tolerance wtihdrawal

[[Ko...]]

I have been on klonopin 0.5 mg at bedtime since April of this year. I had maybe 2 days of taking full 1 mg a day and 10 days of taking .75 mg since that time period- less than once per week. I also had some days of taking 0.25 mg but not in any pattern.

Anyway, at some point over the past month I developed intermittant ear ringing and muscle weakness (I have always been athletic and exercised everyday)- didn't know what was going on though.

A little over a week ago, I started decreasing my klonopin to 0.25 mg or 0.375 each day as I was going to taper myself off of it. Within 3 days I felt extremely tired and by the end of the week the tinnitus was super loud and and I felt like I was in a fog. Sleep had never been good (and was why I prescribed it in the first place) and deteriorated as well.

I went back to the 0.5 mg at bedtime 6 days ago and feel better but still have the tinnitus, fatigue, and major sleep difficulties- like 2 hours most nights. Do people with experience think a DMT is best if in tolerance withdrawal at the starting point?  Or try for a 5% reduction initially?

I still need to secure that I have a provider that will work with me for the long haul for a slow taper as my current psychiatrist was in disbelief about my withdrawal reaction and am not 100% certain she will work with me for the time it will take. I have something scheduled with a different provider for August 2nd so feeling stuck at 0.5 mg until then. Please pray for me that the new provider will work with me on this.

Trying to let the fear and worry go until that appointment but its quite difficult.

[[Pa...]]

I read on your other thread you’ll be going on vacation soon, I hope you’ll take this opportunity to stabilize on whatever dose will help you enjoy your time.  Please be consistent, your body is craving this and when you get back, you can get serious about your taper. 

 

I hope you can find a provider to work with you, it’s so frustrating when we aren’t believed, when they discount our pain and the reason for it. 

 

Tapering for most of us here is an unpleasant experience (to put it mildly) and one method isn’t really better than another, but its important to find the method that is better for you.  Unfortunately, this requires experimenting on yourself and its frustrating and painful but we don’t know another way. 

 

I looked at your conversation with jelly baby and she’s been providing some great advice, she has taper experience where I don’t so I’d listen to her.  Crushing and weighing for now would be a good way to start, I get nervous when members make daily reductions, I’ve seen those catch up to them and some end up going up in dose or having to hold until things settle down. 

 

But the good thing is you have some time to sort this out, and I hope you’ll get on a steady dose whatever is will be so you can be in the right frame of mind when you begin your taper.

 

 

[[Ko...]]

Thank you for your kind reply. What's sad is that I am nervous about vacation. We are visiting my aunt and uncle and I am so different from this time last year. I am fatigued and it's hard for me to sleep consistently even on the 0.5 dosage.

 

But, I am feeling more stabilized with the 0.5 mg dosage than I was.  I am probably going to shave and weigh making 5% exponential reductions each every 3 weeks. I will see what the new prospective provider says.

[[Pa...]]

It’s tough to know if its safe to share what’s going on with us, will we be labeled addicts, will our suffering be discounted, will our loved ones understand?  I hope you can figure out what to tell your relatives and hope they’re the kind of people who will trust you and validate your experience.

 

The problem with being nervous is it can make our symptoms worse, our emotions are directly tied to this process and I consider stress to be the biggest contributor to increased symptom severity.

 

It’s good to have a plan but as far as an exponential vs linear taper, you may need to incorporate both and be flexible in your timeline, remember, the goal is to stay functional.

[[Ko...]]

Thanks- I will update when I get back from vacation and see the new provider. Doing lots of reading of posts here and on facebook- not sure if that is a good idea.

[[Pa...]]

The forum can be a force for good but it can also be a curse, take what you need and leave the rest, thats my motto.