Harm Reduction Tapering Plan Mega thread - community project

[HdoubleODeezy]

does anybody think that z-drugs would help with benzo w/d's?

 

[Pegasus]

^I assume they would to a degree. I wouldn't try complete substitution with one, though.

 

[HdoubleODeezy]

^I assume they would to a degree. I wouldn't try complete substitution with one, though.

oh iight thank you!
was just curious cuz i might need to be tapering off of valium soon and im prescribed ambien also.
I'll figure out what im gonna do when i get to that point.

 

[Pegasus]

^Yeah man, I can see them being totally useful for helping to go to sleep after cutting your dose back...

 

[DexterMeth]

if tapering off of clonazepam.. which i see a lot of posts about lately. i suggest if your at a high dose 8mg for example. i would try to knock 1mg off at first and see how you feel and if you can do it on that lesser dose start by reducing dose by .5mg every other week till your down to about 2mg.. then reduce by .25mg every other week until your down to your last .25mg and stay on that as long as you feel its needed. then make the jump to nothing when you feel your ready.. thats my best advice for clonazepam.

How long did you continue to have withdrawal symptoms after you got to zero? Getting to zero was the easy part imo. Now staying at it at......

 

[Pegasus]

^In another thread, I described skipping gradually more days in between doses for the last part of the taper to avoid ever going from daily dosing to not dosing at all. IME, this helped unbelievably.

 

[DexterMeth]

Yea I read that...I've been at zero for 5 days now. It's not easy at all to function right now.

 

[danalprazolam]

Put on 3mg's of klonopin, for taper

I usually could take the 2mg pills like candy. So I also have 600mg nuerontin tablets. I feel so weird now that I have these little 1mg pills.

So i'm going to give this a shot. 3mg's of klonopin a day down from ridiculous amounts. I also have zoloft, which is a slap in the face also.

If I get down to 2mg's can I just switch to valium then? I hate these weird drugs. Unfortunately i'm in a weird situation where I need to at least control my tolerance for now. I dont know how it's going to work.

Any advice from people that like normal drugs please chime in. Also my old prescriptions were, Suboxone and Dexedrine. Which worked fine with the klonopin.

 

[jspun]

What happened. Why have you been forced to taper. I have panic disorder and depression. I am on suboxone 8 mg / day down from 24 +, although higher doses seem to improve my depression, give me more energy, increase productivity. Also, the xanax I am Rxed helps the crippling panic attacks. I was Rxed sertraline- but honestly, it doesn't seem to help much. The xanax also decreases my depression slightly I am convinced. I am in the process of stabalizing. Changed insurance plans and finally found a primary so things are alittle up in the air- I was tapering before this because I was unsure of things but things look like they will work out. See a psychiatrist on the 24th so hopefully he can get me back into the bupe program because my scripp is running increadibly low- and get my dose titrated, put me on what ever else he thinks/ non pharm therapies. I probably need dexedrine but i am scared to add it, especially with my mild hypertension. I plan to taper slowly over time once life stabalizes.

What is your history. Why are you being forced to taper?

Taking cimetidine can increase plasma levels and stretch your supply of clonopin out because it interferes with its metabolism. You can try that. Excercise and beta blockers have been recomended to me by someone else on this board that tapered from a supper high dose. Excercize too.

12 step meetings and being honset with the non judgemental type people has been helpful to me too.

One thing to keep in mind to converting to valium at 2 mg klonopin is that there is some incomplete cross tolerance between potent benzos (xanax, klonopin, ativan), and less potent ones (librium, valium, oxazepam, temazepam) so it should help, and the long half life is a good idea of valium but there might be some discomfort. Good news is that klonopin has a long half life so is somewhat self tapering.

 

[vonchampz]

It's hard to suggest anything because you haven't given us much info as your usual dose and how long you have been on clonazepam. Generally start dosing once with clonazepam and then when you dose again during the day, use diazepam. Start slowly decreasing the clonazepam so you get on an "only diazepam" regimen. Once you get off the clonazepam and are on diazepam, decrease your dose so you are only dosing diazepam once a day. Finally slowly taper that down until nothing....

As I said you haven't given us enough info, but check out Ashton's Benzo Taper manual for more info.... http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm

 

[Jabberwocky]

i'll merge this into the community taper thread.

 

[Jabberwocky]

you sound like you're in the same position as me. you want to taper, but can't quite give it the flick needed. just keep going with it and not get down on yourself too much. relapse is always a part of recovery. you'll get there eventually.

i suggest looking the the manual the vonchampz has posted, Dr Ashtons Manual. also read through the thread for what other people have suggested

 

[Pegasus]

Brent, just to touch on your idea of switching over to diazepam completely from 2mg clonazepam: You will want to gradually wean over to the diazepam when you do this. You'll be best to just start replacing little bits of your clonazepam with diazepam as you are tapering your dose down anyways. Try replacing 0.5mg clonazepam with 10mg diazepam and see how it works for you. The Ashton Manual has great examples of how to do this, and even an exact plan for tapering from 3mg clonazepam using diazepam! Good luck, and be sure to ask any questions you may come across!

 

[Jabberwocky]

long term benzo dependency will actually lead to you forgetting things, you'll find learning, grasping and retaining information very hard at times. that and the obvious addiction and possible seizures from wd's if you're on the more heavy end.

i've been addicted for a couple of years before and it wasn't fun getting off by any means. it was a nice long drawn out couple of months before i started to regain consciousness and awareness of my surroundings.

while they're basically benign on the human body they're not the best option for long term maintenance. finding alternative and natural drug free coping mechanisms is much better , ie - CBT, meditation, breathing exercises, etc, etc.

 

[Jabberwocky]

good luck at your meeting keep us updated

 

[Pegasus]

Yeah, everything LW said is great advice. The biggest concern with long term benzo use IMO is the detrimental effects on the brain and body. IME, my memory was pretty seriously affected, along with my moods and learning ability to a fairly substantial degree as well.

But these pill are magical.

They aren't... not by a long shot! They may be helpful at times, I can agree with that. When you look at the whole picture, though, they are simply tranquilizers with a whole host of negative impacts on your health and mental state!

 

[Caseyss]

Just wanted to say thanks

I posted a thread about me quiting vicodin yesterday and just wanted to say thanks to all of you who gave me advice. Everyone was very helpful and polite and made more confident in quiting. I am quiting starting Friday and will be doin a taper from about 40mg a day is what I'm at now to 1 5mg in the morning and see how that plays out. Just wanted to say thank you.

 

[HighonLife]

I didnt reply to your thread yesterday

but on behalf of others

you're welcome

Welcome to BL

 

[Pegasus]

Merged into tapering thread. Glad we could help! Be sure to post any more questions you have... Here would be the ideal place to do so! We'll always check this thread!

 

[Caseyss]

Just had one more question. I'm going to be coming off of 40mg of hydrocodone a day for a year. How long will the wd last do you think.