After 28 day hold, tapered again..

[[or...]]

..but I did go back to 3% taper instead of 5% I'd done last, 3 times.  I feel really good last couple of days, but I want to see if I have less intense wd sxs this time around.

I was off my regular diet, a little, and I had IBS sxs this last time, and feel I am still having minor issues with that, so going to go easier this time.  I've also gotten back to the gym and feel so much better, but I think I get a little too confident so I'll try and keep up on this topic and see if this time goes a little better.  The only bummer is that I won't know for sure if it's the workouts, no snacking before bed (at least 3 full hours before I lay my head down) or the wd, but if I do good this taper at 3%, I might go up again, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it

My sxs this time were mainly anxiety, some insomnia, and too many intrusive thoughts (sad stuff, cried a whole lot).

[[Ct...]]

@[or...] You’re practicing what you preach—listening to your symptoms. You’ve made such good progress, and 3% is smart to resume tapering. I’m glad you’ve gone to the gym and feel better. Tapering Clonazepam is not easy. Each of us is experimenting as we go. I’m sending good vibes your way from Connecticut.

[[Tr...]]

Hello @[or...], I am very glad to read that you feel food again and that you continue your taper. However I noticed in your taper history that goîng down from 0.132 mg to 0.125 mg is a 5% and not a 3% decrease. 
 

Are you sure that you have the correct number for your current dose in your history?

Edited September 18 by [Tr...]

[[or...]]

Oh grief, I typed it in wrong @[Tr...] I'll fix that.  I was first just shooting for 5%, and then I changed my calculation to 3% and confused myself   My dose today was .128 g weight of tab.

Nice catch and I sooooo appreciate it PS Yes, I weighed it right, but typo in my History

Edited September 18 by [or...]

[[Tr...]]

Hello @[or...], I am glad that it was a typo. I don’t want you to spend more time holding for sxs. 

I hope that with the 3% reduction you will be able to continue making good progress! 

[[or...]]

I'll let folks know here if it does get better, hope, hope, hopeThank you again @[Tr...], I depend a lot on others here, especially with the dreaded numbers oregonlady ~ denise

[[Os...]]

@[or...] I’m so glad to hear you’ve been feeling better! We all deserve that.

[[or...]]

Wanted to update at 6 days into my "lower" taper percent, and I am still doing good, very good.  But I did get active again at my gym, and lots of finding my way around my new little, city with errands etc.

I think the lower percent may have made the difference, but I'll update again with anything new.  I sure hope it's more to do with the very, hot climate in Summer here, plus way less of me staying physically active, but if it has to stay just 3%, I will be content, I hope

I can sure relate to folks that get tired of having to taper very slow, but all I have to do is remember the worse wd sxs, and decide which is better  

I also have seen a real change in my short-term memory that's given me a ton of hope about that.  I have met probably 10 ladies through my church group, plus the gym, one that weaned off Prednisone.  I couldn't remember names, but in the last month or so, I have been remembering names!!  If I see someone it's like I had such brain fog, got myself in a fluster over lack of memory on things, like remembering why I came into a room.  Now when I do those things I don't have that reaction, I just know, don't even have to stop and think.

Don't give up before the miracle! oregonlady ~ denise

[[Ad...]]

Glad to hear you're doing so well! I think 3 percent is great. I can't seem to do more than 2 percent a month. But I've also experienced the return of my short term memory. How wonderful it is to know I'm not spiraling into dementia, which is just how I felt before starting to get off the poison.

So, if anyone else out there is worried about that issue, Denise and I are proof that it's the pills and that our poor  brains can still recover. I won't speak for Oregon Lady, but my brain is 77 and I'm amazed and thrilled about this!

[[...]]

@[Ad...]@[or...] I am 62 and have not yet begun to taper. I am tapering my antidepressant first since it was causing akathisia. You 2 ladies really inspire me, so glad you are both doing so well!

 

[[Ca...]]

How did you know it was causing akathesia? I am on Lexapro 5 mg and Trazedone 165 mgs (i am tapering that along with the valium) and Valium 11.3 mgs and my symptoms of agoraphobia and inner agitation are so intense I wonder if I have it.....

[[or...]]

[[or...]]

On 25/09/2024 at 18:20, [[A...] said:

Glad to hear you're doing so well! I think 3 percent is great. I can't seem to do more than 2 percent a month. But I've also experienced the return of my short term memory. How wonderful it is to know I'm not spiraling into dementia, which is just how I felt before starting to get off the poison.

So, if anyone else out there is worried about that issue, Denise and I are proof that it's the pills and that our poor  brains can still recover. I won't speak for Oregon Lady, but my brain is 77 and I'm amazed and thrilled about this!

Not sure how I missed this @[Ad...] but I'm doing a lot better since I went back down to 3%.  I had some race-brain/insomnia so up at a weird hour, so a few "glitches" in the taper here and there.

Welcome @[...], you're in a good place, this has been my "support" group since the beginning of my taper, stick with us, oregonlady ~ denise

[[or...]]

