My titration idea OK?

[[Sy...]]

I'm currently on .25mg (1/2 .5mg tablet) Clonazepam, taking it 1x day before bed.  I am going to stay at this step for about a week (just stepped down to it 3-4 days ago from .375mg), then start a titration schedule.

 

I was thinking of doing a homebrew method, using a 5ml medicine dropper I already have, and wanted to see if this would be slow enough.  What I would do is dissolve 1/2 tablet in the 5ml, then take 4ml for 4-6 days, 3ml 4-6 days, then go to 1/4 tablet 4-6 days, then repeat with the 1/4 tablet with the 5ml dropper.  Do you think this would be slow enough, or should I go the 100ml cylinder route?

 

Also, I'm betting it's best to start the titration from the .25mg dose, instead of trying a direct taper to .125mg (1/4 tablet) first?

 

Thanks for any advice!

 

- John

[[Co...]]

Hi Synsoniq,

 

Yes, your method sounds fine. The 100ml probably would be huge overkill. The only suggestion I would make is that you consider splitting this daily dose into two smaller doses, to save against interdose withdrawal effects. I think your timescale is probably fine.

[[Sy...]]

Colin -

 

Thanks for the feedback!  Do you have any experience with people splitting their doeses into two?  Eg: can I just go ahead and do it one day to the next without having any issues?

 

- John

[[Co...]]

You should do it gradually, as with any other change to your regimen. Try switching just a small part of your daily dose to 12 hours later. Allow a few days between each change - adjust according to how you react.

[[Sy...]]

If I titrate my 1/2 pill in milk and take a portion of it in the morning, can I keep the remaining portion in the fridge effectively until the evening?

 

Right now I'm still having some effects from dropping to .25mg (see my sig for my schedule).  Do you think I should wait until that stabilizes, or start moving to the 2x day dose now?

 

Thanks again!

 

- John

[[Be...]]

Saving the other portion of your day's mixture for the evening is how most people do it: prepare the day's amount and then pour out the amount to drink at the various times throughout the day.  Some folks are dosing 3x/day but there's no need to go that far.

 

Sure, hold for a few days before making any changes to your dosing routine.  Sometimes you just have to plow forward, but you have just recently (11/3) cut to 0.25mg from 0.375mg so waiting a few more days to a week to start dose-shifting is fine. Then wait another few days to a week to make that next dose reduction.  This is hardly an exact science, so these are all just suggestions that make sense to me. 

 

You're a man with a plan now. You will do great. 

 

[[Th...]]

If I titrate my 1/2 pill in milk and take a portion of it in the morning, can I keep the remaining portion in the fridge effectively until the evening?

 

Right now I'm still having some effects from dropping to .25mg (see my sig for my schedule).  Do you think I should wait until that stabilizes, or start moving to the 2x day dose now?

 

Thanks again!

 

- John

 

Hi John,

 

It appears from your signature line that you have been plowing through your taper with minimal w/d symptoms and you were taking your dose 2X per day just a few days ago. I don't see any problem shifting your dose now back to 2X/day and then stabilize for 3 or 4 days before titration. Hope this helps.

 

T2

[[Sy...]]

What level of w/d symptoms should I expect when I'm at a "stable" level?  When I went back to .25mg at night a few days ago, the first day after I felt great.  Then the past 2 days I've been feeling icky again, headaches, sore neck, a little tinnitus, and some on and off "waves in my head" I call them (anxiety?).  I tried napping yesterday, but could not without the "waves".  Today has been better so far, I did nap for 3 hours this morning, but I still have the other symptoms.  Is this all normal?  Should I expect to feel this way all the time, or does this mean I haven't stabilized at my current level yet?  I find it weird the first day after the change was better than the last 2?

 

If you've read any of my history in the welcome forum, the clonazepam was treatment for Ciprofloxacin side effects, which are basically the same as benzo stuff.  So, it's even harder to determine what is what as far as if this stuff is benzo withdrawal effects, or Cipro side effects peeking back through as I reduce the benzo dose...

 

- John

[[Th...]]

What level of w/d symptoms should I expect when I'm at a "stable" level?  When I went back to .25mg at night a few days ago, the first day after I felt great.  Then the past 2 days I've been feeling icky again, headaches, sore neck, a little tinnitus, and some on and off "waves in my head" I call them (anxiety?).  I tried napping yesterday, but could not without the "waves".  Today has been better so far, I did nap for 3 hours this morning, but I still have the other symptoms.  Is this all normal?  Should I expect to feel this way all the time, or does this mean I haven't stabilized at my current level yet?  I find it weird the first day after the change was better than the last 2?

 

If you've read any of my history in the welcome forum, the clonazepam was treatment for Ciprofloxacin side effects, which are basically the same as benzo stuff.  So, it's even harder to determine what is what as far as if this stuff is benzo withdrawal effects, or Cipro side effects peeking back through as I reduce the benzo dose...

 

- John

 

Hi John,

 

It is difficult to predict how long or what kind of w/d symptoms you will experience as everyone's journey is different. You should not expect to feel this way all the time. Most people will experience "windows" of normalcy and this is the time you should consider proceeding with your taper. Headaches, muscle aches and some anxiety is very typical for w/d symptoms. If these are not debilitating, then you should be fine proceeding with your taper. You were only on these meds for a short time so I expect you should not have too rough of time getting off of them.

 

T2

[[b1...]]

Hi John,

 

You seem to have a similar situation to mine so I thought I would chime in here I was put on Ativan because of an adverse reaction to another medication, and have only been on about 5 weeks or so (including my tapering time).  I was doing my cuts about every 2 - 4 days and felt pretty good and then towards the end the withdrawals started to catch up with me.  So I started titration on the weekend and it seems to be going well so far.  Here is a link to my titration thread http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=10406.0 (you can read how I'm doing it if you want) .  I don't have a titration schedule, I'm just reducing my dosage depending on how I feel. I hope this helps a little

 

Beth

[[Sy...]]

Beth -

 

Thanks for the info!  I think I did read through some of your titration thread, and it all sounds really good.  Are you waiting for complete "clarity" before proceeding with a cut, or just moving on even with some withdrawal side effects?

 

I think I'm going to move ahead with moving over to a 2x/day dosing instead of 1x/day at night, as it seems that morning has been harder lately.  My plan is to use the 5ml medicine syringe to measure 10ml milk into a glass, crush my 1/2 tablet (.25mg) into it, then start with taking 1 or 2ml in the morning and the rest in the evening, until I'm at 5ml/5ml.  From there, I can then start titrating my does I figure, maybe doing 4ml/5ml, 4ml/4ml, 3ml/4ml, etc.  Just kinda solidified this plan a bit earlier today, and I think it takes into account most of the advice I've been given here.

 

I'm cautiously optimistic! 

 

- John