2mg Klonopin withdrawal

[[hw...]]

Im a 34 year old male that has been taking 2mg of Klonopin every night for almost a year.  I also take 300mg of Trazadone at night and 100mg of Zoloft.  I would like to stop taking the Klonopin without having to much withdrawal symptoms.  I stopped taking Xanax about three months ago.  I was taking 2mg 3x a day.  The first few weeks were horrible but now I am feeling better but am unsure if thats due to taking the Klonopin.  I just registered to this forum so any advice would be much appreciated.  Thank you. 

[[Cr...]]

Hello hw08070, Welcome to BenzoBuddies!

 

So up until about 3 months ago you were taking 6 mg of Xanax and 2 mg of Klonopin a day?  Did you taper the xanax or did you just stop it?  

 

We will gladly help you taper the 2 mg of Klonopin.  There is no guarantee that you won't have many withdrawal symptoms, but your best bet is to do a slow taper at about 10% every 1 to 2 weeks.

 

All of the buddies here will be glad to support you through this journey.  If you have any other questions, feel free to ask  

 

Crono

[[hw...]]

I had to stop the xanax cold turkey.  I had a problem finding a doctor that would prescribe it for me.  I took Xanax at that dose for almost five years and was prescribed the Klonopin about a year ago.  The Klonopin is 2mg tablets which I take once at bedtime.  I cant really taper at 10% due to the pill itself.  I can score it in fourths and start taking 1.5mg for the next few weeks if you think that is a good idea. 

[[Cr...]]

Going from 2 mgs to 1.5 mgs is a pretty steep cut.  You may be able to weather a .25 mg cut to start out.  Is there any way you can get your doctor to prescribe the .5 mg pills?  You can cut them into 1/4ths and cut by .125 mgs every 1 to 2 weeks, I think that would be a lot easier on you.  Your goal is to get off of this drug with the least amount of withdrawal symptoms as possible.

 

If you can't get the .5 pills just yet, you may be able to do liquid titration for the time being since cutting 2 mg pills up into 8 even doses isn't the easiest thing to do.  That involves crushing the pill up and suspending it in liquid and removing a small amount at a time.

 

There is also another option of seeing if your doctor will switch you over to Valium.  That is the easiest pill to dry cut because compared to klonopin it is lower potency per milligram and comes in 2 mg tablets which is equal to .1 mgs of klonopin.  

 

There are many options available for you and we will gladly work with whatever route you choose or are capable of doing.

[[St...]]

Hi hw08070,

 

Congratulations on getting off the xanax! at least the klonopin seems to have tide you over ok. Is there a way you can talk your doctor into prescribing a 1mg or .5 mg Klonopin tablet? it would be a little easier for you to taper from that. I'm glad you found us, many buddies here are tapering from klonopin and can understand how you feel.

 

We're hear to support you along the way, welcome to BenzoBuddies      

 

 

[[so...]]

hw, sorry but all your doctor did for you was to get you double dipping in the benzo's.  Xanax, clono , valium ,  all in the same famiy , do the same thing, but have different speeds they leave your body ( half -life).

I am not surprised cutting the xanax all at once put you into a tail spin. 

As was mentioned by Crono, you should go back to your doctor and have him prescribe the clono in .5 mg strength so you can control the speed of withdrawl better.  from 2 to 1.5 all at once is a pretty big bite and can cause a big increasein the severity of symptoms you can experience.

the .125 mg per 10 days down to 1mg. mark, then 10% per week from there on out would be a good pace to try.

its easiest to do the 10% per week using titration, which seems complicated to some, but is really an easy thing to set up .

If interested post on titration  forum and we can help set up a reduction sechedule for you.

st

 

[[hw...]]

I unfortunately dont have insurance right now and am only able to taper down with what I currently have.  So far I haven't had too many issues cutting it down to 1.5mg.  This is the third day now and have noticed some insomnia and some minor tremors.  Nothing as severe as when I quit taking Xanax.  As far as double dipping they had me on both xanax and klonopin at the same time.  The Xanax withdrawal was horrible.  I'm sure coming off of the 2mg of Klonopin is going to be a tough battle since this will be the last benzo I will be withdrawing from.  The reason I started taking these is I have a stomach disease called Gastroparesis.  I eventually lost my job, house and savings due to this disease.  It put me in a major state of depression and panic.  Fortunately I have a very strong and faithful wife that has supported me through this very difficult struggle.  I just hope shes going to be able to handle this next benzo withdrawal.  I will have Health Insurance in the beginning of July.  I hope to find a doctor in my area that will be supportive of this and know what to do.  Is their a place where people have posted helpful doctors in the Unites States?

[[hw...]]

Well I caved in and had to take the 2mg pill tonight.  I'm going to wait until I have insurance to try and get on valium to do a slow taper. 

[[...]]

It's up to you how you go about getting off.

 

Just know that dosing twice a day with klonopin, dropping a small amount each week, is what I did and very doable.

 

I agree, a 0.5 mg drop is too much. You could go with 0.25 or 0.125. Using 0.5 mg pills, you can decently split them into quarters. Or dissolve in water and divide the water.

 

I do think finding a provider to help with the process is a good idea. Good luck!