16mg clonazepam a day...

No, that wasnt a typo. I am taking a seriously heavy dose of klonopin (i seem to have a pretty massive tolerance, i take 4 x 2mg pills in the morning and at night, and at this point I need to take this dose) and at times ive even exceeded this. I know the "max therapeutic dose" is 20mg, but im fucking worried, it really just hit me today.... I know im gonna have to go through some fucked up shit to get off but i will do this SLOWLLYYYYYYYY as fuck. This is RX, not off the street, so supply usually isnt a problem, and except for some unforeseen circumstances, I wouldn't be left without my kpins.

Does this carry any additional danger? Serious responses only plz.... I am well aware of just how high my tolerance is, oh and... I am diagnosed with GAD and get panic attacks, sometimes even WITH the klonopin.

Im afraid that one day I might just fucking die out of nowhere or something along those lines.

Seriously fucking worried... anyone here ever take that much regularly? Less than 3-4 pills (usually 4) has almost no effect on me, and no matter what the dose, i dont get high off them anymore. And only did maybe the first week....thanks. 8)

well, in worst case benzo WD ive heard of people having small to mild seizures. Ive also heard one hard part is the mental aspect of it. you just gotta keep strong and do shit like delete your dlrs numbers. good luck man

Listen I can take up to 30mg's of klonopin and be completely fine, probably even 50mg's I wouldn't get high. I've been on klonopin for over 5 years now and it truly sucks to be addicted too, but it saves me in every day life at this point. Your dosage is massive, and I would definitely consider lowering it down to 4-6mg's max daily (and that's still a high dose). I would start off weening down 1mg at a time slowly, over the period of 3-6 months (6 months being the max, 3 being the optimal time but probably not going to happen for you). Just be safe when weening down and use the doctor to help you, and if he tries to ween you down too fast just stop him and say you're fine at that dose and juse do it yourself. This will leave you with extra klonopin but that doesn't mean take them for fun. It means you need to be responsible and get this high dose bullshit in order. Good luck benzo withdrawl completely sucks and I've had a seizure after 3 days of no benzo's before, and I bit a piece of my tongue off - luckily it grew back.

-dp

FractalStructure said:

This is RX, not off the street, so supply usually isnt a problem, and except for some unforeseen circumstances, I wouldn't be left without my kpins.

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I would assume your treatment was started for anxiety, mania, or epilepsy. This is something that is really going to take coordination with your Doctor. Make sure they know that you find your dose to high and want to work towards lower doses or different treatment. This is going to take planning and patience as DP has pointed out.

www.benzo.ork.uk has solid info on tolerance, dependence, and withdrawal, if you're interested. They also have tapering schedules, which you can print out and take to your doctor (unless they're experienced with benzo withdrawal) if you're wanting to get down to a lower dose, or quit all together.

I have been taking Klonopin for 9 years and have had a script written for me from 3 different doctors over the years. The most a dr has prescribed me is 4 mg a day. While being prescribed that amount, I moved out of state. When going to see my new psychiatrist, the dr. was concerned that I was prescribed such a high dose (at 4mgs!!!!).

I would highly recommend asking your Dr to slowly wean you off your current dose. I would imagine, the weaning process could take up to a year.

I currently take 2mg a day (although on a really bad day, I'll need 3 mg's.)

I was recently seeing a psychiatrist for detox from Opiates. He is a big AA/NA'er; therefore, did not like to prescribe me benzo's. In fact, he wanted to wean me off them completely. I reluctantly agreed. He wrote out a 2 week time period for weaning off 3 mg's. (at that time, I was having hard times and was taking more than prescribed). Well, by the time I was down to 1/2 a mg, I was having terrible withdrawals. I was completely out of it, dizzy, couldnt concentrate, was shaky, fatigue and just TOTALLY spaced out.

Then, he tried putting me on librium because it has a much longer half life (like 200 hours or something like that). Well, that didn't work. The librium seemed to have a depressant like effect on me and made me feel spacey all day. Also, librium has to build up in your system, therefore, it has no use for panic attacks.

Well, in the end, I went back to my primary doctor and he put me back on 2 mg of Klonopin. I feel I will need to take it (or xanax) the rest of my life, and I am fine with that.

