Need help with taper plan

[[Le...]]

I've finally made my way to.25mg clonazepam and feel very stable, I just got new .25mg ODT pills and so far I'm feeling good. How do I go about breaking these disintegrating tabs? I was previously cutting my regular pills by about an 1/8th at a time. I did that from .5mg down to .25mg...before that I'd had a massive 1 1.5mg forced cut. I'm so scared of having those same symptoms but I haven't had any of them too bad since I leveled off after the big cut. I have some stuff here and there but I definitely don't feel like I'm dying anymore, in fact most days are windows for me now. I hear the last part of the taper can be the hardest so I'm admittedly scared to cut again especially with these new pills.

[[Li...]]

Hey Lets be brave,

 

Congratulations on getting to 0.25 on clonazepam, that's a pretty big deal!  ODT (for those reading that may not be familiar) are Orally Disintigrating Pills, usually designed to be taken sublingually.

 

I dealt with something similar in terms of an initial huge cut, it wasn't pretty. Now I'm also at 0.25 tapering directly off Ativan.  The major difference between Clonazepam and Ativan is their half lives. Ativan is relatively quick (about 15 hours or so) and Clonazepam is longer acting, 30-40 hours. What this means is, it may take a touch longer for you to feel the effects of your cuts than you would with a shorter acting benzo. This has major advantages of course in the sense that your taper, in general should theoretically be a lot smoother.

 

All this being said, cutting an ODT pill is going to require some patience and technique. Unless you prefer to do a liquid micro taper, dry cutting is totally doable. You do need the right tools. On amazon, you could pick up a 0.001g scale for under $30 and a pack of razors for $2-$3.  What I do is, I pin the pill down with the tweezers that come with the scale (or a small screwdriver, anything goes) and then use the razor to cut / shave the pill. With some practice, you could get remarkably accurate. I'm able to almost exactly get to 0.001g's.

 

There are easier ways to do this and I'm sure a lot of people here have different and potentially much better ways to do this, but for myself I found this to be a very effective technique.

 

There is conflicting reports on how the last part of the taper could go. Some people have incredible difficulty and others find it much easier.  For myself, I find that tempting fate isn't something I'll do. I've heard near the end it could be tough, so I'll treat it that way. I'm doing small cuts and letting my body tell me if it's ok before further cutting. As long as you have the means to be able to take your time with the taper, time is your friend and going slow is not a bad thing. My taper started a bit rough but since I slowed down near the end (I consider 0.25mg ativan near the end), I've slowed down and things are going very decently well, as long as you listen to your body and take it as slow as you're willing, you'll have a very successful taper and be off this drug. The fact that most days are windows for you is a really good sign. You're doing extremely well!!

 

I sincerely wish you all the best, let me know if you have any questions.