New to BB. Tapering off clonazepam - down from 1 mg to .45 mg

[[th...]]

Back in March I was diagnosed with GAD and PD, mostly due to work stress that spilled over into many parts of my life. After trying a couple different options for medication, I ended up on 1 mg of clonazepam, and 75 mg of zoloft. After realizing how dangerous long term use of clonazepam is, i decided to reduce my dose. I read some literature and decided (foolishly) to drop to .5mg.

The withdrawal was intense and I was basically on the couch for two weeks (i had planned to use vacation and holiday time for this as it was around the 4th of July). I waa determined, and made it through, although the anxiety was really intense for several weeks after. Eventually, I told my doctor what I had done and he prescribed trazodone to help with sleep. Within a couple days, I felt back to normal. Confident, able to function at my high-stress job, and engaged in homelife. 

After two weeks of feeling great, I decided (with my doctor's approval this time) to resume my taper, this time at 10%. I tried to use the dry taper method of weighing/ shaving pills. By the end of the 5th day, i had gone down 10% and the withdrawal symptoms came roaring back. Ive struggling with nausea, insomnia, muscle tension, GI issues, and of course anxiety. Couch time this go round was 5 days instead of 14. Getting a little better but still feeling bad at day 8 after symptoms began.

So, here i sit at .45 mg of clonazepam daily. My dosing schedule is a quarter of that dose at 7 a.m. and 2p.m. then half the dose at 9 pm.

Im thinking at this point, because of the large dose reduction i did in July, and now this smaller one more recently, i need to take a pause and allow my nervous system to heal a bit. 

I just dont know how much time to give myself. Im obviously motivated to get off this medicine, but I have to be able to function and cant end up on the couch every other week. 

 

[[...]]

Hello, @[th...], and welcome to BenzoBuddies! We're glad you've found us.

I think It's wise of you to decide on clonazepam tapering and given your time of use, it shouldn't be too hard providing you do it properly and symptom oriented. I agree it'll most probably be beneficial for you to hold for a while and wait for your NS to readjust. 

I'm not good at reduction or stabilising but there are knowledgeable people experienced in it here. Hope they will stop by and share their thoughts with you. Good luck!)

 

[[Ct...]]

7 hours ago, [[t...] said:

Back in March I was diagnosed with GAD and PD, mostly due to work stress that spilled over into many parts of my life. After trying a couple different options for medication, I ended up on 1 mg of clonazepam, and 75 mg of zoloft. After realizing how dangerous long term use of clonazepam is, i decided to reduce my dose. I read some literature and decided (foolishly) to drop to .5mg.

The withdrawal was intense and I was basically on the couch for two weeks (i had planned to use vacation and holiday time for this as it was around the 4th of July). I waa determined, and made it through, although the anxiety was really intense for several weeks after. Eventually, I told my doctor what I had done and he prescribed trazodone to help with sleep. Within a couple days, I felt back to normal. Confident, able to function at my high-stress job, and engaged in homelife. 

After two weeks of feeling great, I decided (with my doctor's approval this time) to resume my taper, this time at 10%. I tried to use the dry taper method of weighing/ shaving pills. By the end of the 5th day, i had gone down 10% and the withdrawal symptoms came roaring back. Ive struggling with nausea, insomnia, muscle tension, GI issues, and of course anxiety. Couch time this go round was 5 days instead of 14. Getting a little better but still feeling bad at day 8 after symptoms began.

So, here i sit at .45 mg of clonazepam daily. My dosing schedule is a quarter of that dose at 7 a.m. and 2p.m. then half the dose at 9 pm.

Im thinking at this point, because of the large dose reduction i did in July, and now this smaller one more recently, i need to take a pause and allow my nervous system to heal a bit. 

I just dont know how much time to give myself. Im obviously motivated to get off this medicine, but I have to be able to function and cant end up on the couch every other week. 

