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

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Thanks for your reply.  I'm not going to jump at all.  I am going to continue the liquid klonopin all the way until I get to .001.  My plan was to go down by .002 (i.e., .188, .186) every two to three days.  By these calculations, it would take about 7 months to get to 0.  I'm going to stay at the dose I took last night (.186) for at least 5 days and see if I get better.  I am also coming off a very stressful weekend and that could have something to do with it too. 

 

Again, all suggestions and comments are welcome.  I have found this forum to be quite helpful with my peace of mind. 

[[Ni...]]

Hi nmav,

 

Well it sounds like you have your taper plan down pretty well. The only thing I can add for a suggestion is that for me, I try to stay away from stressful situations, granted there are some you cannot. When I have obligations that might be stressful I try to pick and choose which ones I want to deal with.

 

Recently I've had a lot of social obligations, and I'm learning which ones I can do without while I'm tapering.

 

That's great you have the liquid klonopin, it sounds like a smoother way to taper, and more precise.

[Guest [la...]]

I think your plan is a good one- just continue to SLOOOWLY reduce and hold when needed. You're on such a LOW dose, I think that's why you're getting hit w/ symptoms w/ even the smallest of reductions. Just toss out the calendar, listen to your body and hold when you need to. I think this will get you off of the last bit w/ relative ease. Better to go slow and listen to your body than to rush off and suffer later. You'll get to the finish line- the point is to get there in one piece. You're doing well...you're already on a much lower dose than you were initially...that's great. I have to remind myself of that ALL the time. I am on MUCH less than when I started this fiasco.

 

Take things one day at a time. You MAY have to deal w/ some insomnia. Sadly, it's par for the course for a lot of us. Just do what you can do to practice good sleep hygiene and to avoid stress. Your sleep will return once the w/d is over.

 

Have faith. You can do this.

 

I wish you the best of luck.

 

Much love and healing, Nicole

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Nicole - you are the best.  Thank you for your ongoing support.  xoxo

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I'm so embarrassed and frustrated but I'm back to square 1 again. The liquid compound was simply not working for me. I don't know if it was that the medicine was unequally dispersed or if I was going to fast. Hit a huge wall and went back to .23 via the pills last Wednesday night. It's now Saturday night and I'm again not stable. I'm hoping like lasttime it will be a few more days and I can be ok and this rush will pass. I hate this. I really thought the liquid would be a win win. I keep jerking my body with this up down stuff and now I fear I'll never stabilize. Anyone been there before?  Once I hopefully stabilize I'm staying there for quite some time I think until I regain my mental strength. I live you guys and thank you for your support.

[[Ni...]]

I'm so embarrassed and frustrated but I'm back to square 1 again. The liquid compound was simply not working for me. I don't know if it was that the medicine was unequally dispersed or if I was going to fast. Hit a huge wall and went back to .23 via the pills last Wednesday night. It's now Saturday night and I'm again not stable. I'm hoping like lasttime it will be a few more days and I can be ok and this rush will pass. I hate this. I really thought the liquid would be a win win. I keep jerking my body with this up down stuff and now I fear I'll never stabilize. Anyone been there before?  Once I hopefully stabilize I'm staying there for quite some time I think until I regain my mental strength. I live you guys and thank you for your support.

 

Hi nmav,

 

There is no need to feel embarrassed at all. A lot of people have walls when they get down to a lower dose, so you are not alone. Are you thinking of titrating the rest? I hope you feel better and stabilize soon, sometimes it just gets uncomfortable and you have to listen to your body and go slow.

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My thought at this moment is to stabilize for awhile and get a bit of confidence back.  I succeeded with a dry cut taper to .125 without issue so I will try to do that again when I'm ready.  It took my 3 months before but I think I'm going to go slower.  Then I'm most likely going to tritate.  The compound suspension is just not stable enough based on what I just went though.  Thanks again for everyone's support. 

[[Ni...]]

nmav,

 

That sounds like a good plan. 

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So I've been on .25 the past week and by Monday I felt stabilized but I'm hitting a wall again I think. My plan is to still stay here for a few months but my body of course is wanting more. Has this happened to anyone after a ct or too fast of a taper?  I really want to just hold at .25 for a few months, then start tritatting.

[[Ni...]]

Hi nmav,

 

I was searching through the Ashton Manual and I couldn't find the exact comment Dr. Ashton made, but she said we never really stabilize as we're tapering. Just going slow, getting support, learning how to cope with our symptoms are key. I think it is normal for your body to want more because that is what it's used too.  You may feel confident and ready to start titrating before the two month time you are thinking about. It's all individual and we have to tailor our taper to our needs. I think you will do just fine going slow and holding when it gets too uncomfortable. We're always here to support you.

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I saw my primary doc today since I'm not stabilizing at .25. He gave me a low dose prescription for clonidine. Does anyone have any experience with that?  It's used for opiate, alcohol and benzo wd but it is a bliss pressure med. He said it would take the rush away. Also, he said he would cross me to Valium. Any idea how I would cross over with .25 or .30 of klonopin? 

[[Ni...]]

Hi nmav,

 

I don't have experience with clonidine, but I know it is used for blood pressure and also off-label for anxiety and needs to be tapered as well.

 

Have you looked through the Substituion Taper section?

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?board=61.0

 

If you ask questions about a cross-over there, you are likely to get more responses. As everyone is a little different, we have to tweak our taper schedules to according to our own symptoms and bodies.

 

The equivalency of Klonopin to Valium is 20:1. So .25mg of Klonopin is equal to 5mg of Valium.

 

The Ashton Manual also has taper schedules for substituting Klonopin for Valium. Below is an example of a suggestion of what a cross-over to Valium would look like:

 

http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm#s5

 

It sounds like you have a doctor who is willing to work with you on the last bit of your taper, that is good.

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Going to see my p doc today. Can't stabilize at all. Was trying to get stable at .25 but it's not working. May half to go back up just to function normally then hopefully water tirtrate. Anyone have a story like this?  Hate this.

[[Ni...]]

Hi nmav,

 

So sorry you are having a hard time stabilizing since your jump and then reinstatement. What kind of symptoms are you having? Do you think if you just went up a little and not all the way to .5mg that you might be able to stabilize? Let us know how it goes with your Pdoc today.