The Klonopin Klub

[[ja...]]

Recoveringfrombenzos, I hear you. Looks like we were on for the same duration. After I went off almost c/t in May, I had two absolutely impossible weeks. No balance, couldn't drive, withdrawal symptoms were off the charts.

 

I can't wrap my head around it either. I always say it was the hardest thing I've ever been through, and I had both my hips replaced in my 20s. It was harder than that. Today my body feels like one big itch I need to scratch, so it seems to not be completely gone. But all the same, nothing beats weathering the storm and coming out on top. Even with c/t.

 

jaxnj

[[Ge...]]

Alan, I notice you jumped after .125.  How was your overall taper, and how has your jump been?  I'm trying to make a tentative plan to show my prescribing dr, and I have no idea what a good place is to jump from klonopin (don't want to substitute or titrate if possible).

[[ji...]]

Hi Klub and welcome new members. Ally I'm glad to hear post cutting is better than cutting. I'm definately going to try to cut it down to as close to .125mg before I jump. It's so hard chipping those 1mg tabs and I'm to lazy to see my Dr. to get a compound pharmacy perscription. Alan I'm doing pretty good considering, but don't have half the energy you do.

 

Welcome Verona. Your English is better than most native speakers

 

 

Gabby do you still only take pills 5 of the 7 days ( if I understood you correctly ). I would try to get to a daily dose before starting to cut. You may feel worse with those 2 days off.

 

My last cut was pretty uneventful. Does anyone know if these pills loose potency when they age? I have mine in a cool dry place but they are now over a year old as I've been tapering so long.

[[al...]]

Alan, I notice you jumped after .125.  How was your overall taper, and how has your jump been?  I'm trying to make a tentative plan to show my prescribing dr, and I have no idea what a good place is to jump from klonopin (don't want to substitute or titrate if possible).

138 days off alot of burning,sometimes chilly feeling.neck tension,head symptoms

weakness in hands,alot weirdness.sleep 4-7 hrs without meds.gi off and on.

but glad to be off.i jumped because i was in tolerance anyway.symptoms got worse in mth

3 and now 4 still bad.push myself to do things anyway.stressful conversations or thoughts set

me off worse.tired of thinking something else is wrong.alot of test.even went to er last week to check on weird chills in head and arms and sometimes gi and groin.so i go on hoping for the best.but glad to be off benzos.

felt healing wont happen until i was off.good luck to you.

 

 

 

[[Ge...]]

Tanks, alan, and I hope you feel better soon.  It sounds like you made the right decision for yourself.  Keep hanging in there!

[[ja...]]

New and exciting stuff here at almost 3 months off. My body feels like an enormous itch that I can't scratch. Anyone have that? It's like your whole body has restless legs syndrome. 

[[ta...]]

I've had that.  I think it has something to do with adrenaline.  I've had restless leg syndrome as well, but this is like the whole body, from shoulders to my legs.  Do you have neck pain at all?

[[kl...]]

Still suffering that "fake" sleep as I like to call it, not to mention starting a new job tomorrow.  Anyone else take time off work to deal with this madness? tips on easing stress going back to work?

[[Ho...]]

Hi folks. I just wanted to give you all the heads up. The member who has been posting on this thread as "gabrielle", is Skyy, a member who has been involved in abuse of this forum and has been suspended. gabrielle has also been suspended. I wanted to let you know because I don't like to know that anyone has put any sort of vested or emotional interest in someone who has been dishonest and abusive toward this forum or our members.

 

Your compassion and kindness is wonderful. I thought you should know.

 

Thanks for your responses jaxnj and whiteoak.  I see you understand my dilemma, whether to try a rapid taper or a cold turkey off of this klonopin, or consider a prolonged taper.  I am a very strong person and having read so many of the pros and cons of this route, I may be able to attempt a rapid withdrawal.  I completely under stand the piece about seizure risk and protracted withdrawal issues. I see the difficulty that both the microtaperers and slow taperers are having, as well as those who rapid taper or cold turkey.  It seems to be such a divided issue, with good and bad observed from both sides.  I will start a blog sometime soon so that I can fill in the history, (mostly for myself) and objectively look at the way I decide to undertake this journey.  My goal is to restore my career and my life as soon as I am able.  My life has been put on hold way too long at this point and I know I must push forward in the most aggressive way possible.  It may hurt, it may not, and only time will tell.

