My one year tapering anniversary. Starting last 25% of my taper - any advice?

[[Ma...]]

It’s been a year.  Exactly one year ago, I started tapering from 1.0 of Clonazepam I’ve been taking for almost a decade.  I honestly thought I would be done in a couple months but learned better.  I’ve been holding at .25 for a couple months now and am ready to finish this. I’m fully functional right now, although sleep can still be a challenge some nights.  In retrospect my taper from .5 to .25 has been smoother than 1 to 0.5 in spite of some unrelated life challenges.  I think in my mind, Ive dreaded this last part of my taper because I’ve unfortunately read some horror stories. My plan is to cut to .225 for 10-14 days and see how it goes.  Appreciate any advice about people tapering from Clonazepam how they handled the lower doses.  

[[je...]]

What percentage cuts have you been making from 0.5 to 0.25? And what method do you use? Cut and hold?

[[Ma...]]

1 hour ago, [[j...] said:

What percentage cuts have you been making from 0.5 to 0.25? And what method do you use? Cut and hold?

I’ve been doing mostly cut and hold.  I ran into problems twice: I did a 25%cut to .75 at the beginning which gave me awful insomnia, and then I tried doing a water taper which caused a lot of insomnia and panic attacks (which I had never had before).  I had to updose from .4 to .5 and hold and things have gone relatively ok from .5 to .25.  Most of my cuts have been 5-10% since that first one and I’ve held anywhere from 7-14 days generally.  

[[je...]]

I can only tell you what I did. At around 0.3 I tried to make 10% cuts but I really struggled with that. I knew the max I could manage was 7.5%. When I reached 0.25 I slowed it down to 5% because I got Long Covid and I didn’t want to add more symptoms to the LC symptoms. At 5% I barely felt any symptoms, I only felt the LC symptoms. Then at 0.125mg I switched to linear tapering. I wrote a separate thread on that. 

I am really happy with how I tapered the last couple of months prior to jumping because I was very stable and jumping was a non event. I didn’t have acute symptoms when I jumped, my symptoms all remained the same and I was functional. I think it’s important to rather take it slow and give yourself the best chance of remaining stable and as functional prior to jumping. That will likely set you up for a good jump. 

[[Ma...]]

Thank you @[je...].  Yes, being functional is the most importantly thing for me.  I was thinking of going linear around .15 so pretty similar.  

[[ji...]]

I started going linear at around .10 k.    I’m now down to .067 and am doing well.  I expect it’ll be 3 more months until I’m off.   Im trying not to hurry and am remaining functional, for which I am grateful !  
 

Just keep going slowly and hold if you get symptoms until they diminish.  
You got this Mattwahoo!

[Guest [Do...]]

1 hour ago, [[M...] said:

Most of my cuts have been 5-10% since that first one and I’ve held anywhere from 7-14 days generally

Hi @[Ma...]

How do you make those cuts? scale? you shave pills?

I am doing micro daily taper but struggling with symptoms.

Thanks

[[Ro...]]

I too tapered from 1 mg Clonazepam.  Once I reached .25 mg, I slowed down to 5% cuts.  I went linear at .126 mg, decreasing the pill weight by .004 g for each cut.  You can see my whole taper schedule under the About Me tab of my profile if you wish.

Good luck to you!

[[Ma...]]

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

Hi @[Ma...]

How do you make those cuts? scale? you shave pills?

I am doing micro daily taper but struggling with symptoms.

Thanks

I shave with a nail file and weigh the tablets on a scale.  

[[Ma...]]

10 hours ago, [[R...] said:

I too tapered from 1 mg Clonazepam.  Once I reached .25 mg, I slowed down to 5% cuts.  I went linear at .126 mg, decreasing the pill weight by .004 g for each cut.  You can see my whole taper schedule under the About Me tab of my profile if you wish.

Good luck to you!

Thank you!  Seems .125 is where a lot of people go linear. 

[[Ma...]]

13 hours ago, [[j...] said:

Just keep going slowly and hold if you get symptoms until they diminish.  
You got this Mattwahoo!

Thank you!  I just read your history and it looks like you have done ok with the lower doses overall compared to earlier in the taper.  This was the case for me, but I think it’s because I went too fast in the beginning.  Hope the rest of your taper is uneventful.