Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Support Group

This is what I want: get rid of Klonopin and just use Ativan "as needed", which is recently maybe 1 mg per month max.

I asked my pdoc for the second time if I could go off of the small .5 mg per day dose of Klonopin and he gave me a song a dance again. I told him I'm no longer anxious so he decided to tell me it helps with seizures (I also have a seizure disorder). But I think that is a bunch of bologna because some neurologist I had in the past said that the seizures you have from drug withdrawl are usually different from an epileptic seizure. So what is his real reasoning behind keeping me on this med?" Would the withdrawl symptoms from .5 mg of Klonopin really be that bad potentially?

Klonopin is a very potent benzo. Actually, it is more potent than xanax and .5 mgs daily is not a small dose. If you want to come of .5mgs of K and you have been on it for a while, you must slowly taper this drug. Cold turkey from .5 mgs K will be brutal on your CNS. I tried this back in 2000 I think. I had been on .5 mgs for a few years and thought I could just stop. Huge mistake! I had a seizure and literally thought I was going to die. I had no choice but to reinstate. There are other drugs that can be used for seizure disorders, but please be careful coming off the klonopin if you decide to do that. All benzo w/d's must be approached very cautiously. Rapid detoxes or cold turkeys are not only dangerous but they cause unbearable suffering.

Hardcore heroin addicts will tell you heroin is much easier to detox than benzos. Benzos are the hardest drugs of all drugs to detox and recover from.

LostInCyberspace12, thanks for your response. Based on my pdoc's major reaction I don't think he'll ever want me to stop this med. I've been on it for 3 years. I also take Ativan "as needed", but I take the Ativan rarely. I'm going to hound pdoc about this Klonopin since he (and one other pdoc) kept me on it for so long.

Yeah, I hear you Chutebird. I took klonopin for over a decade. I would probably still be on it today but I became completely tolerant to it after 10 years. My pdoc then tried to raise my dose from .5 mgs to over 2 mgs per day but the drug had simply stopped working. Not only did my panic and anxiety re-emerge, but I also had the horrible benzo w/d to contend with. Not to scare you Cthebird! Benzos are wonderful drugs for anxiety and panic and they do work. I just wish tolerance never occurred. I never cared about being dependent on the medication because I was going to take it for the remainder of my life, but it stopped working. Many people never seem to become tolerant and can remain on these drugs for a lifetime. These people are very lucky. I am one of the unfortunate ones where tolerance occurs after I have been on the drug for many years. Just make sure if you ever decide to discontinue klonopin, you must taper slowly and very carefully.

Hi , i found out from my personal experience with 3 x 0.5 mg Klonopin daily for more than a year that reducing 0.125 once at 2 weeks will work . Basically , a quarter of 0.5 every 2 weeks , and if it works , keep it like that . I managed to reach to 0.5 only at bedtime with no noticeable problem , in like 5 months , then i made the mistake to cut that in half . Then hell unleashed . I had to go back to 3 x 0.5 , stabilize , and try lower cuts . I have also tried the Ashton Method , using Valium to taper of Klonopin , it works , but i don't like Valium so i quit on it . I will do simple withdrawal , with a quarter every two weeks . I hope this will work . I have no more anxiety or panic , and the wd symptoms are physical only, like tremors , muscle fasciculations , nausea , headache .

LostInSpace , with your permission . From what have i found on the internet and from what my doctor said , the Klonopin starting dosage for anxiety/panic disorders in adults is 1/1.5 mg daily , taken 3 times daily . The dosage will be adjusted if needed , depending on the pacient's response . But on the other hand you are right , the withdrawal symptoms of a person that has been on 0.5 daily and of a person that has been on 1.5 daily , are the same . I have studied the paper inside my Klonopin package , i have found nothing about anxiety/panic , all the informations were strictly about epilepsy . According to this paper ( marketed by Roche ) , 1.5 mgs daily is the daily dosage of a 2 years old child , suffering of epilepsy . My logic tells me that there are big difference between the CNS activity of a person with epilepsy and the CNS activity of a person that has anxiety related problems . I am not sure about the risks of quitting cold-turkey on Klonopin , they surely can kill a person with epilepsy , causing a dangerous seizure , but i wonder if we aren't misinterpreting the infos about Klonopin , and get a bit too scared . But of course , no benzo should be quited cold turkey .

