Advice getting through the final stretch

[[sc...]]

My titration off 2 mg of Clonazepam has already lasted over a year, but I'm finally down below .25 mg.  I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on titration rate at this point.  I've managed to hold onto my job so far, sometimes just barely.  My mood and mental state has begun to fluctuate wildly and anxiety comes and goes with the hour. 

 

How slow should I be going at this point?

 

At what dosage is jumping off advised?

 

Any help appreciated.

 

thanks,

Scott.

[[St...]]

This might be answered better by someone who has tapered ( I cold turkey'd) but it may be that your body has become tolerant of the drug - that's what happened to me. I've always read that the lower you are in the taper, the harder it gets but you're at .25 mg so that's still a ways to go yet. Hopefully another buddy will be along soon to help you better that I.

 

Hang on

 

Star

[Guest [Si...]]

Scott,

 

Congrats on getting down to .25mg of Klonopin.

 

Well if you want to do 10% every two weeks...

 

.25

.23 = 8% cut (Hold for 2 weeks)

.21 = 9% cut (Hold for 2 weeks)

.19 = 10% cut (Hold for 2 weeks)

.17 = 10.5% cut (Hold for 2 weeks)

And so on...

 

This is just an idea. You will have to use titration to do it, but you sound functional.

I would go as low as possible and then jump.

Although percentage becomes useless as you near the end of your taper.

 

S#

 

 

[[sw...]]

wow, well, as someone who has just jumped off 1-2mg clonazepam daily for 11 years (the details are in my signature), I am happy to be of assistance.  Do you have specific questions or are you just looking for general advice?

 

I think that probably the most important thing that I would recommend to anyone is to get professionally mixed liquid clonazepam from a compounding pharmacy, even if you have to drive to get it.  If you're dry cutting, you've reached the furtherest that breaking your pills will take you (half of a .5mg pill = .25mg, your current dose) as I discovered the very hard way. 

 

When I started trying to break the pills into pieces smaller than half tablets I hit horrible withdrawal.  When I spoke to a pharmacist friend about this, he explained that pills are only manufactured to have even distribution of the medication within them to the point where each half has an equal dose, but with smaller breaks than that there might be more or less medication than what you're expecting in the fragment.  Therefore your dose is unreliable and changes each night.  I was in heavy withdrawal without understanding why, but very shortly after switching over to the liquid my symptoms began to even out (though it still took a while to recover from the experience).

 

The reason that I really strongly recommend a professionally mixed liquid solution from a compounding pharmacy as opposed to any of the home titration methods listed here is that there is still no guarantee if you're doing it yourself that the the drug is going to be evenly mixed in the solution you are making for yourself and once again you are faced with the situation of not being able to take a precise amount each night and inducing withdrawal from not taking a steady dose.

 

Compounding pharmacies are run by professional whose job is to do exactly what you need, and they have all of the tools of the trade at their disposal to do it (including a solution designed for the purpose, as opposed to milk or water).  All cities have them, as do a number of smaller towns. 

 

I can't emphasize enough the importance of switching to liquid for your last cuts, as they will need to be smaller than you can reliably break your pill into, and the importance of using a professionally mixed liquid solution to guarantee a controlled and even nightly dose.

 

If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to help if I can.

[[sw...]]

Also, could you please put your taper history in your signature?  It's kind of the norm around here because it lets other people know at a glance where you're coming from in both your questions and your answers.  Plus, I must admit I always got a kick of jumping on here and updating my signature with every cut! 

[[Ma...]]

Scott, I would suggest to just listen to your body. The schedule posted above is a good one. But the most important thing to do at this stage is to listen to your body.  I stopped looking at my schedule when I got down to the final stretch and listened to my symptoms. If I was having a good stretch I cut more, of I needed to hold for a few extra days, no big deal I just held...it worked. I am free as of the 3rd.  You are getting there my friend..you are soo close.  Just listen

[[dr...]]

Scott, I would suggest to just listen to your body. The schedule posted above is a good one. But the most important thing to do at this stage is to listen to your body.  I stopped looking at my schedule when I got down to the final stretch and listened to my symptoms. If I was having a good stretch I cut more, of I needed to hold for a few extra days, no big deal I just held...it worked. I am free as of the 3rd.   You are getting there my friend..you are soo close.  Just listen

 

Absolutely!  When I was at the home stretch of my titration I just took it day by day based upon how I felt.