My heart goes out to you, @[th...]. Clonazepam is a very powerful drug with a long half life. The numbers 1 and 0.5 mg are very deceptive. I have slowly tapered down from 1 mg to 0.44 mg. I started tapering January 1, 2024. I am going slowly because I am 76 years old, and I want to successfully get off this drug. Possibly your nervous symptom needs more time to stabilize from the combined effect of first a 50% cut and then an additional 10% cut. To remain functional, slow and steady is the way to go imo, pausing according to your symptoms.

Edited August 17 by [Ct...]

[[Ma...]]

I was similar in that I made too big a cut at the beginning of my taper from 1mg.   Clonazepam.  You have on your side the fact that you have less than 6 months of use.  I’m sure that even with that short a use though, a 50% cut can be jarring to the nervous system.  I’ve gone from 1 to 0.2 and it’s taken me a year, but I’ve also been on this med a lot longer (9 years).  I have, however, remained mostly functional by doing smaller cuts and, when necessary, holding for longer periods.  Acceptance that I need to be patient has been 9/10 of the law for me.  Just listen to your body, stick with 5-10% cuts every couple weeks, and see how it goes.  It could be that your brain still hasn’t caught up from that 50% cut so just be patient. 

[[th...]]

Thanks for your reply @[Ct...]. Its nice to not feel so alone. What I thought would be a quick and easy taper is starting to look like a process that could take many months to complete. While I'm accepting of the situation, I also just feel terrible to have gotten myself into this kind of dependance. Its very humbling.

Its mind boggling to me that these drugs are prescribed, and that there isnt more support available for tapering from the medical community that is prescribing them.

Somehow I have to balance my WD symptoms, my daily work and home responsibilities, my strong desire to get off this pill, and my guilt.

Thankfully, I'm also in therapy, so I'm hoping that will help with my feelings on how i got here.

[[or...]]

7 hours ago, [[t...] said:

Back in March I was diagnosed with GAD and PD, mostly due to work stress that spilled over into many parts of my life. After trying a couple different options for medication, I ended up on 1 mg of clonazepam, and 75 mg of zoloft. After realizing how dangerous long term use of clonazepam is, i decided to reduce my dose. I read some literature and decided (foolishly) to drop to .5mg.

The withdrawal was intense and I was basically on the couch for two weeks (i had planned to use vacation and holiday time for this as it was around the 4th of July). I waa determined, and made it through, although the anxiety was really intense for several weeks after. Eventually, I told my doctor what I had done and he prescribed trazodone to help with sleep. Within a couple days, I felt back to normal. Confident, able to function at my high-stress job, and engaged in homelife. 

After two weeks of feeling great, I decided (with my doctor's approval this time) to resume my taper, this time at 10%. I tried to use the dry taper method of weighing/ shaving pills. By the end of the 5th day, i had gone down 10% and the withdrawal symptoms came roaring back. Ive struggling with nausea, insomnia, muscle tension, GI issues, and of course anxiety. Couch time this go round was 5 days instead of 14. Getting a little better but still feeling bad at day 8 after symptoms began.

So, here i sit at .45 mg of clonazepam daily. My dosing schedule is a quarter of that dose at 7 a.m. and 2p.m. then half the dose at 9 pm.

Im thinking at this point, because of the large dose reduction i did in July, and now this smaller one more recently, i need to take a pause and allow my nervous system to heal a bit. 

I just dont know how much time to give myself. Im obviously motivated to get off this medicine, but I have to be able to function and cant end up on the couch every other week. 

Hi and welcome @[th...], by all means, stick with your present dosage as that is exactly what I did, learning from others here that helped me.  I had done an 11% taper off 1 mg and it was way rough for me.  Anyway, I only taper 5% once, or twice a month if I do really well.  By well I mean, I feel strong enough, and stable, but not healed of every wd sxs, but I have enough quality of life to bare the sxs I do still get, usually about 5 days into my taper.

