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Klonopin Withdrawal

M

Mgold55

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 22, 2018
Messages
81
Hey all quick question. I have been using about .5 daily for about 6 months. Two days ago i decided to cut it to .25 daily. First day felt nothing. Now I feel Insomnia, and lack of appetite. Are these normal parts of the withdrawal process? I didnt think it would cause lack of appetite by tapering down just by .25.
 
Mgold55 said:
Hey all quick question. I have been using about .5 daily for about 6 months. Two days ago i decided to cut it to .25 daily. First day felt nothing. Now I feel Insomnia, and lack of appetite. Are these normal parts of the withdrawal process? I didnt think it would cause lack of appetite by tapering down just by .25.
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Seems like fairly normal symptoms, considering you reduced your dose by half, which is a large amount proprtionally, even if it was only by a small amount objectively. Also makes sense that the symptoms would appear on the second day, considering the long half-life and duration of action that clonazepam has.

If the symptoms get unbearable, and certainly if you are at risk for a seizure (though it doesn't seem too likely at this dosage), then you can try raising your dose back up at least somewhat, for instance by 0.125mg to see. But you might very well be able to just endure a manageable period of insomnia and lack of appetite, and then stabilize on 0.25mg. Overanalyzing your withdrawal symptoms is a surefire way to make them worse if they are in the mild-moderate range, in my experience, especially if you are already prone to anxiety/rumination/hypochondria/etc like a fair few benzo users.
 
Yeah it's normal. If you're trying to get off and not having any withdrawal symptoms that are too bad I would just stay at .25 and then jump off.

I was tapered off of 2 mgs by my dr and it was relatively painless.
 
nuttynutskin said:
Yeah it's normal. If you're trying to get off and not having any withdrawal symptoms that are too bad I would just stay at .25 and then jump off.

I was tapered off of 2 mgs by my dr and it was relatively painless.
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Thanks for advice. How long should I take .25 before jumping off? Its bearable, nothing like quitting opiates cold turkey. Ive been doing .25 for about 6 days now. Would you say .25 for 2 weeks total then jump off? I did .5 for about 4-6 months.
 
Mgold55 said:
Thanks for advice. How long should I take .25 before jumping off? Its bearable, nothing like quitting opiates cold turkey. Ive been doing .25 for about 6 days now. Would you say .25 for 2 weeks total then jump off? I did .5 for about 4-6 months.
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Two weeks seems sufficient, IMO. Going from 0.25 to nothing will possibly be somewhat harder than going from 0.5 to 0.25 -- not to make you overly concerned, since it should still be manageable, just FYI. If it gets too bad, you can always step back up to 0.125mg for a little while, by breaking a 0.5mg pill into quarters (or if you have 1mg pills, crushing a quarter and then separating the powder into two roughly equal piles). Good luck.
 
JTemperance said:
Two weeks seems sufficient, IMO. Going from 0.25 to nothing will possibly be somewhat harder than going from 0.5 to 0.25 -- not to make you overly concerned, since it should still be manageable, just FYI. If it gets too bad, you can always step back up to 0.125mg for a little while, by breaking a 0.5mg pill into quarters (or if you have 1mg pills, crushing a quarter and then separating the powder into two roughly equal piles). Good luck.
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Today when I went to the gym I was lifting weight and I noticed heart palpitations with a slight anxiety feel to it. For about 10-15 seconds at time. Can the drop cause this effect?
 
Mgold55 said:
Today when I went to the gym I was lifting weight and I noticed heart palpitations with a slight anxiety feel to it. For about 10-15 seconds at time. Can the drop cause this effect?
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Yes, and yes to your symptoms at rest. I mean, physical exertion alone sometimes causes that feeling. But a dose reduction could make it more noticeable. Try to distract yourself from the jittery/out-of-it feeling when you're not doing anything.
 
JTemperance said:
Yes, and yes to your symptoms at rest. I mean, physical exertion alone sometimes causes that feeling. But a dose reduction could make it more noticeable. Try to distract yourself from the jittery/out-of-it feeling when you're not doing anything.
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I also noticed my resting blood pressure is high. Normally i have about 130/80 with 60 pulse. Right now its 144/80 69 pulse. Im guessing this is also normal for benzo withdrawal? Am i at risk for seizures or death at my dosage of use and the 50% dose cut even though i thought this dose is fairly small?
 
I used Clonidine for opiate withdrawal. Does .1 clonidine work for benzo withdrawal for the anxiety/BP issue?
 
Mgold55 said:
I also noticed my resting blood pressure is high. Normally i have about 130/80 with 60 pulse. Right now its 144/80 69 pulse. Im guessing this is also normal for benzo withdrawal? Am i at risk for seizures or death at my dosage of use and the 50% dose cut even though i thought this dose is fairly small?
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I can't really draw any conclusions on your blood pressure or tell you whether you are definitely safe from seizure risk, not being a doctor. Obviously, this type of thing is "supposed" to be done under medical supervision. I will say, though, that I've heard of doctors making relatively similar dose cuts.
 
Mgold55 said:
I used Clonidine for opiate withdrawal. Does .1 clonidine work for benzo withdrawal for the anxiety/BP issue?
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A lot of people find clonidine helpful for benzo withdrawal as well as opiate withdrawal. Actually, I was going to recommend it to you but thought you probably didn't have access. It might help with anxiety, blood pressure, jitteriness, and insomnia (if you take it before bed). 0.1mg is a good starting point, assuming you haven't used it in a while; some people find it strong, so 0.05mg is a decent starting point as well.

But don't take it too many days in a row, or you'll need to taper off of it to avoid rebound hypertension.
 
I started getting a headache and blurry vision. I just googled physical benzo withdrawal symptoms and I have like 8 of them. Wow I probably should have cut it to .375 then to .25. But its too late to go backwards. Im already on day 6. I might just have to suffer through this for another few weeks and then cut it to .125 for a few weeks and then jump off. Im gonna save the clonidine for when I completely jump off as it might get worse then. I have melatonin for insomnia .
 
Its weird that I feel worse on day 6 than day 2 or 3. I guess because klonopin is long acting so it peaks longer?
 
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