Sorry for rambling.

No need to have your doctor lower that nifty uberscript you apparently have now. As with any other addiction+taper/CT schedule, it's generally a self control issue. Your doctor doesn't have much to do with you actually lowering your dosage; you do.

I would do my bloody homework of course..safety first. But from there just give yourself as much time as you need and taper slooowwly. With most any other substance quicker just = abit more drastic suffering, quicker. Benzo withdrawal can be very dangerous if too abrupt.

Of course if a massive stockpile/surplus of Klonopins is of little use to you, you may as well go talk it over with Doc. But I know if it was me....

That's a lot of Klonopin.

To the OP: I used to be on your same RX'd dose, all at once with a fuckload of methadone...after like 6 months both of them lost all effect for me GAD.

My GAD is so bad I try to even avoid my family now

I'm on 8mg kpins now and don't feel anything..nothing..only alcohol works now; and you know how that goes...terribly

You should try clonidine, that's what i'm going to try to get tomorro..my jew pdoc wouldn't RX me it today so it's off to the primary care. You'd think it's not much to ask at all

FractalStructure said:

No, that wasnt a typo. I am taking a seriously heavy dose of klonopin (i seem to have a pretty massive tolerance, i take 4 x 2mg pills in the morning and at night, and at this point I need to take this dose) and at times ive even exceeded this. I know the "max therapeutic dose" is 20mg, but im fucking worried, it really just hit me today.... I know im gonna have to go through some fucked up shit to get off but i will do this SLOWLLYYYYYYYY as fuck. This is RX, not off the street, so supply usually isnt a problem, and except for some unforeseen circumstances, I wouldn't be left without my kpins.

Does this carry any additional danger? Serious responses only plz.... I am well aware of just how high my tolerance is, oh and... I am diagnosed with GAD and get panic attacks, sometimes even WITH the klonopin.

Im afraid that one day I might just fucking die out of nowhere or something along those lines.

Seriously fucking worried... anyone here ever take that much regularly? Less than 3-4 pills (usually 4) has almost no effect on me, and no matter what the dose, i dont get high off them anymore. And only did maybe the first week....thanks. 8)

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i don't think you will die out of nowhere but i would be very concerned about your mental and physical health taking that dosage.

slow taper is the way to go. it will most likely be a long road to recovery for you and i wish the best of luck along the way. i just finished a 6 month taper off of 4 mg of xanax and i am not recovered yet.

since your dose is so high, you should be able to start with fairly large cuts. for instance, since ashton recommends cutting 10% of your dose every 7-10 days, a cut for you could consist of 1.5 or even 2 mg at this point, whereas as you get more towards the end of your taper, you will need to make smaller cuts. please keep us updated with your progress and feel free to PM me for any questions you may have.

^you can die from a massive seizure from benzo withdrawal, especially going from 16mg to 0. I'm not saying he/she would, just that it can and has and does happen..and from much lower dosages. Anything that can give you a seizure can kill you.

i know you can die from withdrawal, what i meant was i doubt he is going to suddenly die simply from being on that dose. that's what he was asking if you read his original post. it is such a massive dosage, he was concerned that taking it every day might itself kill him.

If you don't run out you won't drop dead all of a sudden or even go into withdrawals. Well some people get rebound withdrawals even while on there regular benzo dose so let's hope you don't get those.

You would have to taper pretty damn slow off that dose and don't even think about going cold turkey. Youd have a grand mal seizure more then likely. So tapering off the clonazepam until you get down to 6mg's a day say then switching to diazepam and slowly tapering off that would be the least painful way to go. That would be a fucload of diazepam if you where to switch over from 16mg's of clonazepam. Something like 32 10mg pills which would be 320mg's of diazepam. No doctor would give you that amount of diazepam i don't think.

Another option would be tapering off the clonazepam abit then switching to phenobarbital and using that to taper. That is used here where i live a good bit for heavy benzo use i think.

Im prescribed 6mg's of clonazepam a day but no longer take that much. I only take 4mg's a day now usually unless im having a really rough day. I was put on 6mg's a day to help the real bad anxiety i had as well as bipolar disorder because it helps mania. Ive been on it over 3 years now and don't have any plans for coming of it since it works good for me.

