Help! Suffering from interdose withdrawals

[[Cy...]]

I have been on Clonazepam for about 4 years, started tapering about 6-7 weeks ago. I have suffered from tolerance and interdose withdrawals for some time, prior to knowledge of benzo harm and needing to get off of them.  I have tapered from .375 mg to right around .25 mg in the pm, and have held steady at .125 mg am.  Late afternoons, I used to take a tiny dose, if and when needed, but stopped that when I started tapering plan.  My interdose withdrawals have become really problematic.  Late afternoons, my anxiety is now re-surging, having bad panic attacks, difficult to do anything at all.  Should I consider reshuffling my daily dose to add back a small afternoon dose?  It subsides around 7-8 pm and then I feel at my best for the rest of the night. 

Thank you!

Edited February 15 by [Cy...]

[[Br...]]

Hello @[Cy...] -   I'm wondering if it would help to divide your daily dose more evenly so that you're taking 3 equal doses at consistent intervals and times each day.  The point would be to keep the blood level of med more consistent.

[[Cy...]]

How would I go about doing that without making symptoms worse in the morning (my worst time of day by far)?  Originally, I was on .5 mg pm, .25 am, .125 afternoon.  I started cutting back, 1.5-2 years ago, again, not realizing that benzos were harmful, or that there could/would be any impact at the time, simply because I didn't think I needed to be taking as much.  

Thank you!

[[Cy...]]

I just read that Vitamin D can be problematic; it interacts with Gaba. I currently take a Vitamin D supplement daily mid afternoon.  I'm wondering if that may be causing the increased anxiety. Anyone have thoughts on this?

Thank you!

[[WU...]]

Vitamin D is a hormone. I personally wouldn't take it and prefer to wait for the sunshine

[[Br...]]

On 15/02/2024 at 18:26, [[C...] said:

Should I consider reshuffling my daily dose to add back a small afternoon dose? 

I wonder if you evenly divide your daily dose into morning and evening/night doses ( for total of two daily doses) whether this would help.  

Which do you think is a bigger problem for you, interdose withdrawal or tolerance withdrawal?

19 hours ago, [[C...] said:

I just read that Vitamin D can be problematic; it interacts with Gaba. I currently take a Vitamin D supplement daily mid afternoon.  I'm wondering if that may be causing the increased anxiety. Anyone have thoughts on this?

It's very difficult to separate out what the causes of various withdrawal symptoms are. There's no way to say definitively that Vit D is causing increased anxiety for you.   Unfortunately anxiety is one of the most common withdrawal symptoms.  It's a miserable symptom that takes anxiety through the roof for many of us.  It certainly did for me.  But as you heal and recover this symptom will fade away.  If you take Vitamin D because it is medically necessary due to a deficiency I personally wouldn't change it.  

[[Cy...]]

4 hours ago, [[B...] said:

I wonder if you evenly divide your daily dose into morning and evening/night doses ( for total of two daily doses) whether this would help.  

Which do you think is a bigger problem for you, interdose withdrawal or tolerance withdrawal?

Thanks for your thoughtfulness on this. It's really hard to say which is worse; they're both pretty severe.  Tolerance withdrawal effects me all morning, and then interdose kicks in later in the day. I would think that the tolerance withdrawal might get worse if I shift too much of the pm dose to the morning dose? Another consideration for me is that I really don't like how I feel on a higher dose of clonazepam in the morning.  I hate this drug. It has effected my cognition and brain functionality immensely.  I literally can't function until it wears off.  Having said that, if it would help the overall amount of anxiety, I would give it a try.

Thank you!

 

[[Br...]]

I may be wrong but I don't think symptoms from tolerance withdrawal would be affected by a shift in the timing of your doses.  Interdose withdrawal, on the other hand, may be affected (positively we hope). Here's a good information page on Interdose withdrawal.

Tolerance withdrawal as I understand it is not episodic.  Why do you think you have tolerance withdrawal?  Here's a good description of Tolerance.

It sounds like you've determined to get off this drug and that determination will be a great strength for you.  Ideally you can get as stabilized as possible before you continue tapering and then continue in a way that keeps your symptoms as manageable as possible so you're able to function as well as possible. 

[[Cy...]]

Sorry for the delay.  My symptoms of both tolerance and interdose withdrawal match those outlined.  Tolerance withdrawal started in the fall of 2021, and has been a long road. My psych wouldn't increase the doseage (maybe a good thing in hindsight).  Instead, around March of 2022, he added gabapentin, which made the situation far worse and at that point, my mental capacity was severely impacted. I had no idea why my anxiety was getting worse. I now know that it was the medications, which over time created various health complications, from severe gastro issues, to muscular/joint issues, both of which still exist, to becoming agoraphobic since the latter months of 2023.  None of my doctors recognized the signs.  It was a therapist that planted the benzo seed.  However, I developed a severe histamine intolerance and one doctor did tell me that I am "allergic" to the clonazepam and staying on it is complicating matters. The most upsetting, of course, is that the Harvard trained psychiatrist had no idea. He even had me take a  genetic test to try to figure out the issue! From what I know now, the signs were very clear. 

I understand that it was not ideal starting a taper with tolerance withdrawal, however, it became a matter of survival for me, and I can't wait to be off of these medications.

I stopped the Vitamin D and Magnesium a couple of days ago; the afternoon anxiety improved some. I did a 5% cut to the pm dose last night, and amazingly had less anxiety today. (I usually feel the cuts right away).  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

My two current doses are taken right before bed and as soon as I wake up. The pm dose does, at this stage, still help me sleep. But the morning dose does nothing for the anxiety, and in fact, I feel like it amps it up.  The anxiety has always been far worse in the morning. When I started the clonazepam, of course, it worked it's magic. As time went on, the anxiety would last longer and longer into the day, to the point now where it lasts into the evening before subsiding (With the uptick in the late afternoon.)

My plan was to keep cutting the pm dose, until the two doses are more even, before touching the am dose. Any suggestions are appreciated!

Thank you!!