Question about updosing kolonopin 5 days after dropping.

[[ha...]]

I am tapering off of kolonopin. I'm currently at 6.125 daily.  When my cut was due of .125 on Monday I attempted to hold. I felt worse after taking that dose. On Tuesday I only reduced by .063 I found relief there withdrawal wise and only minor annoyance with tolerance withdrawal. On Wed, thurs,Fri and Sat (today) I did my full cut of .125 every day has felt worse than the last. My question is what would happen if I tried to go back up to .063 after 4 days of doing the .125 cut? I'm asking because my symptoms are awful enough to consider this. I would hand to still go down by .125 by the end of this month. Please help, thanks!

[[Pa...]]

Hello @[ha...], welcome to BenzoBuddies,

I would hope that going back to the .063 reduction would relieve some of your symptoms, but there is no way to know if that will happen because I've seen members say up-dosing didn't relieve their symptoms but still others say it did.

This is your taper and tapers mean we have to experiment to find what works for us, the trouble with using ourselves as subjects is it can be painful but unfortunately, this is all we have.  We like to focus on patient led, symptom based tapers as the ideal way to taper so if you're feeling awful, maybe its a good idea.  

Can you share a little more of your taper with us, are you cutting your tablets or are you using a scale to weigh them?  How long do you typically hold between reductions and how long have you used Klonopin?  Sorry for the questions, but the answers may help us help you.

@[Pa...]

[[ha...]]

I currently don't have Scale so I've been cutting my pills. I cut the .5 pills

I usually wait exactly 30 days. I tried to hold on Monday but felt worse taking the dose (midday)

After reducing .063 I felt some relief, but felt like I was straddling the fence.

About a year ago I was tapering off of xanax, then after my si attempt, I was switched to lorazepam in the hospital, then in the pych ward was put on colonopin and then in the treatment center I was up dosed and did two cuts at .25 every two weeks for only one month and then went down to cutting at .125 each month. Last month I asked about updosing and I waited until I was 2 weeks into my taper and I only did it for 1 day at .125 and it caused interdose wd. It ruined my taper, now I'm scared because I feel so crappy but it's only been 4 days and not two weeks so I'm wondering if it would make it even worse, if things stay the same I might be able to deal with it, but if they get worse I don't know what other option there is! Thank you for helping me with this,I really don't know where else to turn!

[[Pa...]]

@[ha...], are you in charge of your taper or is someone directing it?  It sounds like you've had it pretty rough, all of those medication changes had to have been destabilizing.

25 minutes ago, [[h...] said:

Last month I asked about updosing and I waited until I was 2 weeks into my taper and I only did it for 1 day at .125 and it caused interdose wd.

Are you saying the up-dose didn't help?  

May I ask what your dose of benzodiazepine was when you first decided to taper?  

 

[[ha...]]

Sorry it took me a bit to get back to you, the symptoms of the cut hit me hard but thank God they are lower than they were. The updose made everything worse and I was told by a not so smart doc to move my doses of gabapentin for a day. This caused interdose wd with both drugs I believe. I stayed tapering at 8mg kolonopin about a year ago and have been taking 900mg gabapentin daily for the same time. How do I know if I am having wd from gab. My last cut was from kolonopin, the same cut I always do of .125 and it was brutal. I'm getting up at 3-4 each morning in wd and thankfully it's more mild than it was a few days ago. When I say mild I mean anybody else would be screaming, but I've kinda got used to the pain. The pain is my friend is the attitude I keep. God is with me through it! Any thoughts on whats going on with the kolonopin and gabapentin? 

[[Pa...]]

I'm glad you have a good attitude and believe me I get it when you say anybody else would be screaming, this process is brutal.  

I have no idea what is going on with the Klonopin and Gabapentin, there's no way to know what is causing what when more than one variable is involved.  This is why we suggest only tapering one medication at a time, its too difficult to make adjustments when we don't know which one is causing the issue. 

What is your plan for the Gabapentin, you say the doctor suggested you move it for a day, does that mean you're still taking it daily except for that one day?

[[ha...]]

I am not tapering off of the gabapentin but moving it most likely contributed to destabilization of both kolonopin and gabapentin. I have a question, can you shave .125 off of a 1mg kolonopin tab and it be accurate as long as I'm using a scale? Is the medication evenly distributed throughout 1mg kolonopin tabs?

[[ha...]]

Can you file down 1mg kolonopin tabs accurately using a scale? Is the medication distributed equally in the pill? I am trying to find out if I can make .063 or .125 cuts from my 1mg tabs. Has anyone successfully shaved down 1mg kolonopin tabs because my doctor has a weird issue with prescribing the necessary .5 kolonopin strength, I don't get it. Please advise!

[[Pa...]]

The manufacturer will typically say that if the tablet is scored, you can be assured of even distribution in the two halves.  Most members who crush the whole tablet before weighing it are confident they're getting good distribution of the medication. 

And I agree with you that its possible to become destabilized by changing dosing times and even manufacturers. 

[[Pa...]]

Can you elaborate on your doctors concerns, are they not in favor of prescribing a lower dose pill for easier tapering?  

[[ha...]]

He's primarily a pain med and alcohol addiction doctor so he doesn't really understand benzos. I have no clue why he doesn't want me to have .5's he said you want .5 and I don't want you to have .5 so that is why I'm asking how does cutting a 1mg kolonopin into 8 equal parts. I may have to start cutting .125 or even .63 from a 1mg tab, I've looked everywhere online, how is this done accurately at home? If there is powder, how do you take that without wasting any? Can you dissolve a 1mg pill ok kolonopin in water and use a syringe to remove .125 by just removing 1/8th of the water? How accurate would this be? Which method do you trust and how do you do it?

[[Pa...]]

Your doctor is obviously uneducated about this subject, I'm sorry you're being placed in this position.  I'm including some links for you to take a look at, one is a deprescribing document, this is something your doctor should familiarize himself with, he's not dealing with addiction when it comes to treating you, I wish he knew the difference. 

I didn't taper but it seems like members use both dry titration (weighing their dry dose) and liquid titration fairly evenly, its about what you feel more comfortable with and what your lifestyle can support. 

I've included 2 video's about how to use liquid to taper.

There is also shaving and weighing which many use, I've included a video. 

Benzo-Deperscribing.pdf (corxconsortium.org)

 

 

[[ha...]]

Thank you for these, I already watched the one with the scale and they didn't know what to do with the powder and they are micro tapering where I'm trying to remove a much larger cut from each 1mg tab such as .063 or .125

My doctor does prescribe .5's but he is extremely stingy with them so instead of me having control of my taper, he is controlling it. Is there a method to accurately remove .125 or 1/8th from a 1mg tab, all I can find is people shaving off such tiny amounts.

Edited March 24 by [ha...]