I can only speak from my personal experience with klonopin additiva. I went thru a horrible xanax w/d and thought nothing could be worse. Klonopin for me was far worse in many ways than the xanax was. I had all the sx's you are having now plus a dozen more from the klonopin. DP, DR, a feeling of suffocation, burning skin all over, constant panic attacks that I just had to endure, anxiety that was 10 times worse than baseline, physical pain all over my body, just really bizarre crazy things. I took only .5 mgs per day for most of the years I spent on klonopin. I never had to take anymore than that until the drug slowly started not to work. Then my doctor starting creeping up on the dose. When I became completely tolerant, no amount would work. Before things got really bad, I made several attempts to get off the klonopin because I read the hanwriting on the wall so to speak but everytime I would drop to .25, all hell would break loose and I would have to go back up. I spent about 2 years half sick / half well on klonopin. I don't like the depression that valium causes but it was the only way I could survive getting off the klonopin for good. It is the only benzo I have developed a phobia about. I know many doctors have epileptics on up to 20 mgs per day. This is equivalent to 400 mgs of valium according to Dr. Ashton. I find this incredible but understandable for someone with a seizure disorder whose medical condition can't be controlled with other anti seizure, non benzo meds.

I hope one day I will be able to get off valium for good even if I have to take a valium or xanax PRN for acute episodes. Stopping benzos c/t will not kill you provided you are healthy otherwise unlike acute alcohol withdrawal which can and will kill you. Benzo cold turkeys just make you feel like you are dying. This is why I always advise anyone thinking about inpatient detox to re-think. You are much better remaining in control yourself while working with your doctor to slowly come off these drugs if that is what you choose.

I still do not understand why some people can stay on these meds a lifetime and do good and others like me become slowly tolerant over time to these meds.

Post edited by: LostInCyberspace12, at: 05/27/2012 02:52 PM

Oh yeah , Xanax is a small kid compared to Klonopin , because Klonopin is an antiepileptic . I did cold/turkey on Xanax and had no problem , but that was just a fortunate case i was extremely lucky i guess . I felt the need not to take it , and i stopped . I felt weird for a couple of days , but nothing serious . Then it was gone . But Klonopin is much more harder . Yeah , i have pains too , sensation of sufocation , but last night was bad after i took the K pill, now i am on it , it kicked in , and i had a huge apetite for food and i feel extremely good . What the heck is going on . All i want is to get rid of it and get on Xanax , if needed , considering that i have no panic and no anxiety since last august . They shouldn't prescribe antiepileptics for anxiety, that's clear . I feel stable on 0.25-0.25-0.50 now . Let's hope it will be like that for at least 2 weeks , then i can cut a quarter from the bedtime pill . As for depression , i have it from Klonopin . But i can handle it , i had it all my life , depression is like a part of me , so no worries about . And yes , that boredome that Valium brings made me quit the Ashton method . 0.50mg clonazepam = 10 mg diazepam . But diazepam has a huge half-life , up to 300 hours and it will build up in huge quantities . The problem is that my doctor's tapering schedule failed . He cut 2 x 0.25 at once , this is 1 pill out of 3 , and i have almost landed in the Hospital . He said , 1.5 mg is a low dosage , there is nothing dangerous about cutting 2 x 0.25 , half of the morning pill and half of the afternoon pill . But it was too much . So i had to start over . Ive managed to reach only 0.5 at bedtime , then i made the mistake to cut that in half . Then a horrible seizure stroke after 5 days . I was feeling i was dying but in the same time i realized that my body is full of energy . The whole room was spinning , my muscles were all contracting , my eyes were moving on their own will , but i was feeling like : if i had to run 10 miles now , i can do it . This is a seizure i said , take a pill and breathe . I took a 0.5 K , and within 1 hour i was back to normal . Then i had to return to 3 x 0.5 and stabilize , then start over . I'm losing time , money , because i can't work , and unlike Xanax , Klonopin made me a decorative plant .

What helped during my Klonopin withdrawal , was Magne-B6 pills , and Calcium +D3 powder . Mg+B6 2 pills in the morning , and Calcium 1000 mg powder , disolved in water or juice , at bedtime . I got rid of the horrible nightmares i had in the last month , and also the shakes have been reduced considerably .

And my response to your question about your tolerance , i think the body is considering that drug , a poison , and develops a resistance to it , to defend itself . That's why . But i'm not a doctor , its just my logic .