Tapering from 2mg 3 year long habit

[[Sw...]]

I’ve currently been on klonopin for 3 years. My doctor and me decided it was finally time to get off of it. I’ve been dealing with horrible brain fog, memory issues, depression, rebound anxiety, and surprisingly low libido. I’ve tapered down to 1mg recently. But since I’ve tapered my brain fog, libido, depression is getting sort of worse. It’s manageable but it’s definitely worse. I’ve been at 1mg for almost 2 weeks now. Was just wondering how long now it would take me to get totally off of it. Also one thing that I find odd is the libido issue. Klonopin doesn’t work on serotonin like an SSRI. But I’m just wondering if this is normal. Thanks 

[[Pa...]]

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

It sounds like the medication was causing you problems, this is pretty typical, it begins to cause the problems we went on it to correct, only worse, and of course, it adds in a few more.  Its common for symptoms to get worse as we taper, and once off the medication, it can take awhile to recover but its possible so don't lose heart.

Low libido is a common withdrawal (and tolerance) symptom but believe it or not, some of our members report increased libido, another one of the awful mysteries of this process, we're not all affected the same.

May I ask how long it took you to get from 2 mgs to 1?  We suggest reducing your dose by about 5-10% every couple of weeks or what is even better is letting your body decide your taper rate.  When we reduce according to our symptoms, we can hopefully avoid intense symptoms.  

What size pills do you have, are you currently dry cutting them, this can work quite well until you get to the lower doses when it typically becomes too difficult to cut them accurately.  We can help you manage your taper if you're interested.

Please let us know how we can help you, we're glad you're here.

@[Pa...]

[[Sw...]]

Hey @[Pa...] I have 1mg pills. And I dropped from 2mg to 1 basically instantly. It’s been roughly 2 weeks now. Not totally sure. I’m going to start documenting. My dr suggested gabapentin. But that’s like a whole nother ball game I don’t want to be a part of. And I would like to make the taper from 1mg down to 0 as painless (if possible) as possible 

[[Pa...]]

@[Sw...], I strongly suggest you hold this dose until you begin to feel a bit more stable, cutting your dose by half is a huge reduction.  When you started this medication, your brain adapted to it by limiting the production of GABA, the neurotransmitter responsible for keeping us calm because the drug was supplying it.  When you remove the drug too quickly, you're left with only glutamate, its the excitatory neurotransmitter which will cause a host of symptoms like what you're describing.  By reducing slowly, we hope your brain will once again begin producing GABA but this takes time, a long time.  

This process isn't simply about getting the drug out of your body, major changes have to be reversed, new pathways have to grow and balance has to be restored.

Please read all you can about what benzodiazepines can do and take this document to your doctor so they can be better informed about what you're facing.  Not all will suffer as most of us here, but given your symptoms and your length of use, I'm concerned. 

Deprescribing Guidance

As for Gabapentin, some of our members say it helps them, others not so much, but it must be tapered as well.  Please do your research, my doctor wanted me to take it for a herniated disc but once I read the printout from the pharmacy, I was too scared to take it.  If you decide to use adjunct medications to help taper from this drug, please start low and go slow, this process causes our central nervous system to be extremely sensitive, so we never know how we're going to react, even to supplements and medications we've taken in the past.

 

[[Sw...]]

Do you know how long each drop takes to adjust too. I know you said 10 percent. But I dropped down to .5mg over the last 3 days. Definitely feeling shakey, anxious, restless all over again. Kind of how the drop from 2 to 1 was. I’m already 3 days into the .5 drop. So I’m not gong. To go back up. But when I stabilize at .5mg I’m going to go a lot slower. 

[[Pa...]]

I didn't taper but members will say that with Klonopin, they usually begin to feel the symptoms between 2-5 days later, with them leveling out somewhat around day 10.  

I'm glad you're going to slow down, I think its wise to allow time for healing between reductions, use the medication to temper your symptoms while you still have it to take.  I quit cold turkey and all of my healing had to take place after and it took me over a year to recover.