You found BB and that's going to help you immensely I just know!  I also use a scale by the way, and shave off my doses.  I also keep a record of what I am doing so I have it for myself, as well as the doctor just to show them my way is working for me, in hopes they don't try to change it up on me before I complete my taper oregonlady

[[th...]]

2 minutes ago, [[M...] said:

I was similar in that I made too big a cut at the beginning of my taper from 1mg.   Clonazepam.  You have on your side the fact that you have less than 6 months of use.  I’m sure that even with that short a use though, a 50% cut can be jarring to the nervous system.  I’ve gone from 1 to 0.2 and it’s taken me a year, but I’ve also been on this med a lot longer (9 years).  I have, however, remained mostly functional by doing smaller cuts and, when necessary, holding for longer periods.  Acceptance that I need to be patient has been 9/10 of the law for me.  Just listen to your body, stick with 5-10% cuts every couple weeks, and see how it goes.  It could be that your brain still hasn’t caught up from that 50% cut so just be patient. 

@[Ma...] Thanks for the reply. I want to try to take advantage of the fact that I havent been on this drug for too long, but I am afraid that I still could be looking at 10 months or more to get all the way off, fhen whatever recovery looks like after the jump to zero.

Im thinking right now that wheneever I resume my taper, itll look a lot more like 10% a MONTH than 10% a week.

 

Im also not sure what the end of the taper looks like. Ashton seems to suggest that the final taper is quite linear, but I'm reading a lot about slowing the taper at the end even further

[[th...]]

4 minutes ago, [[o...] said:

Hi and welcome @[th...], by all means, stick with your present dosage as that is exactly what I did, learning from others here that helped me.  I had done an 11% taper off 1 mg and it was way rough for me.  Anyway, I only taper 5% once, or twice a month if I do really well.  By well I mean, I feel strong enough, and stable, but not healed of every wd sxs, but I have enough quality of life to bare the sxs I do still get, usually about 5 days into my taper.

You found BB and that's going to help you immensely I just know!  I also use a scale by the way, and shave off my doses.  I also keep a record of what I am doing so I have it for myself, as well as the doctor just to show them my way is working for me, in hopes they don't try to change it up on me before I complete my taper oregonlady

Thank you so much for your reply @[or...]. I'm already feeling better just reading these responses. I am curious about how folks manage to know when is the right time to begin tapering again.

Also - are you shaving off little bits everyday, or taking the 5% reduction at once and waiting until symptoms subside?

[[Ma...]]

1 minute ago, [[t...] said:

@[Ma...] Thanks for the reply. I want to try to take advantage of the fact that I havent been on this drug for too long, but I am afraid that I still could be looking at 10 months or more to get all the way off, fhen whatever recovery looks like after the jump to zero.

Im thinking right now that wheneever I resume my taper, itll look a lot more like 10% a MONTH than 10% a week.

Im also not sure what the end of the taper looks like. Ashton seems to suggest that the final taper is quite linear, but I'm reading a lot about slowing the taper at the end even further

I never in a million years thought I would still be tapering a year later, I thought I would be done in a couple months.  The only thing that really matters is that

1. You have a provider willing to work with you and

2. You go at a pace that’s comfortable for you

 It doesn’t matter if it takes 2 months or two years.  You’ll get through it. I try not to focus on the time anymore because then I get disappointed if I have to pause for whatever reason.  I’m getting to the low doses now and all I can do is see how it goes.  Many do have to slow down but many others don’t.  I will play it by ear and adjust things as I have throughout this entire process.  

[[th...]]

@[Ma...] my doctor has said we can move at whatever pace feels comfortable, so that is reassuring. I also have just read these horror stories of folks having their provider retire or moving and suddenly having to CT, which I really need to avoid.

I suspect you are spot on with regards to letting go of expectations and timelines. I appreciate your words of encouragement. It seems like this is a really awesome group of folks that support each other through the worst of it.

I hope the rest of your taper is as smooth as possible and that you find success at the end of it.

[[or...]]

