Feeling better?

[[jf...]]

I was wondering if as my doses of Klonopin slowly get smaller and smaller, that I will start to feel more like myself again. Or do I need to be completely off them before myself starts coming back? 

[[Je...]]

3 hours ago, [[j...] said:

I was wondering if as my doses of Klonopin slowly get smaller and smaller, that I will start to feel more like myself again. Or do I need to be completely off them before myself starts coming back? 

Most Buddies will share that as the doses get smaller and smaller it gets more difficult, but everyone is different so it's impossible to say. I'm on my second taper and I'm actually feeling pretty good. Like you, I was prescribed 3 mg per day, then I went to 2.5 mg per day, and now I am down to 0.25 mg per day, but I've been at it off and on for several years. Never going back up but having periods of time where I didn't cut at all.

Now, I'm in the "home stretch" I hope, and I am feeling withdrawal symptoms more acutely than I did when I first started. But they're not unbearable. I'm honestly surprised it is going as well as it is. Surprised and very Grateful! Funny thing is that I DO feel more "like myself" only with unpleasant side effects. 

I guess I'm trying to say that you may feel worse as your dose gets smaller, but you may not, too. I'm hoping you'll start feeling more like yourself soon!

Jess

[[jf...]]

What kind of side effects are you experiencing? 

[[Je...]]

39 minutes ago, [[j...] said:

What kind of side effects are you experiencing? 

Right now, I'm mostly having headaches. In the mornings I'll wake up with a kind of "internal vibration" or "jittery" sort of feeling, but that goes away pretty quickly.  Sometimes I'll feel a surge of adrenaline - the kind that used to lead to panic attacks, but I've gotten a lot better at just letting those feelings sort of move through me.

I've had a couple of nights when I've woken up with a racing heart, but I've managed to get through those by getting up and having a cup of chamomile tea, doing some stretching and deep breathing. Now that I know what is going on, it's mostly more annoying than alarming. 

The problem with my w/d symptoms is that I'm also on chemo, so I'm not sure which symptoms are side effects from the chemo drugs and which ones are benzo-related. A lot of them are the same. It's kinda crazy.

Most of the time I try to just blow things off and not focus on them - sort of like walking into a table, muttering a curse under my breath, and moving on to whatever I was doing before my klutzy butt walked into furniture. Later on, I'll see a bruise and wonder where it came from. I just try really hard not to give the symptoms any importance or weight, if that makes sense. I know when they're really severe this is NOT an easy thing to do. I had a much harder go of it the last time I tapered. But I also hadn't been in chemo, yet, and that just knocks me flat.

Jess

[[jf...]]

Thank you. I just want to make sure that I go low and slow enough that my symptoms will be as mild as possible, as I cannot afford to not work.  I have also kind of been gauging if I'm stable or not by how a cup of coffee effects me, if I can drink a cup of half caff in the morning and not feel anxious or jittery, that's a good indicator that I've pretty much stabilized. 

Edited July 26, 2023 by [jf...]

[[Je...]]

30 minutes ago, [[j...] said:

Thank you. I just want to make sure that I go low and slow enough that my symptoms will be as mild as possible, as I cannot afford to not work.  I have also kind of been gauging if I'm stable or not by how a cup of coffee effects me, if I can drink a cup of half caff in the morning and not feel anxious or jittery, that's a good indicator that I've pretty much stabilized. 

I like the "coffee test!"

[[jf...]]

8 hours ago, [[J...] said:

Most Buddies will share that as the doses get smaller and smaller it gets more difficult, but everyone is different so it's impossible to say. I'm on my second taper and I'm actually feeling pretty good. Like you, I was prescribed 3 mg per day, then I went to 2.5 mg per day, and now I am down to 0.25 mg per day, but I've been at it off and on for several years. Never going back up but having periods of time where I didn't cut at all.

Now, I'm in the "home stretch" I hope, and I am feeling withdrawal symptoms more acutely than I did when I first started. But they're not unbearable. I'm honestly surprised it is going as well as it is. Surprised and very Grateful! Funny thing is that I DO feel more "like myself" only with unpleasant side effects. 

I guess I'm trying to say that you may feel worse as your dose gets smaller, but you may not, too. I'm hoping you'll start feeling more like yourself soon!

Jess

How much did you go down, and how often?

 

[[Je...]]

13 hours ago, [[j...] said:

How much did you go down, and how often?

Here is a copy of my recent signature with all the details starting in 2019. (Cut and Paste) It's been a sporadic taper.  

 

Jan 2019-21: Prescribed 3 but took 2.5 mg/day Klonopin (K). In treatment for Bone Cancer. After 4 rounds of chemo, have a stem cell transplant in June 2019. Immunotherapy in late 2019. Lose a scary amount of weight. 

Start taper of K:

1/22/21 - 1 mg AM/1.25 mg PM (Cut from 1.5 PM)

7/16/21 - 1 AM/1.125 PM

8/01/21 - 1 AM/1 PM

Hold for nearly a year ...

7/01/22 - .75 AM/1 PM

7/26/22 - .75 AM/.75 PM

8/26/22 - .625 AM/.75 PM

9/08/22 - .5 AM/.75 PM

9/26/22 - Relapse of Cancer - Start Treatment - hold until January - a little over 3 months

~2023~ Gettin' Serious

1/01 - .5 AM/.625 PM

1/19 - .5 AM/.5 PM

3/13 - .375 AM/.5 PM

4/3 - .375 AM/.375 PM

5/1 - .25 AM/.375 PM

5/29 - .25 AM/.25 PM

6/19 - .125 AM/.25 PM

7/12 - 0 AM/.25 PM

 

[[Je...]]

13 hours ago, [[j...] said:

How much did you go down, and how often?

Oh, I wanted to say, too, that my taper is NOT typical. It's actually kind of fast. Most Buddies go slower, and, honestly, I would advise that, I think. You want to feel as good as possible and slower is generally better. I'm just really motivated because of my other health issues, although, I am thinking for the rest of my taper I am going to make smaller cuts.