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Benzos Going to get off clonazepam. Does this make sense?

N

Ness

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
890
I've been taking 0.5mg clonazepam twice a day for about 3-4 years now. I'm long past the point where I think it provides any actual relief for anxiety. It's total maintenance. So, I'm going to get off it. I've been seeing a psychiatrist and they are pretty good. They're certainly no dummy. Their course to get me off the kpins is for me to simply stop taking them altogether and to take 5mg Librium at bedtime for 10 days and then stop altogether. They claim I should have little to no withdrawal. I'm a bit skeptical, but I don't know enough to say for sure. Anybody have any thoughts?
 
what? quitting a four year clonazepam dependance with a ten day librium round without a taper? You must've misheard your doc...
 
Nope. I have the script in hand, too. On the one hand, it makes no sense to me. Totally counter intuitive. On the other hand, I know for a fact this doc isn't an idiot. So I'm pretty confused.
 
Typical "rapid detox" bullshit.

And Librium to replace Klonopin? Not going to work. Needs to be Valium. Even then, Valium doesn't fully substitute for Klonopin.

If you have the pills, cut your .5s into halves and try that for two weeks. If you can't handle that, then this is going to go bad really fast :\
 
If I were you, I'd taper very slowly. So you're taking 1mg per day... Take 0.75 for a month, 0.5 for the month after, and 0.25 for 3 months. You'll be clean within 5 months. Be honest to your doc... Tell him you're not comfortable with that plan...
 
flyhighk said:
If I were you, I'd taper very slowly. So you're taking 1mg per day... Take 0.75 for a month, 0.5 for the month after, and 0.25 for 3 months. You'll be clean within 5 months. Be honest to your doc... Tell him you're not comfortable with that plan...
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I have absolutely no problem going straight from 1 to 0.5. I've done it before without noticeable consequence, but went back up to support opioid detox. Funny thing is, I actually suggested a much slower taper than what my psychiatrist is suggesting. I get the klonopin from my GP, but was talking to my psychiatrist about getting off of it. I was saying that I could probably just taper myself off of it with little problem, stepping down the dose over a month or two. They're like "What if you have a seizure?". Then they suggest this much more aggressive plan. I guess they just didn't want ME in control of my own taper. I think what I'll probably do is go along with their plan, then when the withdrawals kick in, start taking klonopin again and pull an "I told you so" on my psych. It's amazing that an addiction psychiatrist doesn't quite understand that I know how drugs affect me pretty damn thoroughly and more or less know what I'm doing. Just need some support. I'm there by choice, after all, to get clean. I'm not screwing around 8)
 
This sounds like it will be quite tough. But some people can handle jumping off relatively small doses of benzos and they have only minor w/d.

Seems a lot more mental and varies a lot more from person to person compared to opiate w/d.

So if you can do it then I'd say good for you, but if it seems quite unbearable there is no reason to put yourself through a lot of pain, when you can taper much slower.
 
MagickalKat777 said:
Typical "rapid detox" bullshit.

And Librium to replace Klonopin? Not going to work. Needs to be Valium. Even then, Valium doesn't fully substitute for Klonopin.

If you have the pills, cut your .5s into halves and try that for two weeks. If you can't handle that, then this is going to go bad really fast :\
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This is correct mate, It is far too fast even at a fairly low dose 3-4 years of Benzo daily especially a potent one like Clonaz and being a long half life muscle relaxant , anti-convulsant, NO chance !!

You need to sort something else bro

Good luck ;)
 
i've never understood why they don't use anticonvulsants to taper off benzo's.

like phenytoin or something... could it work?
 
They do use anti-convulsants. Here in the US, valproic acid/sodium valproate (Depakote) is pretty common, especially if you have been using alcohol along with your benzos. To be honest, it makes the withdrawal worse because the side effects of Depakote really weigh down your system. Then when you come off of the Depakote, you can end up in protracted withdrawal within days. Happened to me.

I'd rather do an extended proper taper than mess with my brain even more while its trying to heal.
 
I got off a 10-15mg a day habit. I took a long time. I have gone through cold turkey benzo withdrawal so many times that I knew I had taper SLOWLY. I would cut my dose by .25 or .5mg's every couple weeks. It would be super uncomfortable at first. I would stick it out for a week, then I'd be fine on the new dose. It took about a year to taper off completely, but it was worth it. I had no symptoms when I finally stopped. Nada. The only problem is to have the mental ability to taper and not cheat, which is super hard. It sounds like you are sick of using benzos, so I don't think that should be much of an issue for you.

MagickalKat777 said:
They do use anti-convulsants. Here in the US, valproic acid/sodium valproate (Depakote) is pretty common, especially if you have been using alcohol along with your benzos. To be honest, it makes the withdrawal worse because the side effects of Depakote really weigh down your system. Then when you come off of the Depakote, you can end up in protracted withdrawal within days. Happened to me.

I'd rather do an extended proper taper than mess with my brain even more while its trying to heal.
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I wouldn't recommend depakote to my worst enemy even to hurt them. That shit is so fucked up. I had to take that for my neuro disorder and it was worse than the disease... sorta.
 
bennyZA said:
I wouldn't recommend depakote to my worst enemy even to hurt them. That shit is so fucked up. I had to take that for my neuro disorder and it was worse than the disease... sorta.
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I agree. Out of all the drugs that I have ever put in my system, Depakote ranks at the very top for the most toxic - right next to Abilify and Zyprexa.
 
Lopez said:
i've never understood why they don't use anticonvulsants to taper off benzo's.

like phenytoin or something... could it work?
Click to expand...



MagickalKat777 said:
They do use anti-convulsants. Here in the US, valproic acid/sodium valproate (Depakote) is pretty common, especially if you have been using alcohol along with your benzos. To be honest, it makes the withdrawal worse because the side effects of Depakote really weigh down your system. Then when you come off of the Depakote, you can end up in protracted withdrawal within days. Happened to me.

I'd rather do an extended proper taper than mess with my brain even more while its trying to heal.
Click to expand...

Well Depakote acts on GABA, other anti-convs like Phenytoin and Keppra do not. I wouldn't think an anti conv would be much help if it didn't have its mech of action act on GABA.
 
I think depakote and its horrible effects would drive someone back to clonazapam. Pretty much all anti-convulsants would be hard on the body. By the time you get used to the terrible side effect profile of any of them you wouldn't need them anymore. Keppra is the only one that really doesn't have the worst side effects, and I'm 90% sure it would cover this type of seizure considering it is generalized and works for so many forms of epilepsy. ***

*** Source: For my neuro condition I've tried most anti-convulsants.
 
RTrain said:
Well Depakote acts on GABA, other anti-convs like Phenytoin and Keppra do not. I wouldn't think an anti conv would be much help if it didn't have its mech of action act on GABA.
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I agree with you entirely but what I'm saying is that they should do a traditional taper because they keep you on the Depakote while you're in the hospital then send you home without it and you end up in withdrawal. If you keep taking the Depakote then you get a Depakote dependency, gain 50 pounds, and lose all interest in any of life's pleasures.

It pisses me off that they take shortcuts with benzos.
 
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