77 yr old with short term mem loss Liquid taper Clonazepam

[[LL...]]

Hello,

Glad I found this group.

I am here for my husband who is 77 yrs old, I am 11 yrs younger (have to say that ) . He sees a psych who put him on Buspirone so he can get off Clonazepam as he has dementia (non-specific from CT sports accidents, alcohol abuse and sleep apnea). She said benzos are hard on the elderly especially those with memory loss. He did have anxiety that started when he was in his 50s. Did have some bouts of depression at that time as well. A little OCD. He was put on Paxil then when memory loss reared it's ugly head he was transitioned to Lexapro (Escatolipram sp?).  He is on 20mg of Esc 1X daily. We had tried to titrate off that a few years back and found out we did it too quickly after 3 months off he had a complete meltdown and I had to take him to ER.  It was reinstated. I think he will just stay on that for the rest of his life.
He is on Buspirone 7.5mg tabs taken 3X a day.  Psych doc wants him to take 15mg 3X a day until he tapers from liquid Clonazepam that we just picked up on Wednesday and have been administering at his regular dose since Thursday.  No tapering.

He has been on Clon tabs until this past Wed taking 0.5mg 2X daily, then 0.25 mg 1X in eve as we were tapering down.  

We now have the Clonazepam 0.5mg/ml suspended in oil. and he is taking 1ml by mouth 2X a day and .5mg 1X a day as of Thursday.  Of course don't anticipate any changes as I assume this is his normal dose as the tabs.  When I say we I mean me and a caregiver that comes in, in the mornings as I still work (from home).  We plan on doing the taper in two weeks of him being on this dose.

Just a side note, he was on Xanax as needed previous to all since 2021, but he required it more and more, then became a daily thing.  I don't remember how much not that much really.  Just enough to get rid of the shaking, hot head, heart pounding and constant walking.   We ran out of it this past Xmas because we gave more that what the bottle said so they would not give him more until his 30 days was up.  Family Doc prescribed Clon so we moved him to that.  

During all this time family doc said he probably needs to see gerentologist as they can help with his mem loss.  He is urinary incontinent and this all started really happening during the Xanax use.  Not sure or is it just coincidence?  Clon no difference still.  He no longer drinks ...except a light drink maybe once a week. I thank the Sinclair Method for that.  

We are ready to taper, and I have been reading a lot on here about it and other places.  My first question is at 77 is it worth it.  He has no other physical ailments except his memory loss.  He is healthy in all other aspects besides his mind and muscle weakness due to no exercise, but he had such bad anxiety I couldnt' get him to do anything so the muscle weakness from just sitting set in.  Now that he is better mentally we are going to have PT come in.  With lots of direction he can still dress, eat, shower.  He can speak, do math, read etc. no problems just has a 5 second retention period for new things, people, etc.  Yes it's weird. It's groundhog day here but it's groundhog minute   You have to have a sense of humor. 

We were thinking of following what someone wrote here - 5 - 10% reduction for two weeks, then two week hold see if any symptoms, if good then recalculate on the again for another 2 weeks, hold so on and so forth.  

He may be 90 by the time we are done... but I am just trying to preserve an already damaged brain.  

Any input is appreciated. 

BTW should he go up in the Buspirone 3X day 15 mg each tab?  The psych although does not understand micro tapering and I had to really talk her into the liquid clon saying the Clon tabs were too small to cut she has always been okay with what I have researched, and will be supportive if it works.  She was the only psych that would prescribe the med for the Sinclair Method.  So although she can't help with tapering she at least is on board presribing the liquid clon. 

Excuse the small book.

 

[[Co...]]

Hello @[LL...]. Welcome to BenzoBuddies.

I am sorry to learn of your husband's medical problems - it must be tough on you too.

There is a lot to unpack in your post, and it is late for me. But now that your introduction has been approved, you can post and interact freely with other members.

I'll come back to this topic tomorrow to reply if others have not done so already.

[[Th...]]

Hello and welcome to Benzo Buddies! 

 

I am not an expert at tapering, I did not have DRs help with my withdrawing from Xanax and only learned the proper way to taper here on Benzo Buddies after my last dose. 

I can tell you a little about Brusprione however, I was put on it twice in my life. Unless your husband has only mild anxiety, Brusprione doesn't have heavy action to high anxiety and only a small amount for medium anxiety. It works by balancing the Dopamine and Serotonin in the brain. Its meant to be used short term only, the body builds tolerance after a couple of months usage. It is addictive and requires tapering just as Benzos do to get off the drug. If your husband does increase his dose, it will only be effective a few weeks until he becomes tolerant again. Doctors won't tell your husband to taper, no one told me either, but it is very important to come off of Buspirone slowly to avoid high anxiety. 

 

[[LL...]]

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

Hello and welcome to Benzo Buddies! 

I am not an expert at tapering, I did not have DRs help with my withdrawing from Xanax and only learned the proper way to taper here on Benzo Buddies after my last dose. 

I can tell you a little about Brusprione however, I was put on it twice in my life. Unless your husband has only mild anxiety, Brusprione doesn't have heavy action to high anxiety and only a small amount for medium anxiety. It works by balancing the Dopamine and Serotonin in the brain. Its meant to be used short term only, the body builds tolerance after a couple of months usage. It is addictive and requires tapering just as Benzos do to get off the drug. If your husband does increase his dose, it will only be effective a few weeks until he becomes tolerant again. Doctors won't tell your husband to taper, no one told me either, but it is very important to come off of Buspirone slowly to avoid high anxiety. 

Just lovely!  SSRI Lexapro, Benzo and now Buspirone.  He is not a spring chicken. Maybe he needs to take Clom only for rest of his life and taper the Buspirone.  I'm so confused.