I had just had insomnia and couldn't go back to sleep after I rolled around for an hour or more, so got up.  I'm just not fighting it, when it happens now, but usually get a pretty good nap after I do early morning errands.  Not working out at all after this last Monday as I got bad leg-pain from pushing myself too hard on a 30 min. walk uphill, then down again.  My calve-muscles really hurt going down the hill, so really taking it easy for now.

I've gotten daily migraine pain, doesn't put me down though, rather mild, aggravating more than anything. Take a couple of tylenol regular, no caffeine in these, and relieves the pain/ache for a few hours.  Today is day 15 on my 3% taper and I am "just thinking" about tapering again, but I realize when the migraines stop completely, that's a sure sign I've adapted to the dosage, and I can taper again.  I still have other "weird" sxs but nothing that holds me back.

I'm surprisingly having few "attacks" of anxiety where I feel angry at the world though, seems my faith coupled with prayer is working.  I also heard something about planning how I'm going to react to things that trigger me.  Like the other day I just prayed that I wasn't going to get angry if others screwed up on a 4-way-stop we have down the street from me, lol!!  Well, no one screwed up so not sure that plan worked or God decided I didn't have to find out.  Oh joy!  But, it did work when I went down to pay the rent and the bitchy ole manager didn't bother me a bit, yeehaw!!

Anyway, just felt like updating here, and hope others are doing good today, we only have one day to deal with, and the less I think about "yesterday", and/or "tomorrow", the better I feel, hugs to all, oregonlady ~ denise

[[...]]

14 hours ago, [[o...] said:

14 hours ago, [[o...] said:

I never saw this post @[...], I'm so sorry.  So you started tapering your AD, but you also are doing a benzo you want to eventually get off of? @[Ad...] and I do a super similar slow taper, and I know a few others that are doing that as well, with very good results.  I mean we still have some quality of life, able to do daily tasks, errands, pretty normal stuff   We'd all be more than glad to help you when you are ready, oregonlady ~ denise

 

Hello @[or...]!  I really appreciate your positive attitude! I'm so glad you are doing well. I can't believe you tackled a move to a new home in the midst of this!

Yes I am tapering an AD - 5% on my first drop and bad symptoms for 6 weeks! A tapering coach suggested that I was making a mistake doing the AD first since I've only been on Klonopin 4 months and should consider giving it priority. So I made a 2% drop  in the Klonopin weeks 2 ago (6 weeks out from the 5% AD drop) and was surprized how bad my symptoms have been. I am just beginning to feel a little better.  I'm going to give myself another 2 weeks to get stable.

I'm meeting Dr. Jennifer Giordano Monday and will ask if I can possibly alternate drops between the sertraline and the klonopin. I read somewhere that Dr. Mark Horowitz guided someone to taper 2 drugs at once. Anyhow, I want to stay stable as possible and will probably only taper 1% at a time. 

I know some people use liquid but I am very nervous about the math and am afraid of a bad reaction if I switch to liquid. 

You are awesome, hope you are sleeping better!

 

 

[[...]]

On 27/09/2024 at 23:55, [[C...] said:

How did you know it was causing akathesia? I am on Lexapro 5 mg and Trazedone 165 mgs (i am tapering that along with the valium) and Valium 11.3 mgs and my symptoms of agoraphobia and inner agitation are so intense I wonder if I have it.....

Hello  @[Ca...],

I developed intense inner agitation and terror almost immediately after I increased my dose of sertraline. My Dr. told me I needed to increase my dose again and there was no way I was having a drug reaction because I wasn't even on a therapeutic dose! I ended up on klonopin and mirtazapine to offset the akathisia, which was never officially diagnosed.  Then I read about akathisia and immediately realized what happened. Now I am poly drugged and have a very long taper to look forward to.

Are you tapering all 3 drugs at the same time?

[[Ca...]]

Oh that's a horrible story. How much setraline were you initially prescribed?

I am tapering the valium at .5 mg a month and in terrible wd and have been from the get go. I was also misprescribed 200 mgs of trazedone which I have reduced by maybe 30 mgs. I take an emory board to it and slice off 19 swipes a night and maybe once a month will add another swipe. I am also on 5 mgs lexapro and ten mgs of bupenorphine. I did reduce the bupenorphine by a half of a mg and for awhile was on 9mgs. All in all its a deadly combination and I feel my body starting to fall apart. I am housebound and in bed alot although I do go out for an almost three mile walk late afternoon every day. I went to a rehab and was pulled off of 50 mgs of valium and four mgs of subutec quickly and in acute PAWS for two years with excrutiating lower back pain until I relapsed on Tramadol. That cleared me right up and I would just have stayed on that except that I could not get it anymore and I ended up on strong opiates and finally benzos. I have had no luck with holds or updosing. 

I am anxious constantly and I wonder if I have akathesia from the trazedone. The agoraphoia is also horrible.

I just checked and I am almost to 11.2. I do feel a little better at night.