13 1/2 years on Clonazepam and Serzone (Nefazadone).....Off 14 months......PTL

[[ho...]]

:Diagnosis: Panic/Anxiety

 

Tried to withdraw multiple times over the years. Cutting tablets, titration....nothing worked. After much prayer and help from the internet I started a substitution. First the benzo and than serzone.

 

I got down to .25 mg clonaz. by cutting but I could’nt get any lower without experiencing severe sleep starts, etc.

3/11/11-1/4 clonaz. + 3 mg Valium + 100 mg Serzone

3/12-3/13      4 mg. Valium + Serzone

3/14-3/29      5 mg.    “            “

3/30-4/10 4.5 mg.  “

4/12-4/25      4 mg.

4/25-9/7/11 reduced Valium by .5 mg. every 2 weeks while still taking Serzone

9/7/11 Off Clonazepam for first time in 13 3/4 yrs.!!!

By 9/28/11 I was able to cut serzone to 65 mg. but as in the past the symptoms were terrible.

9/29/11 10 mg. prozac + 0 serzone

9/30 15 mg. prozac

10/1-10/3 10 mg. prozac--Note: I kept a chart showing how much prozac was in my blood, assuming a 5 day half life. This was necessary because I had tried prozac years ago. Just a little causes my brain to “tighten” so badly I can barely function. I am one of those people who have difficulty metabolizing fluoxetine. It quickly builds up to levels I can’t tolerate. I would not take a tablet of prozac for a day or two in order to keep my total concentration of prozac at about 40 mg. Then I’d take just enough to drop my total concentration a little bit more. By creating a large chart I was able to slowly lower the concentration to zero!!!

 

12/5/11 I took my last tiny dose of prozac.

12/30/11 All the prozac was out of my body. Without severe withdrawal!!!

 

This forum and "the traps.org/uk" have been a tremendous help in my journey to recovery.

Thank you so much!

 

[[jj...]]

Wow, huge congrats!!! Way to Go!! 

You give me hope that I can get off the clonazepam too!

[[Bi...]]

CONGRATS! 

[[al...]]

Congratulations on getting off all of the meds!

I took serzone and clonazapam too.  Not many people are familiar with nefazadone. I can relate. Difficult drugs to get off.

Take care,

allison

[[jj...]]

Just out of curiosity, how did you get down to 1/4 of a tab of clonazepam?  Did you dry cut or titrate and at what rate did you finally have success?  Congrats again on all your hard work!!

[[ho...]]

If only I knew back 5 year ago what I know now! I was cutting my meds for 4 1/2 years and after much struggle I got it down to 1/4 tab but never beyond. Even then I had a lot of symptoms and pain. Our brains are barely making the neurotransmitters we need to transmit the messages from various parts of our bodies. They get all messed up because the signals are not transmitted correctly, thus the symptoms. Some people can cut/titrate and get off the meds. I and many others couldn't. I had to substitute a benzo with a longer half life, i.e. valium. It was not bad after I did that. Sure, there were some problems but not nearly as much as when cutting. If you charted the level of valium you would see that it leaves the body much more slowly than clonazepam. It has a longer half life. The brain has a better chance to adapt without horrible side affects. I cut my way many times to 1/4 mg clonaz. but couldn't go beyond. The last time, before substituting with valium, I got down to 1/4 mg I tried titrating. I crushed  the tablet and mixed with milk and to the equivalent of 1/4 mg. In my case I started with 50 ml. of titrate which was the equivalent of 1/4 mg. I stayed on that for 3 weeks and than went to 37 1/2 ml. for 2 weeks and than to 25 ml. All the while I was suffering withdrawal. When I got to 25 m. I couldn't take it any more and switched to valium. Once I switched it took me 5 months to go from 5 mg. valium (1/4 mg. equiv.) to 0.Likewise, it took me 3 months to go from 75 mg. serzone---15 mg. prozac to 0. I had cut my way to 75 mg. previously but could not cut beyond that amount. It took another 25 days from my last tiny amount of prozac until it left my brain. The sleep is continually getting better as well as the multiple ancillary problems. I am able to describe everything so accurately since I charted ever day of my withdrawal for the last six years. My psychiatrist was totally useless. My psychologist insisted I was obsessive because I charted everything. It has been my nature to chart/keep track of things all my life, besides the famous Harvard psychiatrist Glenmullen recommended the charting in his book. This is the guy who testified before congress concerning the evils of these drugs.....among others. I hope this can help you.Let me know if I can help you further!!! My faith in Christ as meant a great deal to me throughout my life. I screamed at Him many times but there is no double that my belief that there is a reality beyond this life which expresses itself in so many ways, even quantum phenomena, etc. If you think Christianity is irrational, what do you make of the strong belief held my many atheist physicists that there may be trillions of universes "beyond" our own? Which reality is more retinal??

[[NY...]]

Hi Hope32,

 

Thank you so much for sharing your victory over benzos and AD  !!!!

 

Please continue to stay in touch and let us know how you are doing.

 

Take care,

NYClady