Short but heavy clonazepam binge... Back to low-dose Valium ok?

[Conrad Beans]

Hi all,

Long time stalker, first time poster so pls forgive me if this is in the wrong place, etc.

A little history: I usually take anywhere from 5 to 10mg of Valium daily, but recently (as in, the last week/week-and-a-half), I've been gobbling clonazepam like there's no tomorrow.

I'd say, realistically, I've taken 40mg of clonaz (20 x 2mg tabs) in a week or a little longer.

Now, seeing as I'm about to run out of the clonaz but still have access to the V's, my question is: Can I expect any negative repercussions after this foolish little clonazepam holiday, or will I be ok going back to my usual daily diazepam dose?

Thanks in advance for any advice! xox!!

 

[Pickledlemons]

Hi all,

Long time stalker, first time poster so pls forgive me if this is in the wrong place, etc.

A little history: I usually take anywhere from 5 to 10mg of Valium daily, but recently (as in, the last week/week-and-a-half), I've been gobbling clonazepam like there's no tomorrow.

I'd say, realistically, I've taken 40mg of clonaz (20 x 2mg tabs) in a week or a little longer.

Now, seeing as I'm about to run out of the clonaz but still have access to the V's, my question is: Can I expect any negative repercussions after this foolish little clonazepam holiday, or will I be ok going back to my usual daily diazepam dose?

Thanks in advance for any advice! xox!!

I don't know that much about benzos but I think you might have to go through a little rebound anxiety. I don't think you'll be in full blown withdrawals or anythings. Maybe 1 or 2 days of uncomfortableness. You should be okay.

 

[Lorne???]

Whoa- 40mg of clonazepam ? You know that is like, roughly, a gram of Valium? Uh be very careful-For multiple reasons, you may want to(and possibly need to) temporarily up dose of Valium, after a day or two, reduce dose a bit, and a couple days later go back to regular dose

Please understand that what you did is reckless ; your benzodiazepine use may be low, however a binge like that can push into full blow physical dependency -and clonazepam? No fun, at all. You SHOULD be ok after a week, just keep in mind SHOULD and that 40mg of clonazepam per day can produce horrible, even lethal wd. Again be safe and try and be mindful in the future

 

[Conrad Beans]

Whoa- 40mg of clonazepam ? You know that is like, roughly, a gram of Valium? Uh be very careful-For multiple reasons, you may want to(and possibly need to) temporarily up dose of Valium, after a day or two, reduce dose a bit, and a couple days later go back to regular dose

Please understand that what you did is reckless ; your benzodiazepine use may be low, however a binge like that can push into full blow physical dependency -and clonazepam? No fun, at all. You SHOULD be ok after a week, just keep in mind SHOULD and that 40mg of clonazepam per day can produce horrible, even lethal wd. Again be safe and try and be mindful in the future

What I wrote (or at least, what I meant) was 40mg of clonaz spread out over 10 days. So about 4mg of clonaz a day (sometimes a little more, sometimes less). Not so reckless, yeah? I didn't eat them all at once. I like living.

 

[Lorne???]

^ Don’t get snarky- 40mg of Clono by itself wouldn’t be lethal-

4mg a day is a lot (if your not used to it)~120mg valium?

Also, a gram of. Latium in a week (or so) is still, well a gram of Valium (or equivalent) - Trust me, if your body needs a gram of valium every week or two, then running out will be suffering and you may like living a bit less, buddy
-

I would suggest, that you tread lightly

Seriously, be careful

 

[Conrad Beans]

^ Don?t get snarky- 40mg of Clono by itself wouldn?t be lethal-

4mg a day is a lot (if your not used to it)~120mg valium?

Also, a gram of. Latium in a week (or so) is still, well a gram of Valium (or equivalent) - Trust me, if your body needs a gram of valium every week or two, then running out will be suffering and you may like living a bit less, buddy
-

I would suggest, that you tread lightly

Seriously, be careful

Alrighty, Lorne, fair point (and didn't mean to come off as snarky, so my apologies). I don't think my body "needs" a gram of Valium every week or two (nor to I think that 40mg clonaz = a gram of diaz, but that argument's probably best saved for another day and/or thread), but I will take your advice and treat lightly on the way back to Valiumville.

Here's a follow-up question for you if you have a sec: I seem to have located another 20 x 2mg clonaz pills, in addition to my 10 x 5mg V's per week.

So, question is, how would you cross-taper from 2-4mg clonaz per day back to a single 5 or 10mg diaz dose each morning. Controlling my intake won't problem, but I'm just not sure how many mg's to take each day and when to start in on the diaz. Seems to be VERY little consensus on benzo equivalency so there's a fair bit of guesswork involved. Take, as an example, the vastly different calculations of these two sites:

1. http://clincalc.com/Benzodiazepine
2. http://psychopharmacopeia.com/bzd_dose_convert.php

Any advice/rough daily intake schedule would be hugely appreciated.

Peace,

Conrad.

 

[Lorne???]

Bumping this so Remember it - don't anyone else do it!

 

[Conrad Beans]

Just a little follow-up for those who are interested:

I had no issues at all going back to 5-10mg a day of Valium after consuming 40mg of clonazepam in roughly 1.5 weeks. I think, perhaps, the long half-life of both drugs coupled with the short duration of the clonazapam binge worked in my favour. I know it's risky behaviour and I was/am lucky, but the reality is that I barely noticed the switch back (apart from possibly being more clear-headed).

Not suggesting that others should do the same, or that this kinda risky binge nonsense will work out for everyone else the way that it did for myself (by the way, I'm also on 50-100mg Sertraline/Zoloft so that may also have played a role in the smooth transition), but yeah, happy days as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Lorne???]

Glad for you.

And thank you for pointing out that your result is not typical, and was and can be very risky- it's scary how high Czp converts from valium; of course Chronic vs Acute

It all depends, though glad it worked out, and be careful. You can come back with any problems, had a rough one myself for a little while