Thank you for your input, everyone.

gabs

 

 

[[Pa...]]

I recently cut my night dose from .5mg to .25mg and i only had about 2 bad days.

 

When i cut my morning dose it's sooooo much worse.  I have no idea why.  Maybe i sleep through most of the withdrawal symptoms.  Who knows.

 

I'm jumping off with my next set of drops.

So i'll be jumping off .25mg in the AM first and then jumping off the .25mg in the PM about 2 weeks later if everything goes the way it did last time.  (my last morning cut took 2 weeks to get over)

 

And then we will see what happens.

I feel lucky that i have not had the terrible withdrawals people have described.  I've had many of the symptoms, but they clear up rather quickly compared to some of the stories i've read on here.

Luckily i have also been able to make some pretty big cuts without being totally incapacitated.

[[ja...]]

Tablasco,

 

Thanks for your reply! Yes, I have pretty bad neck pain. I've gotten some professional massages and they help for about a day. For a long time (and still sometimes) I feel like my neck is literally a tight spring. Now about that adrenaline?...

 

Julian,

 

Yes, I took a week off work. It wasn't enough. If I had to do it over I would have done some intensive outpatient program...but what's done is done...I'm in the clear now 

 

jaxnj

[[Ma...]]

At almost 8 months out I am in hell. Had a window of manageablity at month 6.  Then slammed again. The worst right now is

 

Twitching all over

Constant nauseau and dizzy

Sweating all day

Lethargy and aches all day yet dong nothing strenuous.

 

Ugh if I had known what I know now back in 2003 I would have never started this madness

>

God bless.......

[[ji...]]

Max were you taking 5-10mg of Klonopin? I thought I was winning for highest dose  . Nausea is my biggest symptom too. Dramamine has helped me, but it is just a temporary fix. Last night was one of those wake up at 2am and no fall back a sleep kind of nights. I think I'm eating too much sugar. I'm going to go back on a hight protein diet.

[[ta...]]

I have heard, in fact on this site that adrenaline surges occur during withdrawal.  I have had them late afternoon through the evening many days during withdrawal.  It seems to be getting better now after a couple months.  It would only occur when I was sitting or laying down.  It seems to start in my neck and shoulders and move down to the rest of my body.  Then I will have to move around.  Sucks when I'm watching a movie.  It does seem to go away, although not completely yet.  My neck pain is usually on the left side and accompanies the restless body.

[[ja...]]

Thanks, Tabalsco. We're about a month apart in jumping so it helps that someone else is experiencing this too.

[[ca...]]

At almost 8 months out I am in hell. Had a window of manageablity at month 6.  Then slammed again. The worst right now is

 

Twitching all over

Constant nauseau and dizzy

Sweating all day

Lethargy and aches all day yet dong nothing strenuous.

 

Ugh if I had known what I know now back in 2003 I would have never started this madness

>

God bless.......

I was very similar -- had a break around 6 months where I thought -- great, the worst is over. For me it was like most of the mental stuff had healed, but then my body went to work healing the nervous system. I had like you - all kinds of crazy feelings all over my skin, complete exhaustion feeling, zero energy, like my legs felt unable to move sometimes, some days I could hardly talk -- my words came out all groggy like. And to feel all that, and hear myself talk like that, the negative thoughts returned. For me it kept up till about 12-13 months. Now I'm back to feeling different bad-good-bad again all day long. And different symptoms all the time, but mostly the nervous stuff - skin sensations, feeling all of a sudden so tired or like I've got to get home and get to bed immediately. It's not so intense any more. I'm at 13 months +. Hoping to really turn a corner soon.

[[ja...]]

Haha Jillian...I think I'm winning for longest duration...lol

[[Ma...]]

Max were you taking 5-10mg of Klonopin? I thought I was winning for highest dose  . Nausea is my biggest symptom too. Dramamine has helped me, but it is just a temporary fix. Last night was one of those wake up at 2am and no fall back a sleep kind of nights. I think I'm eating too much sugar. I'm going to go back on a hight protein diet.

