Help! Jumped off on .125 of Klonopin and had severe withdrawls, now reinstated

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Some thoughts of my plan:  I found a compound pharmacy and in a month or two, will go down like this:

 

.125 30 days

.10 30 days

.08 30 days

.06 30 days

.04 30 days

.02 30 days

.01 10 days, every other day

Hopefully stop

 

Also heard from my pharmacist that GABA and melatonin supplements can help. Thoughts on these two things?  6 months or so to get off the .125 seems ok to me. Uggh!

[Guest [la...]]

Your taper plan sounds ok for the remainder of your taper, however, I'm not sure that I'd do the every other day thing at the end. That seems to send people for a spin sometimes. Best to just stay on the 0.01mg for 2 weeks or so and jump off from there. Every other day just confuses the body and brain- Klonopin- no Klonopin- Klonopin- no Klonopin. It creates peaks and valleys in your blood levels and I'd hate to see you ruin your taper at the very end like that. NOT worth it.

 

So, just taper as planned down to the .01mg and then off. You may not need to stay 30 days at each dose either, depending on how you feel. You might get away w/ 2-3 weeks at each dose and then a reduction, which would shorten your taper. It's up to you and base it on how you feel, of course.

 

I wish you the best in reducing the last bit of your K. It will take time and patience, but I know that you can get to the end w/ determination.

 

Much love to you, Nicole

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Thanks so much Nicole and everyone for your support!!!

[[Lo...]]

Nmav, when you said u found a compound pharmacy, do they need a prescription from ur doc or do u deal w them directly?

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They need to work with my doc. He calls in the order and they will compound it.

[[Pa...]]

Some thoughts of my plan:  I found a compound pharmacy and in a month or two, will go down like this:

 

.125 30 days

.10 30 days

.08 30 days

.06 30 days

.04 30 days

.02 30 days

.01 10 days, every other day

Hopefully stop

 

Also heard from my pharmacist that GABA and melatonin supplements can help. Thoughts on these two things?  6 months or so to get off the .125 seems ok to me. Uggh!

 

There is no scientific evidence that either one of these supplements can help with benzo withdrawal.

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Have a question for the group.  If you have read, I've been on .125 for several weeks now after trying to jump.  Been not doing so well, not sleeping, all the classic w/d symptoms.  I'm thinking about going back up just a bit to .14-15ish then stabilizing, then going down at a slow taper.  I'm just not getting used to going from .25 to .125 over the past three months.  Of course I don't want to go back up but this is really messing up my quality of life.  Anyone have experience with this or thoughts?

[[Pa...]]

From what I've seen on the forum, going back up in dose won't help you to feel better, most hit tolerance to the new dose within a matter of days.  You're so close to being off the drug, I feel you would benefit from getting off the last little bit, sooner than later.  Once you do, your body will finally be able to start healing in earnest, and you'll finally be free from the symptoms stemming from tolerance to it and withdrawal from it.  Of course, I'm not a Dr, so please consult with yours.

 

You could crush your .125 mgs and put it in a cup of water and drink half in order to taper further, or you could even drink 2/3rds of it and taper even slower.  I think you'll find you'll feel a bit better when you begin to taper again.

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Pamster - thanks.  Exactly what I think I needed to hear.  I keep overthinking it and Google does not help the matter when you read all the horror stories.  I weaned off of Serezone 6 years ago after 3 years of use so I know I can do it!! 

[Guest [la...]]

You can do it. Is there any way that you can titrate off of the last .125mg? If jumping from .125mg was too much for you- you may have to titrate down. You can do this using milk or water. If you want help w/ this, just post on the titration board and someone will gladly help you w/ a schedule to get off. I think you'll do fine.

 

Hang in there. Try to get stable on the .125mg and once stable, you can begin your descent off of the remainder of the medication.

 

I know you can do it. I'm suffering my butt of day in and day out. If I can do it, you can certainly do it. I am a wimp!! Had NO pain tolerance before this. Had NO idea what I was in for when I was C/T'ed from all of my meds. I guess we just do the best w/ what we have to work with...right?!

 

I wish you the best in coming off the last of your Klonopin. You can do it!!

 

Hang in there. Much love to you, Nicole

[[Lo...]]

Nmav, why not take half .125 in am and then reg dose of .125 at nite.  Then you can go down half the nite dose or eliminate the am dose when you are ready.  hang in there.  You've come a long way!  I know you can do this. 

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I hit a breaking point last night. Was having major anxiety and felt like I was having a heart attack at bedtime. I doubled my dose back to .25 last night and probably slep 3 hours. I am beating myself up about it but I just couldn't take it any longer. I just can't stabilize. I am going to stay on the .20 range and taper from there only to get relief. Has anyone been in these shoes with a success story?  I could really use one right now.

[Guest [la...]]

I really think you should consider titration. There's plenty of success stories from Klonopin...many folks have freed themselves from it. However, dry cutting this medication is difficult. Titration may just be the thing you need to get you off of the very last bit.