7 minutes ago, [[t...] said:

Thank you so much for your reply @[or...]. I'm already feeling better just reading these responses. I am curious about how folks manage to know when is the right time to begin tapering again.

Also - are you shaving off little bits everyday, or taking the 5% reduction at once and waiting until symptoms subside?

I take off 5% every day of my holding time, which can be 10 or so days, or like this time, I had a lot going on and I've held 30 days now.  So it's all about how I feel, I listen to my body as best I can.  I know when it's time pretty much to taper again, because things level out for me, just more mild sxs, some can stay pretty bad like my tremors, I'm 71 btw, and so I was on the drug much longer, 35 years.  You can "feel" your way Phil, Ashton says that it is best for the patient to decide on their taper.

I had one plan, but I can tell you I needed to change the plan, and had no shame about it because I wanted quality of life, as much as I could get, as I tapered.  But the 3% I had started with was too little I felt, so now I am going head on with the 5%.  It could take you a lot less time, but I think it is so worth it to feel pretty darn good "while" I am tapering, instead of having heavy wd sxs. Just stick with us, you found the best place to be if you need to wean off a benzo. Lots of folks here that are so willing to share their experience with us oregonlady

[[or...]]

12 minutes ago, [[t...] said:

@[Ma...] my doctor has said we can move at whatever pace feels comfortable, so that is reassuring. I also have just read these horror stories of folks having their provider retire or moving and suddenly having to CT, which I really need to avoid.

I suspect you are spot on with regards to letting go of expectations and timelines. I appreciate your words of encouragement. It seems like this is a really awesome group of folks that support each other through the worst of it.

I hope the rest of your taper is as smooth as possible and that you find success at the end of it.

Oh man!! What a blessing, that's how my MD was before I moved. I was able to get this far with his help, and now I am just hoping my new doc will work with me as well  

[[th...]]

@[or...] I'm with you. After these two serious bouts of withdrawal symptoms, I have to manage my comfort a little bit here. I can't take off work everytime i take a dose reduction or I'll lose my job.

I think the balance is functional and still having progress toward zero, right?

Edited August 17 by [th...]

[[or...]]

Exactly! Functional plus!!  I work out at a gym, I take 2-3 miles walks, and get all my own errands done!  You got this, a good doctor, and now you have us I forgot to mention we have you as well, it encourages me to share with others!

Oh wow, we are having a big thunder-storm, woo hoo!!  Hope I don't lose electricity later Phil, oregonlady

Edited August 17 by [or...]

[[je...]]

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

@[or...] I'm with you. After these two serious bouts of withdrawal symptoms, I have to manage my comfort a little bit here. I can't take off work everytime i take a dose reduction or I'll lose my job.

I think the balance is functional and still having progress toward zero, right?

Hi @[th...]

I get that you want to get off the meds, but ultimately IMO the best approach is to take it slowly so you can still manage your life. Like you said, there’s no use in losing your job over this. 

I’m now about 21 months off 2mg Clonazepam and doing fairly well. Looking back the best advice I have for others is not to rush it. If you can have little to few symptoms and take longer to taper why would you suffer with more intense symptoms and feel miserable all the time just to get it over with? 

You’ve tried the faster way and it’s clearly not working for you. I suggest you go slower than 10%. It’s better to make smaller cuts every two weeks for example than a larger cut every month. Usually you’ll feel the cut between day 3-5 and if it was small enough you’ll start to level out at around day 10. I usually suggest not to make another cut before 14 days due to the long half life of Clonazepam. This will allow enough time for your body to adjust to the new cut.

But for now it’s probably best to just hold for a while to recover from the cuts and give your brain time to catch up. 

[[th...]]

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

Hi @[th...]

I get that you want to get off the meds, but ultimately IMO the best approach is to take it slowly so you can still manage your life. Like you said, there’s no use in losing your job over this. 

I’m now about 21 months off 2mg Clonazepam and doing fairly well. Looking back the best advice I have for others is not to rush it. If you can have little to few symptoms and take longer to taper why would you suffer with more intense symptoms and feel miserable all the time just to get it over with? 