[[LL...]]

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

Hello @[LL...]. Welcome to BenzoBuddies.

I am sorry to learn of your husband's medical problems - it must be tough on you too.

There is a lot to unpack in your post, and it is late for me. But now that your introduction has been approved, you can post and interact freely with other members.

I'll come back to this topic tomorrow to reply if others have not done so already.

Thank you @[Co...]

[[LL...]]

3 minutes ago, [[L...] said:

Just lovely!  SSRI Lexapro, Benzo and now Buspirone.  He is not a spring chicken. Maybe he needs to take Clom only for rest of his life and taper the Buspirone.  I'm so confused.

I apologize @[Th...] I apologize for not thanking you for your welcome and response.  Was rude of me to reply ithout saying this first.

[[Th...]]

11 hours ago, [[L...] said:

I apologize @[Th...] I apologize for not thanking you for your welcome and response.  Was rude of me to reply ithout saying this first.

Oh, no problem!   Best wishes in all this! 

[[LL...]]

12 hours ago, [[L...] said:

Thank you @[Co...]

Thank you @colin I would appreciate your input. I know I put a lot in there and tried many times to shorten but couldn't.

[[Bu...]]

Hello @[LL...],

Gosh, I'm sorry for everything you and your husband are dealing with.  I'm really glad he has you, though.  And it's really good that you have a doctor who will listen to you.  I think that's half the battle with this stuff.  

So, a few questions just to make sure I understand:

The doctor does think that the Clonazepam is the source of the memory problems and wants to get him off?

How is his anxiety level now? 

Is he able to communicate effectively to you how he feels?  This would be very important to determine the speed of a taper.

When I wanted to get off Clonazepam, my doctor also wanted me to take buspirone at the same time and increase it as I decreased the Clonazepam.  I decide that I wanted to see how I actually felt coming down the taper to see if the buspirone was necessary.  Is this an option for you?  To just hold the buspirone at its current dose and see how the taper goes?  I'm asking because it might be easier to figure out what to do with the taper should a problem arise if there aren't other changes happening at the same time.

I think that's it for the moment.   I've got to head out for a bit, but I'll check back later today.

 

[[LL...]]

Thanks @BurnTheShips 
No his memory loss started before any benzos, she just does not older people on benzos as she said it does affect the memory more.  We think alike.  I'm thinking of keeping him at the level of buspirone he is on now which is 7.5 mg tabs 3X a day and taper the Clon per the protocol I listed. So far his anxiety has been negligible.  He has some distress with adbdominal pain due to constipation.  I actually took him to ER last week as my nurse friend said to get CT scan to ensure no blockage s he was in a lot of pain.  I am just waiting for the constipation protocol to work before tapering. 
How much Clon and Buspirone were you on prior to tapering? Did you finish the taper or still working on it?

Again thanks for your input makes me feel better about not upping the Busp.  

 

 

 

[[Bu...]]

Hey again, @[LL...],

I ended up not needing the B. at all.  It turned out that anxiety was very manageable for me using other techniques.  I took .25 mgs twice a day of the clon. for 20 years.  I have been off of it completely for a little over 7 months.  

I did not do the best taper and it was rough.  I hadn't found this site and didn't know about the 5-10% reduction taper plan.  I'm glad you already know about that.  A lot of folks end up doing even smaller reductions depending on their symptoms or holding longer than the two weeks.  A symptom guided taper works the best to mitigate withdrawal effects as much as possible.  

 

[[LL...]]

20 minutes ago, [[B...] said:

Hey again, @[LL...],

I ended up not needing the B. at all.  It turned out that anxiety was very manageable for me using other techniques.  I took .25 mgs twice a day of the clon. for 20 years.  I have been off of it completely for a little over 7 months.  

I did not do the best taper and it was rough.  I hadn't found this site and didn't know about the 5-10% reduction taper plan.  I'm glad you already know about that.  A lot of folks end up doing even smaller reductions depending on their symptoms or holding longer than the two weeks.  A symptom guided taper works the best to mitigate withdrawal effects as much as possible.  

 

20 minutes ago, [[B...] said:

Hey again, @[LL...],

I ended up not needing the B. at all.  It turned out that anxiety was very manageable for me using other techniques.  I took .25 mgs twice a day of the clon. for 20 years.  I have been off of it completely for a little over 7 months.  

I did not do the best taper and it was rough.  I hadn't found this site and didn't know about the 5-10% reduction taper plan.  I'm glad you already know about that.  A lot of folks end up doing even smaller reductions depending on their symptoms or holding longer than the two weeks.  A symptom guided taper works the best to mitigate withdrawal effects as much as possible.  

 

20 minutes ago, [[B...] said:

Hey again, @[LL...],

I ended up not needing the B. at all.  It turned out that anxiety was very manageable for me using other techniques.  I took .25 mgs twice a day of the clon. for 20 years.  I have been off of it completely for a little over 7 months.  

I did not do the best taper and it was rough.  I hadn't found this site and didn't know about the 5-10% reduction taper plan.  I'm glad you already know about that.  A lot of folks end up doing even smaller reductions depending on their symptoms or holding longer than the two weeks.  A symptom guided taper works the best to mitigate withdrawal effects as much as possible.  

Good for you that you are off of it.  Yeah I think I will take it very slow and hold for a little longer.  Already tried taper from Escitolapram (Lexipro) and not good, had to reinstate him.  So lesson learned.  Slow and steady.

Thanks for your input

[[Bu...]]

You are very welcome.  Let us know if you have other questions or just need to reach out for support.  

It's my understanding that benzos are unique in the damage that they can do in the long term and that that isn't an issue with long term anti-depressant use. And we all just have to figure out the best options for our current situations.