I wouldnt wanna be on 16mg's a day though cause that is a high dose. 20mg's is the max but thats usually only prescribed for acute mania or epilepsy.

Strongly advise you to.......

FractalStructure

What you are experiencing is interdose withdrawals.
On no account come off these pills cold turkey, or indeed, taper off too fast.
It is recommended that people on fast acting benzos with a short half life, switch over to a longer half lived benzo, like diazepam, and slowly taper off once stabilised.
I am no expert on how you should do this, but there are many benzo support forums on the web with experts and people who have had benzo addiction.
thetrap.org.uk is just one site.
I am on that site, as I was using valium and zolpidem.
They will advise you on the best way to go about it.
Also, I recommend that you read the ashton manual?. This is by professor heather ashton who is an expert on tapering off benzos.
It is all too easy to get in a position like you have, you are not the first, and you wont be the last, by any means.
If you go to thetrap.org.uk, they will advise you on how to taper off safely, and when to do it.
They are a great bunch, totally non judgemental, and they have more knowledge than the doctors.
I am glad that you know to do it slowly, but I really do advise against a direct taper from klonopin, due to its short half life, and interdose withdrawals.

You are getting GAD and panic attacks with the klonopin, due to those interdose withdrawals, and also tolerance. It is called rebound anxiety.
These benzos only deal with anxeity for a short while, a week or so, I think, then they start having the opposite effect.

You will be safe, but please visit thetrap.org.uk before you try anything.
I am not on commission for that site, but I strongly recommend it because of the lifesaving help it has given me, and many, many others.
There are uk members, and many US members on that site, so someone will be on hand to adivise you how to approach doctors in the US.

I'm sure there are many who have taken that amount and probably more, its a big world out there, and given these things are so easy to swallow, I would be surprised if there wasnt.

Thetrap will help you through and it will not be as shit as you fear.

www.thetrap.org.uk->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->

Best of luck

no disrespect

and I can see your intentions are honourable, but the taper you recommend is waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy to quick.
Too rapid a taper can cause protracted withdrawals, which can drag out for much more time than is necessary.

dilated_pupils said:

Listen I can take up to 30mg's of klonopin and be completely fine, probably even 50mg's I wouldn't get high. I've been on klonopin for over 5 years now and it truly sucks to be addicted too, but it saves me in every day life at this point. Your dosage is massive, and I would definitely consider lowering it down to 4-6mg's max daily (and that's still a high dose). I would start off weening down 1mg at a time slowly, over the period of 3-6 months (6 months being the max, 3 being the optimal time but probably not going to happen for you). Just be safe when weening down and use the doctor to help you, and if he tries to ween you down too fast just stop him and say you're fine at that dose and juse do it yourself. This will leave you with extra klonopin but that doesn't mean take them for fun. It means you need to be responsible and get this high dose bullshit in order. Good luck benzo withdrawl completely sucks and I've had a seizure after 3 days of no benzo's before, and I bit a piece of my tongue off - luckily it grew back.

-dp

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kind regards 3d

^^^^ I agree tapering off too fast is only going to cause alot more problems in the long run. I think the OP could taper off abit using clonazepam maybe 0,25mg's every 10 days or so. It has a decent half life of about 50 hours plus he would be eating handfuls of valium since the pills only go up to 10mg's unfortunatly.

But once the OP tapered down abit a switch to diazepam would be the best option and the safest. As i said a phenobarbital taper would be another option. They do that here with people who are on really high doses of benzos.

some lopressor would help a lot with the blood preassure too.

And you might want to get labs done on the plasma concentration of the clonazepam...I just did myself the last time I went to my PCP and he said I'm at a point where all 8mg are going through me in just a number of hours at most...It's like I'm not even on it.

Did you go to thetrap, I am a benzo addict (prescribed) and I dunno where I would be without that forum.

I've personally never heard of that forum...maybe i should check it out

are there any risks as far as i dunno, liver damage and such? Its within the therapeutic dose range (up to 20mg) even if it is a seemingly insane daily dose... for the record i usually take 8mg at a time, and i dont get a buzz from it anymore (not that i care, as long as it knocks out my anxiety)