You’ve tried the faster way and it’s clearly not working for you. I suggest you go slower than 10%. It’s better to make smaller cuts every two weeks for example than a larger cut every month. Usually you’ll feel the cut between day 3-5 and if it was small enough you’ll start to level out at around day 10. I usually suggest not to make another cut before 14 days due to the long half life of Clonazepam. This will allow enough time for your body to adjust to the new cut.

But for now it’s probably best to just hold for a while to recover from the cuts and give your brain time to catch up. 

@[je...]

Thanks so much for the reply! I agree (from learning the hard way) and large cuts with debilitating WD symptoms doesnt get me anywhere. Clearly, 10% in a week is too much, so my thought was that after giving myself several more weeks to stabilize, is to use a microtaper technique to slowly cut 2.5% per week, making tiny dose reductions every other day. Does that seem reasonable?

I'm making it up as I go because I'm just trying to figure out what might work best for me - and you are 100% correct that so far Ive been on the aggressive side and it hasnt served me well. My impatience will not help me reach my destination here.

[[je...]]

A 2.5% cut per week seems reasonable and I think the majority of people should be fine with it. I suggest you keep a daily taper journal where you keep track of your symptoms and rate it on a scale of 1-10. That way you’ll be able to track your symptoms and determine whether your rate is working for you. 

[[th...]]

33 minutes ago, [[j...] said:

A 2.5% cut per week seems reasonable and I think the majority of people should be fine with it. I suggest you keep a daily taper journal where you keep track of your symptoms and rate it on a scale of 1-10. That way you’ll be able to track your symptoms and determine whether your rate is working for you. 

Excellent idea. I track my dosage already in a spreadsheet, but the symptom journal is a great additonal data point to track.

[[th...]]

@[Ro...] Ive seen your replys on other threads and have taken your advice to get the gemini scale (works much better than the cheaper one I had). I'd appreciate your thoughts on my situation, stabilization (what that means for you), rate of reduction, and manging the process in general. It seems like your experience was straightforward and didnt have serious withdrawal complications, two qualities Id love for the rest of my taper to be able replicate.

 

Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.

[[Os...]]

Hi @[th...], thanks for sharing you story and your struggles. I have no doubt that you'll soon be sharing your successes. 

My story is perhaps similar to yours. I am on Valium, detailed in my linked post. I did a quick cut and hold from 5mg to 1.5mg over 6 weeks. I went linear 5mg - 2mg, and then everything hit me, all the cuts. I had to slow down and hold at 2 for a while before shaving pills to get to 1.5. That's where I began a microtaper. I had held for a bit at 1.5, so when I began the microtaper, I felt pretty good. And, then I went too fast again. A few days ago, I hit 0.73 mg and the withdrawal effects began to hit me again. So, I'm holding at 0.73 for a while until I feel better.

It's so hard to hold. I want to push and keep my timeline. I was "supposed" to get to zero on 9/20/24. But, that's not going to happen. I have to accept that. I think we all have to accept that our bodies need to tell us the pace, and that's it. I hope you find some peace in a slower, symptom-led taper.

 

[[th...]]

6 minutes ago, [[O...] said:

Hi @[th...], thanks for sharing you story and your struggles. I have no doubt that you'll soon be sharing your successes. 

My story is perhaps similar to yours. I am on Valium, detailed in my linked post. I did a quick cut and hold from 5mg to 1.5mg over 6 weeks. I went linear 5mg - 2mg, and then everything hit me, all the cuts. I had to slow down and hold at 2 for a while before shaving pills to get to 1.5. That's where I began a microtaper. I had held for a bit at 1.5, so when I began the microtaper, I felt pretty good. And, then I went too fast again. A few days ago, I hit 0.73 mg and the withdrawal effects began to hit me again. So, I'm holding at 0.73 for a while until I feel better.

