets.  I will need to know the mediums with which to work with.  I have a plastic 100 ml. graduated cylinder and two syringes. One is a 20 ml. syringe and the other is a 10 ml. syringe.  What do I do with the tablets and what medium should I use?  How much?  How to do?  etc., etc.,

 

I also saw where some buddies had a strong reaction when going from a tablet to the liquid.  Is this typical?  Should I expect this and allow it for a few days/week?? And will it settle down?  If it doesn't settle down, does that mean this method isn't working for me and I need to do the dry-cutting method?  I only read about dry-cutting a long while back and heard since that it can be inaccurate since there are fillers, etc. in the pills, thus the dose isn't always as accurate as the liquid taper.

 

I also have been feeling somewhat stable throughout the day, but have been taking 3 doses.  I am currently at .625 mg. in the morning and .625 in the early afternoon and 1 mg. at night for a total of 2.25 mg.  Around 5-6 pm. every night, I start feeling quite ill and thick in my head until it's time for bed at 10 pm.  Sometimes it clears a little enough for me to consider it manageable until bedtime, but other times it is not good.  Does this mean I am not stable enough to taper further?  What if it continues?  Will there be a time when I just have to move on down since most of my day is somewhat manageable?  There are some very stressful and unhappy things going on in my life that I see no end to, so I will need to work through them.  SEVERE, SEVERE hyperacusis is also making me highly anxious and is very painful.  This started when I last tapered and is getting progressively worse.  This may not get better and could actually get quite bad as my research indicates, so I just need to continue on with my taper despite some very big hurtles.  Waiting it out will not help.  I also read that clonazepam can actually CAUSE anxiety and depression, so the sooner I get on with this, the better.  I will not push it too fast, however.  I've learned my lesson.  But, I cannot stop, either, since the drug may actually be helping to cause some of the withdrawal symptoms, such as depression and anxiety.  I never suffered from any of these things prior to my surgery and opioid withdrawal immediately after surgery and the benzo's they gave me for that.  I am hoping that when this is all over, I can get back to being my calm and happy self.  I know it will be a long, hard road ahead of me, as I've learned from past failures.

 

Thank you for your help.  So many of us are thankful for the help we can get here on benzobuddies.  The doctors are so ignorant of this drug so I can't find help anywhere around here.

 

Please advise.

[[Ly...]]

I saw you had posted this elsewhere:

 

The reactions from users vary upon ingestion of tablets or solutions. When all of a sudden users switch from only tablets to only liquid there are cases where they experience from light withdrawal symptoms users usually associate to a slight dose reduction (5% to 10%) to destabilizing symptoms as when one stops abruptly. Combine tablets and solution to soften the shock due to the introduction of only liquid. Use the solution just for the "cut" part of the total dose.

 

Would that hold true for me, too?  Can I use almond oil, too?  Or is that not as good?  Also had been reading your advice and that of several other wonderful helpers here on BB, but I am so totally confused I am afraid I will not be able to understand your instructions.  My brain does work well these days.  I am desperate to understand what you all write, but it seems so difficult with the calculations, etc.

 

Please understand that I just can't seem to get it and go slow with me.  I'd really appreciate it.  I also know you are away and probably not in a good place to start helping me.  Please let me know when you think that you can start.  I am so desperate to get off this poison, as everyone else is, and want to get going a.s.a.p.  When convenient for you, could you please help me get started and speak in a way that a 2-year old can understand?  And I'm not putting 2-year old's down.  I'm 59 but thinking like a 2-year old when it comes to reading the calculations and instructions you all have been giving for the liquid/pill titrations.  Thanks.

[[jr...]]

I saw you had posted this elsewhere:

 

The reactions from users vary upon ingestion of tablets or solutions. When all of a sudden users switch from only tablets to only liquid there are cases where they experience from light withdrawal symptoms users usually associate to a slight dose reduction (5% to 10%) to destabilizing symptoms as when one stops abruptly. Combine tablets and solution to soften the shock due to the introduction of only liquid. Use the solution just for the "cut" part of the total dose.

 

Would that hold true for me, too?  Can I use almond oil, too?  Or is that not as good?  Also had been reading your advice and that of several other wonderful helpers here on BB, but I am so totally confused I am afraid I will not be able to understand your instructions.  My brain does work well these days.  I am desperate to understand what you all write, but it seems so difficult with the calculations, etc.