 

Yeah it was pretty bad. What was happening was for the longest time I would take 4-5 Mg at noon. Then the later years I would take another 3 more at night. Towards the end I was such a raging Alcoholic and when I would come off a bender I would take 8-10 mg a day trying to make the shakes go away. Thank God I stopped Alcohol the same time as I stopped the Clonopin. People ask me all the time how I don't drink and how they struggle so much. My thing is that I feel so awful from WD's from K-Pin that the way I felt after a bender I feel if I did it now I would have a heart attack. The feeling I had after drinking was so awful that the thought of enduring that while WDing would be hell!

[[je...]]

Max, i never took nearly that much but, when I was dealing with the miserable wd's from K I had no urge to drink.  When i was on it I always wanted a drink.  I remeber thinking (during wd)  why bother trying to drink I already have the most "horrendous hangover"... I felt so miserably hungover despite never touching a drop of alcohol.  Strange how our minds work.  i also thought i might ahve a heart attack if I had a hangover over on top of wd....Just an observation, Jess

[[ja...]]

I had my first drink about 6 weeks after jumping. Big mistake. I twitched for days after that, and didn't drink again until 2 1/2 months out, just these last 2 weeks. It's been fine, but I don't drink much at all. Not to cope, but to relax.

[[Ma...]]

Max, i never took nearly that much but, when I was dealing with the miserable wd's from K I had no urge to drink.  When i was on it I always wanted a drink.  I remeber thinking (during wd)  why bother trying to drink I already have the most "horrendous hangover"... I felt so miserably hungover despite never touching a drop of alcohol.  Strange how our minds work.  i also thought i might ahve a heart attack if I had a hangover over on top of wd....Just an observation, Jess

Yes you nailed it. I feel like I am on a some sort of constant hangover and if I drank my body would shut down the next day.

 

Funny you mention the urge on Klonopin. My Dad says the same thing about me and feels all my alcoholism was derived from Klonopin usage.

[[fi...]]

Has anyone found anything that helped them during "kindling".  The reason I ask is that I went through a failed 5-day detox about a year and a half ago.  I had to ultimately reinstate Klonopin but have found that I am having to go "super slow" in my tapering (using titration) or else I get severe stomach cramps.  This didn't happen before I went to the detox.

 

Thanks so much!

 

Sincerely,

 

fg

[[je...]]

Max1973, I was never a hardcore drinker prior to K.  I would go out once in a while and  party no doubt but, then not drink for weeks or a month.  My last 6 months on K.  I WANTED a drink...It was wierd.  FG... someone else will have to respond about the "kindling"... I still dont understand fully what it means, Jess

[[Al...]]

Hi Everyone, I am new here and can use lots of support, something I rarely ask for so that's a big step. I started tapering off my Clonazepam med which after looking at my calendar is closer to eight weeks not six. Time has flown by and I don't know where it went. Since I have decreased from 2 mg. to 1 mg., my mind has been a mess. I am moody, have waves of depression, anxious, afraid and overall not the happiest camper out there. Imagine what I would be like if I did not ride my bike 100 plus miles a week in preparation for an upcoming century ride. I am glad to be on board here.

[[ja...]]

Hi Aliya! Welcome to the Klonopin Klub.

 

OK, you've officially won for longest duration (I think). You've got 2 years on me...what a life it's been, right? 

 

I'm curious about the symptoms you had before you decided to taper. I know for me, the absolute absence of short-term memory was the most shocking and disturbing. How about you?

 

I jumped in 5 days from 2 mg back in May. I was a mess, mess, mess. In retrospect it was c/t, really. And the suffering and the withdrawal was the hardest thing I've EVER had to go through, hands down. I'm totally in the minority with BB, but I'm glad I went c/t. It seems like for you too, you're going pretty rapidly. In my opinion, that's good.

 

I went on BB shortly after I jumped and it helped so much. I saw how many people had been through, or were going through, exactly what I was going through. Nothing was foreign to people here...I could basically let loose and cry and scream and people could relate. The support here is something that kept (and keeps) me going.

 

People here said brave it out, it WILL get better. For about 6 weeks, my response was "when??". But unbelievably, things did get better. So I give you that advice - brave it out. And if I had to offer anything else, I would say "do NOT reinstate". Life is about to unfold for you...just give it a little time.

 

My two cents.