It's so hard to hold. I want to push and keep my timeline. I was "supposed" to get to zero on 9/20/24. But, that's not going to happen. I have to accept that. I think we all have to accept that our bodies need to tell us the pace, and that's it. I hope you find some peace in a slower, symptom-led taper.

I have read that for some people the microtaper holds off withdrawal symptoms until the rate of taper is no longer sustainable, and then you get hit by a wave of withdrawal symptoms all at once. I wonder if that might be your experience (obviously, i have no experience in this yet).

I share your frustration at holding. Ive decided to hold my dose for another week, as I continue to see daily improvements in how I feel and am now realizing just how BAD i really felt.

If it helps at all, my therapist has been trying to encourage me to let go of "should" and "supposed to". It seems as though this process will take however long our bodies and brains need it to take, and rushing it leads to suffering, which I think we all want to avoid.

Still... I share your frustration. I think we all want off these horrible drugs.

[[Ma...]]

11 minutes ago, [[t...] said:

I have read that for some people the microtaper holds off withdrawal symptoms until the rate of taper is no longer sustainable, and then you get hit by a wave of withdrawal symptoms all at once

This is exactly what happpened to me and it is not pleasant.  And it happened when I was on a much higher dose (.5 mg)  than what I am stable at right now (.186 mg).  I think even if you are microtapering very small amounts, if you start to feel a little “off” for a couple days, it’s time to stop and hold. I continued tapering very tiny amounts for several days after I started feeling off, and started having full blown panic attacks, blood pressure spikes, and severe insomnia. I almost went to the ER.   I ended up having to updose back to .5 and staying there a couple months - thank god was able to stabilize and try a new approach.  I will never microtaper again.  

[[th...]]

7 minutes ago, [[M...] said:

This is exactly what happpened to me and it is not pleasant.  And it happened when I was on a much higher dose (.5 mg)  than what I am stable at right now (.186 mg).  I think even if you are microtapering very small amounts, if you start to feel a little “off” for a couple days, it’s time to stop and hold. I continued tapering very tiny amounts for several days after I started feeling off, and started having full blown panic attacks, blood pressure spikes, and severe insomnia. I almost went to the ER.   I ended up having to updose back to .5 and staying there a couple months - thank god was able to stabilize and try a new approach.  I will never microtaper again.  

So are you now just cutting and holding smaller amounts? What seems to be working for you?

Isnt it strange that one method of tapering can work well for some duration of your taper, then suddenly no longer work? It sounds like flexibility is also a skill needed to be successful in this effort.

[[Ro...]]

25 minutes ago, [[t...] said:

@[Ro...] Ive seen your replys on other threads and have taken your advice to get the gemini scale (works much better than the cheaper one I had). I'd appreciate your thoughts on my situation, stabilization (what that means for you), rate of reduction, and manging the process in general. It seems like your experience was straightforward and didnt have serious withdrawal complications, two qualities Id love for the rest of my taper to be able replicate.

Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.

Hi @[th...],

     Sure.  I'd be happy to give you my thoughts.  My taper of 1 mg clonazepam lasted about 19 months.  For your reference, I have my taper schedule laid out on my About Me tab of my Profile.

     I remained functional and stable throughout the process.  "Stabilization" means, for me, a condition where symptoms are manageable and not changing.  It doesn't mean zero symptoms.  There were times that I felt discomfort during my taper, but it remained straightforward and I could forge ahead.

     I followed the general guideline of a 5 - 10% taper and generally stretched each hold period to 14 days, even if, as I often experienced, a long period of leveling off of any symptoms.  The main bothersome symptom I had was bloating of my G.I. system.  I also had increased food sensitivities, especially involving broccoli and tomato-based foods.  I had hyperacusis and would be startled by such noises like an automatic garage door going up or down.  I had tinnitus in both ears.  Now almost 9 months off, I still have those, but they have diminished and are even more manageable.  I still battle with fatigue, though.

