10% cut question

[[An...]]

I am currently  crossing over to clonazepam from Ativan. I plan to move to .25 mg clonazepam dosing 3 times daily, a total of .75 mg daily.....I think. My question is, would I take 10% per week of each of the 25 mg doses, so 10% off the morning dose and then 10% off the afternoon dose, and then 10% off the night dose? I am so new to this and am confused. Wish I could just be off in a week.

 

Any insight would be great. 

[[su...]]

Hello Annie,

 

I see from your current signature line that as of February 17 you are at 1.75 mg Ativan. That would be the equivalent of .875 mg of Klonopin. Doing a crossover to just .75 mg of Klonopin may not be enough.

 

I have not done a crossover from Ativan, yet I am doing a direct taper from Klonopin. I can post to you what I have learned about tapering from Klonopin buy dry cutting.

 

I have found is no need to to take Klonopin more than two times a day. I'm currently tapering my morning dose and leaving my evening dose to taper last. I have found that helps reduce the incidence of insomnia. I have also found with Klonopin that I hold no shorter than two weeks.

 

I hope this is helpful,

 

Summer

 

 

[[su...]]

Hello Annie,

 

Here is what I have learned from tapering from Klonopin along with an example of how to do a dose reduction from .75 mg.

 

 

You get the % by taking the dose reduction and dividing it by the dose you are currently at. For example; a 0.03125mg dose reduction from 0.5mg is a 6.25% dose reduction.  0.03125 divided by 0.5 = 6.25% reduction.

 

I have been dry-cutting. I have learned some important things about this process for me:

 

 

1) Each dose reduction I am able to get to a point where my body gets used to the dose and my withdrawal symptoms are lower. I usually get a couple of days where I have lower withdrawal symptom days. I have found that those several days enough for me to feel ready to take on another cut.

2) I have found that I need to hold for no shorter than 2 weeks.

3) I listen to my body and hold until it feels like it has adjusted to the new lower dose.

4) My average holds have been 2 to 4 weeks

5) In order to keep the symptoms at a tolerable level, I keep my cuts around 10% or lower.

6) I have been able to keep my cuts to .03125mg when I hit .5mg of Klonopin.

 

 

 

In case you are interested in how I am able to dry cut the lower doses:

 

Cutting .25mg:

Here is how I am able to get the .25mg pieces. I break the .5mg tablet in half.  The brand Klonopin is scored and breaks in half easily.

 

 

Cutting .125mg

 

Take the .25mg and cut that in half. That is a .125mg piece. . I use an angle razor like a box cutter. And cut on hard surface like glass or a mirror.

 

Cutting .0625mg

I have the 0.5mg Klonopin.

 

I break the 0.5mg tablet in half then, I cut 1/4th off of that. I use an angle razor like a box cutter. I have found that the razor is thinner and sharper than the pill splitters I have worked with. Yet, I have read that some have no problem using pill splitters.

 

I cut the 1/4 off of the tablet on a glass surface. I have found the glass surface to be hard enough to get a clean cut. I press down firm and fairly fast. The 1/4 breaks away (from the .25mg). Now I have 0.0625mg.

 

NOTE: If you are unable to get a chip that is .0625 mg then you could crush it into powder. That would work as well. You would take a .25 mg piece and separate it into 4 piles.

 

Cutting .03125mg (Powder)

 

The way I get the .03125mg is I crush a .25mg piece and separate the powder into 8 piles. I happen to have a window scraper so that is what I use or you could use a razor. I crush the .25mg on a dinner plate with the top part of a pill crusher. Then use the window scraper or razor to separate the pile into 8. Each pile is .03125mg.

 

Note: (What I do is crush the portion of the tablet. Then I put it in one pile. I do my best with the razor to separate the pile into two. Then I take the two piles and separate them into two. That makes four piles. Then I take those and separate them into two more piles. That makes eight.)

 

 

 

Cutting .0156mg (Powder)

 

The way I would get a .0156mg cut is by crushing .125mg piece (to get the .125mg, cut the .25mg in half). Then crush the .125mg on a dinner plate, into powder with the top of a pill crusher. I happen to have a window scraper so that is what I use or you could use a razor. Then separate the piles into 8. Each pile is .0156mg.

 

NOTE: With the powder, here is how I take it. I lick my finger, press it on the powder, then I put the powder in my mouth. Then I drink some water after.

 

When I cut .75mg to do a .0625mg dose reduction, it looked like this:

0.25mg

0.25mg

0.125mg (Chip)

0.0625mg (Chip or Powder)

------------

.6875mg total

This is an 8.3% dose reduction.

 

[[An...]]

Thanks so much summer meadow!  Would it be too much in your opinion to take 10% off the morning and night dose once every two weeks?

[[su...]]

hello Annie,

 

You're welcome. I'm happy to hear the information was helpful to you. I have a question for you. Are you now taking .75 mg of Klonopin? Or are you still on Ativan at 1.75 mg?

 

To answer your question the 10% (or less) dose reduction would be for the total days dose. So a 10% reduction from the current dose is what that means. What I do is make a dose reduction from the dose that is least helpful to me. For me, that would be the morning dose. I would keep the evening dose the same to help reduce the incidence of insomnia. Which dose is least helpful for you? Are you having trouble sleeping?

 

I hope this is helpful,

 

Summer

 

 

[[An...]]

Hi summer,

 

It's kinda complicated, this morning I completely switched to .5 clonazepam from 1 mg Ativan. I feel completely drugged and drowsy.  I usually take 3/4 of a 1 mg Ativan in the evening, I am not good at math...lol. So tonight I am going to take 3/4 of a .5 mg clonazepam so that I am completely switched over and can hopefully start to wean from that soon.  Do you think that 5% of each dose per week or 2 is sufficient or should I do 10 % off the morning one time and 10 off the evening dose the next time?

 

Thank you again for all your help.

[[An...]]

Oh yes, the night dose is least helpful for me, because I take 7.5 mg remeron for sleep as I was averaging 2-3 hours sleep recently and suffered depression from it. Now I sleep 8-9 hours no problem.