 

Please understand that I just can't seem to get it and go slow with me.  I'd really appreciate it.  I also know you are away and probably not in a good place to start helping me.  Please let me know when you think that you can start.  I am so desperate to get off this poison, as everyone else is, and want to get going a.s.a.p.  When convenient for you, could you please help me get started and speak in a way that a 2-year old can understand?  And I'm not putting 2-year old's down.  I'm 59 but thinking like a 2-year old when it comes to reading the calculations and instructions you all have been giving for the liquid/pill titrations.  Thanks.

 

 

You can dissolve 10mgK into 20ml vodka and add 80ml water for a solution that is .1mg/ml.it should last about 4 days.  your dose the first day will be 8ml in the am , 8ml noon, 8ml in the night. the second day would be 7.99ml in the am , 8ml noon and 8ml night. the 3rd day your dose would be 7.99 ml morning, 7.99 noon and 8 at night.the 4th day will be 7.99ml x three doses. and so on. you can use a 10ml syringe to measure out the whole numbers and a 1 ml syringe to measure the rest

[[Ti...]]

I've been on Klonopin (Clonazepam)  for 30 years because a psychiatrist said I had an anxiety disorder. Now they don't keep you on them and my current Pdoc wants me off of it. I used to take 3 mg. per day but have been down to one per night for about 10 years. There are days when having a panic or anxiety attack I need a little more.

 

I heard one of the symptoms while decreasing is depersonalization. The problem is I have depersonalization 24/7 since age 14 and am scared of experiencing it at a greater degree. It's frightening enough.

 

How difficult and how long would it take to come off 1 mg.?

 

 

[[Ly...]]

Jr, where does one find a 1 ml syringe?  I had also asked the question about the combo of pills and liquid tapering since some people have a hard time switching straight over to the liquid.  I am very sensitive and I am concerned that this might be a problem for me.

[[Ly...]]

Jim Hawk,

 

I'm still not able to do the quote thing, so I am going to copy and paste our message here:

 

    how long, if there are not holds, it would take to taper from 2.25 mg. K if I taper at a 5% cut every two weeks?

 

Start date: Monday 16th of July 2018 - End date: Thursday 18th of April 2019 (Total 276 days)

 

QUESTION:  Does this mean that I taper the 5% off of 2.25 mg. and then subtract that amount off of the 2.25 mg. with it's resulting mg. of .1125 that I would then subtract from the 2.25 original mg. and then the next taper would be a 5% taper from 2.1375 [rounded off, I suppose], and then continue the 5% cuts that way all the way down?  Or do I take 5% from the original 2.25 and subtract that amount of .1125 with the resulting number of 2.1375 and each succeeding 5% reductions would always be from the original 2.25 mg., so each reduction would be .1125? 

 

Does this make sense?

[[jr...]]

Jr, where does one find a 1 ml syringe?  I had also asked the question about the combo of pills and liquid tapering since some people have a hard time switching straight over to the liquid.  I am very sensitive and I am concerned that this might be a problem for me.

 

 

1 ml syringes are available at the pharmacy or on amazon. I certainly know how switching to liquid can feel like a cut . that is why I done a slight updose in your calculations.

[[Ti...]]

My Psych thinks it's not a big problem going down 1/2 each time. I told him that's not at all what I've read. I research the important things so I have some facts. I doubt if he'd prescribe liquid. How and why would a doctor do that if you've always taken the tablets?

[[Ly...]]

Jim Hawk, I have been reading about the generic brands of clonazepam and how they affect people so differently.  Could this be a problem when I start my liquid taper?  Could these different generic brands cause reactions in me that I might attribute to my tapering when, in fact, they are the ingredients and strengths that differ from brand to brand?  My pharmacist said that they get in what they can get in and it can change from month to month, etc.  This sounds ominous.

[[Ji...]]

Hi LynnM

 

I apologize for not been able to reply sooner.

 

From what I read in here, benzo from different brands (Teva, Mylan, Actavis, Accord, etc...) impacts users differently at the same dose (a variable of 10% is allowed on generic brands).  If the new brand is 10% lower, that is a significant difference in the middle of a taper. Although it should not be a problem if you make your adjustments based on a final long-term distribution brand, it can be rude if you have to undergo the same adjustments should the brand change every month. Probably you must have to change pharmacist to the one that can provide a better stability for one single product.

 

[[Ly...]]

Thanks.  Another pharmacist just suggested that I ask my dr. for a new script and change pharmacies and get the pharmacy to special order a specific brand for me since I am so sensitive.  She said they've done 6 months out, but I was told my insurance will only do 3 months out.  But 3 months is still better than a monthly change.  My pharmacist was brisk and told me that it was not that big a deal!!!  I'd love to change places with him for a day and see what he has to say after that!

 

Thanks again.