Clonazepam…. Switching to 3 times a day?

[[Ma...]]

Hi Benzo community,

My boyfriend is tapering clonazepam and is currently at .25 twice a day.  He started at .5 mg and has tapered by half in about 6 months. He is very sensitive to each cut, especially recently.  He tapers with a scale and his last couple of tapers have been just 2% and he still has been experiencing intense symptoms, and has spent most of the last couple of months in bed.  Probably partially withdrawal and partially underlying conditions.  He’s probably going to hold at this dose for awhile once he becomes stable again but he’s also considering switching to dosing 3 times a day because those last 4 hours between dosages are pretty brutal.  He’s nervous about the twitch though and wondering if that in and of itself will cause a disruption.  Anyone have experience with this? Would you recommend staying at the same daily dose and just dividing by 3 or going up a little? Thank you so much.  

[[Br...]]

Hello @[Ma...] -  It would be helpful to know more about his taper so far.  How long has he typically held between cuts?  How long has he held at his current daily dose? 

 

I hope you'll hear from a member with experience increasing the number of times they dose clonazepam each day.  Here's a link with some information about dosing several times a day.  https://www.benzoinfo.com/benzodiazepine-tapering-strategies/#dosing-multiple-times-per-day. 

 

[[...]]

I can't say if splitting the does into three will help all that much with K. Read the link. He is gonna feel some withdrawal no matter what. 

The main point I would like to share is, for a lot of people benzos are difficult to discontinue.

If he is having symptoms and they go away if he takes a little more than you can be pretty confident it is the pills.

Search this site for symptoms.

Then it is just a decision to get off of them. Read this site you'll see benzos are not a casual toy. They are in a class all by them selves. Please read all you can.

YouTube benzo withdrawal. 

He is most likely going to have to practice dealing with the feelings of withdrawal in place of taking more. 

Taking more is a mistake. Get stable where you are, and taper.

Do whatever it takes to get bezos out of your lives.

No game! 

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by [...]

[[Ma...]]

Thank you so much for your replies

Ok yes, definitely agree that getting off is the way to go.  He’s not planning on increasing the daily dose, just splitting current daily dose into 3 so each dose will be less…. 

More information…. There is a lot I can say.  I think a lot of times this is an epic horrible journey and his is no exception. He was first put on 6mg of Ativan a day in the hospital for depressive catatonia in 2020. Then he started tapering too fast when he got out and ended up in catatonia again and back to the hospital. The second time they just gave him .5 mg Klonopin twice a day and he has been on that dose since May of 2021.  Tried adding antidepressants which always made things worse. He tried adding gabapentin which helped. He has a team - therapist, naturopath, and psychiatrist.  Everyone says he should be fine to dose 3 times a day.  But just thought I’d ask here to see other’s experience with this.

Thank you 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by [Ma...]

[[Br...]]

I think you're on the right path about splitting the daily dose into 3 since interdose withdrawal seems to be causing him the most trouble. If he goes that route I hope he'll give himself time to stabilize before he starts to taper again.  In addition to making small cuts it can also help to hold longer between cuts.  We find the best approach is to let the taper be guided by how he's feeling.

 

[[Ni...]]

I am tapering Valium and just experimented with dividing my total med into 3 doses after several years of tapering slowly. I have intense IDW and was hoping that 3 doses would help.

I stopped after 2 days because I was experiencing 2 crashes a day instead of just the end of the day. I have been able to function somewhat most days till late afternoon on 2 doses.

On 3, I was having intense symptoms in the early afternoon starting 1.5 hours before I planned dose #2. I did rebound and probably felt better in the early evening after that #2 dose, but the price was real misery for 2-3 hours in the mid afternoon. I'd rather deal with that in the evening when I have adapted to some ways to get through the time till my evening dose.

If I can figure out how I will link to the question I posted on this, or maybe you'll see it.  

[[Ma...]]

On 01/10/2023 at 17:35, [[N...] said:

I am tapering Valium and just experimented with dividing my total med into 3 doses after several years of tapering slowly. I have intense IDW and was hoping that 3 doses would help.

I stopped after 2 days because I was experiencing 2 crashes a day instead of just the end of the day. I have been able to function somewhat most days till late afternoon on 2 doses.

On 3, I was having intense symptoms in the early afternoon starting 1.5 hours before I planned dose #2. I did rebound and probably felt better in the early evening after that #2 dose, but the price was real misery for 2-3 hours in the mid afternoon. I'd rather deal with that in the evening when I have adapted to some ways to get through the time till my evening dose.

If I can figure out how I will link to the question I posted on this, or maybe you'll see it.  

this is my problem trying to decide to split Ativan once a day into 2, I’m like aren’t I just going to go into withdrawal twice now?