just started taper!

[[ca...]]

Good Morning!

 

I just wanted to see opinions on my visit with a prescriber.

She decided to somewhat do ashton manual, but slightly differently. Based on her years of doing slow tapers.

 

Step one of plan:

Im now on .05 CLON am . .05 afternoon and night is .375 Clon and 5 mg Diazepam.  Her thinking was to get over to Diaz slowly and hope the diaz would help with inter-dose withdrawals and sleep.

 

well, started plan last night and def didn't sleep better and still had that panicky feeling when I woke up a few times during the night. She thought it might take a few days for things to settle and for the Diaz to work.  Does Anyone have experience with this?

 

THANK YOU

 

 

 

 

I was on O.5 3 xday

[[Pa...]]

You stated you were on .5 mgs of Klonopin 3 times a day but you’re now on .457 mgs Klonopin and 5 mgs Diazepam?  This is a huge reduction!  The rough equivalent to 1.5 mgs of Klonopin daily would be 22 mgs of Diazepam, are you sure you’re taking .05 mgs of Klonopin twice a day or is it .5?

[[ca...]]

HI Pamster,

thank you so much for your reply!

 

I am taking 0.5 CL in the am, 0.5 CL in the afternoon, and 3.75 CL at bedtime with the 5 mg Valium. Does that make more sense?

 

My math skills have never been great, worse now..lol.  But what it appears to me is that she might be doing 25% reduction of night time dose of Clonazapam, instead of 50% per Ashton Method, so doing 5 mg of Valium, instead of 10mg. Any feedback is much appreciated!! She's open to however I want to do this, so I'm taking info from this site to help guide me a bit.

 

 

My original dose was 0.5 Clon 3 x/day- am—afternoon, and bedtime. Hit interdose withdrawals and began taper 2/15.I meet her again 3/1

[[ca...]]

pamster,

 

Sorry, I noticed an error in my message above.

 

 

What I am currently taking on step one of taper is: ( started taper 2/15)

 

0.5mg CL in the am, 0.5 mg Cl in the afternoon, and 0.375mg CL AND 5 mg of valium. I hope that makes more sense.

 

 

 

I was on 0.5 Cl 3x/day

[[Pa...]]

Oh good, I’m glad we’ve got the decimal points in the right place now. 

 

Have you seen this calculator, it can be helpful. https://clincalc.com/Benzodiazepine/

 

Let’s add this up to see where we are.

 

.5 Clonazepam + .5 Clonazepam + .375 Clonazepam + 5 mg Valium roughly equivalent to .25 Clonazepam = 1.625 mgs.  It looks like you’ve increased your dose.

[[ca...]]

Pamster,

 

I wonder if she did that due to the inter-dose withdrawals I was having. ( has improved since "taper")

 

Any suggestions for how should I handle my next visit with my prescriber 3/1? Any questions that might be good to ask? I def want to come off completely. slowly, but off.

 

 

[[Pa...]]

I don’t know her motive but how do you feel, do you think you could lower that 5 mg Diazepam a little and still get by?  I just hate to see you go onto a higher dose than you were on but if you’re okay with it then that’s fine.

 

You stated this: “25% reduction of night time dose of Clonazapam, instead of 50% per Ashton Method”, I don’t understand.  Can you share her plan for reducing your doses so we can see it to be able to make suggestions for your upcoming visit?

 

[[ca...]]

Hi Pamster,

 

She and I had discussed switching over to Valium from Clonazapam via the Ashton Manual.  The goal is to get off benzos completely. Slowly and hopefully without significant withdrawals.

She had said her experience with her patients was that Ashton reduced the Clonazepam a little too quickly. We didn't make a long-term taper plan as she wanted to go by how I felt. And we will meet every 2 weeks or as often as I need to. I see your point about the increase... 

 

I feel much better- panic gone, can sleep much better, and overall less inter-dose withdrawal.

 

Guess I'm wondering what the next step in the plan should be.  Does anyone have ideas of how much of each would be a good next step pending I continue to feel well?

[[Pa...]]

I’m glad you feel better and it appears she’s very cautious which is so much better than wanting to rip you off of the drug.

 

I’d check with the members who have experience with crossovers for input. http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=96753.0

[[ca...]]

Hi Pamster,

 

Okay..now I'm really confused... lol. 

 

 

Someone else on my thread said this plan I have now is a reduction to the equivalent of 6 mg of Valium... How can that be given I'm being prescribed more than my starting dose?  I was under the impression my taper had not really started yet.  Just don't want to mess this up.

 

The Ashton says

0.5 clon am,

o.5 clon afternoon, and

0.25 and 5 mg valium  at bedtime( aren't I taking more than 0.25 by taking 0.375?)

 

Thank you for being around today!

[[Pa...]]

I don’t have experience tapering so I doubt myself a lot but this seems fairly straightforward.  Hopefully she’ll come back to explain her reasoning. 

 

Yeah, it’s great to get different opinions but sometimes members miss things or you get conflicting advice so its up to you to sort through things and use your best judgement but we’ll see if we can get this one cleared up.

 

 

[[ca...]]

yes, I hope so! It was benzolattes ( sorry don't have the spelling)who was concerned about the rapid cut.

 

yes, I'm doubting myself now too. 

 

I'm not sure how I could be cutting 6mg Valium equivalency with this plan. Maybe referring to the 0.125 reduction on clonazepam at bedtime? But I'm also taking 5 mg of valium at bedtime. Which ( i think) you and I thought maybe was too much valium?

 

i added a signature with the plan, so hopefully, that helps folks see what I'm doing

 

 

UGH!!!