     I did a dry, cut-and-hold taper to .024 mg.  I tried to be as precise as possible with my weighing.  Although sometimes tedious, I looked at my taper as a challenge.  I put my metal nail file to good use on every cut.  I slowed down a little closer to the end, even though I hadn't sensed any increased symptoms or symptom intensity at lower dosages.  Going to zero before jumping was never my goal.

    In addition, I did moderate exercise.  I didn't want to take chances with a vigorous routine as I was afraid it might ramp up anxiety, something I was able to keep at a low degree throughout my taper.

     Look at tapering Clonazepam like you would landing a plane.  Unless there's short use, paradoxical reactions, or unbearable side effects, every step during a taper can be done gradually.  Since you have fortunately reduced your dosage, don't be afraid to slow down.  The 5 - 10% recommendation for cuts is not written in stone.  At .5 mg of the drug, I did a one-time reduction of 3%, as I had never in my 7 years of using clonazepam gone below .5 mg.  It was uncharted territory.  I also kept my a.m. and p.m. doses equal.

  Hopefully, I have answered your questions.  I wish you much luck in your taper.  While the mantra goes "we're all different," I spent a lot of time on BB, checking to see what worked and what didn't work for others, and helping out when I could.  Keep pushing on!

[[th...]]

9 minutes ago, [[R...] said:

Hi @[th...],

     Sure.  I'd be happy to give you my thoughts.  My taper of 1 mg clonazepam lasted about 19 months.  For your reference, I have my taper schedule laid out on my About Me tab of my Profile.

     I remained functional and stable throughout the process.  "Stabilization" means, for me, a condition where symptoms are manageable and not changing.  It doesn't mean zero symptoms.  There were times that I felt discomfort during my taper, but it remained straightforward and I could forge ahead.

     I followed the general guideline of a 5 - 10% taper and generally stretched each hold period to 14 days, even if, as I often experienced, a long period of leveling off of any symptoms.  The main bothersome symptom I had was bloating of my G.I. system.  I also had increased food sensitivities, especially involving broccoli and tomato-based foods.  I had hyperacusis and would be startled by such noises like an automatic garage door going up or down.  I had tinnitus in both ears.  Now almost 9 months off, I still have those, but they have diminished and are even more manageable.  I still battle with fatigue, though.

     I did a dry, cut-and-hold taper to .024 mg.  I tried to be as precise as possible with my weighing.  Although sometimes tedious, I looked at my taper as a challenge.  I put my metal nail file to good use on every cut.  I slowed down a little closer to the end, even though I hadn't sensed any increased symptoms or symptom intensity at lower dosages.  Going to zero before jumping was never my goal.

    In addition, I did moderate exercise.  I didn't want to take chances with a vigorous routine as I was afraid it might ramp up anxiety, something I was able to keep at a low degree throughout my taper.

     Look at tapering Clonazepam like you would landing a plane.  Unless there's short use, paradoxical reactions, or unbearable side effects, every step during a taper can be done gradually.  Since you have fortunately reduced your dosage, don't be afraid to slow down.  The 5 - 10% recommendation for cuts is not written in stone.  At .5 mg of the drug, I did a one-time reduction of 3%, as I had never in my 7 years of using clonazepam gone below .5 mg.  It was uncharted territory.  I also kept my a.m. and p.m. doses equal.

  Hopefully, I have answered your questions.  I wish you much luck in your taper.  While the mantra goes "we're all different," I spent a lot of time on BB, checking to see what worked and what didn't work for others, and helping out when I could.  Keep pushing on!

This is wonderfully helpful. Thank you for your generous response and sharing your thoughts with me. I am very grateful.

One additional question, if I might: im currently taking a quarter of my daily dose in the morning, a quarter in the afternoon, and then half at night. I did this to try to support better sleep, and it was easier to break the tablet this way. I noticed that you had even dosing throughout the day, and lowered your dose evenly across doses when you cut.

My current plan is to only work on reducing my evening dose until it is even with my morning and afternoon dose, and then reduce as evenly as possible across doses. Does that seem reasonable?