 

I wish you the best. Hang tight on a dose for a few weeks and attempt to stabilize. Once you're as stable as you're going to get, you can come up w/ a plan for titration. You'll get there.

 

Much love, Nicole

[[Lo...]]

Nmav, I'm sure you'll hear from other BBs that are more educated in dosing than I, I'm just hear to support you.  Don't beat yourself up.  IMO we are suppose to taper slowly and at our own pace.  See how u feel on the .25 at nite.  Maybe you can reduce or eliminate the one in the am.  I found that the am dose made me really fatigue during the day and take my dose at night.  I pretty much stabilized on it, and it's been at least 6 weeks since Ive tapered.  I'm going slow.  My worse sx is insomnia (for now anyways). Praying 4u!

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OK, I'm going to go back up to .25 until I see the doctor in 1.5 weeks and hopefully I'll start to feel better.  I then want to taper .01 every 10 days (i.e., .24, .23, .22), but listen to my body.  After my C/T in July, I went back to .25 for a few days but then cut to .125.  I just can't be on that small of a dose right now.  I feel so frustrated and worry that my body won't adjust back to .25 at all.  I have to get off this drug, it's ruining everything. 

[[Lo...]]

You're halfway.  Take refuge in that now.  When you stabilize, things won't seem so bleak.  Hang in there.  Better slow and steady.

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Thanks everyone. Going back to .25 - Wish me luck tonight! 

[[Lo...]]

Nmav, I said a prayer 4u. Have a good nite!

[[os...]]

Jumping off Klon at .125mg is the equivalent of 2.05mg Valium i believe...

 

When you get to the lower dose you should taper far smaller amounts, right down to 0mg, or as close to it as you can possibly get... but 2.05mg equiv of Valium would be way too high for me...

 

Hoping someone can advise you on titrating the Klonopin, you can do this but you need to go way slower and ease off very gradually, .125 may seem like a tiny amount but you could do with losing three quarters of that at least IMO.

 

You´ll get there, you seem determined enough.

 

Oscar.

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I ended up stablizing at around .20 for the past few weeks and I started the tritating last night. Walgreens compounded it into liquid without issue. I'm starting at .20 and hope to go down .01 every 7 days. I will listen to my body however and if it seems to much I'll hold. I'm not putting a time limit on it and my doc is great, but it would be great to get off of it in 6 months. I gotta say that the liquid seemed to effect me much faster then the pill too. On my way!

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Got down to .179 last night but am having wd and I think I went too fast. Went from .20 to .19 to .188, .186, .184 etc in 6 days. Tonight I took .188 but am not tired and I'm wired. Thoughts my friends? 

[[Lo...]]

Hi, I have no experience to tell you how to do this, but what about just trying to stay where you are and stabilize.  Maybe a workout or some form of exercise to combat the wired feeling.  See how you feel come the weekend and if need be go back up a lil.  As I said, just a thought.  Wishing you well and hoping you stabilize where your at. 

[[Po...]]

You need to slow down and take stock of where you are.  There is no harm in holding the same dose for a while.  It gives our bodies a chance to catch up with what we are putting it thru. The object is to get off the drug with as few symptoms afterwards as possible.  Not race off and then get hit big time.  Listen to your body, take your time.  It is your taper, only you know how you feel.  No one will judge how fast or slow you go.  We are here for support.

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Just wanted to update everyone where I am at.  I am currently at .186 and am holding every few days.  I am still experiencing w/d symptoms (hence, the holding).  Last night I was asleep from 11 - 1, up from 1-2, up again from 3-6, and fell back asleep from 6-7:45 am.  Feel light-headed and can't really see that well today at work.  I'm assuming this is normal, or again, do I need to go back up and slowly come back down again?  I see so many people at a higher level taper off faster so I'm so concerned why I am having so many issues with this. 

[[Ni...]]

Just wanted to update everyone where I am at.  I am currently at .186 and am holding every few days.  I am still experiencing w/d symptoms (hence, the holding).  Last night I was asleep from 11 - 1, up from 1-2, up again from 3-6, and fell back asleep from 6-7:45 am.  Feel light-headed and can't really see that well today at work.  I'm assuming this is normal, or again, do I need to go back up and slowly come back down again?  I see so many people at a higher level taper off faster so I'm so concerned why I am having so many issues with this. 

 

Hi nmav,

 

I haven't read your complete thread but I did see that you had jumped at .125mg Klonopin before. That is equivalent to 2.5mg of Valium. I'm sure you are already familiar with the Ashton Manual. It is normal to have sleep issues while withdrawing from a benzo and Dr. Ashton advises to try to just get through the uncomfortable feelings that come with tapering and not to go back up and slowly come back down. You may feel exactly as you do now, and then you would just be prolonging your withdrawal. Everyone's taper is different. Some people can go faster than others do. If it were me, I would continue at the rate you are going at. At what point are you considering jumping?

 

Here's a link to the benzo converter, you can plug in the amount of Klonopin you are on and convert it to it's equivalence of Valium.

 

 

www.benzodocs.com/converter.php

 

Good luck with your taper and keep everyone posted on how it's going.