I've been on Clonzepam (Klonopin) legally for about 7 years at 3mg/day and have been stable. My psychiatrist retired and referred me to a new one who has a strict UA policy screening for illicit drugs. Their policy is that they will cut you off of controlled substances if you test positive for illicit drugs. I'm a semi-frequent cannabis user (not in a legal state, but decriminalized) and it helps me with my anxiety and insomnia problems. I have an appointment in 2 weeks and there's no way for me to flush the THC metabolites out of my system nor am I going to resort to synthetic urine since they test for benzo levels to make sure you're not abusing/selling/etc. So that being said I'm extremely concerned that the new psychiatrist is going to cut me off cold turkey.
I'm sure most here know how nasty benzo withdrawals can be, especially with Klonopin. I've already started a taper coming from 3mg to 2.5mg for a week and have had no withdrawal symptoms to speak of, but I'm still on a decent dose. I still consume cannabis as it's the only thing that truly helps my mental health and I really do not care about the legality status of it as I prefer to be mentally and physically healthy.
On the other side of the coin my previous psychiatrist before he retired gave me 2 months worth of refills at 3mg/day so if I have to taper I can do so, but I don't think I have enough to do a proper taper, but perhaps it will avoid the whole seizure/psychotic/coma/death thing. I'm admittedly scared to death of going into severe and life-threatening withdrawals. I've read that cannabis consumption can help with benzo withdrawals, so while I realize this may not be the right forum to post in, I was hoping for some advice or stories from those who have tapered/withdrew from benzos with the addition of cannabis.
My appointment is in 2 weeks and each day that it comes closer I'm more and more anxious.
Anyhow, that's about it for now. Would really appreciate any insight from other forum members.
I'm sure most here know how nasty benzo withdrawals can be, especially with Klonopin. I've already started a taper coming from 3mg to 2.5mg for a week and have had no withdrawal symptoms to speak of, but I'm still on a decent dose. I still consume cannabis as it's the only thing that truly helps my mental health and I really do not care about the legality status of it as I prefer to be mentally and physically healthy.
On the other side of the coin my previous psychiatrist before he retired gave me 2 months worth of refills at 3mg/day so if I have to taper I can do so, but I don't think I have enough to do a proper taper, but perhaps it will avoid the whole seizure/psychotic/coma/death thing. I'm admittedly scared to death of going into severe and life-threatening withdrawals. I've read that cannabis consumption can help with benzo withdrawals, so while I realize this may not be the right forum to post in, I was hoping for some advice or stories from those who have tapered/withdrew from benzos with the addition of cannabis.
My appointment is in 2 weeks and each day that it comes closer I'm more and more anxious.
Anyhow, that's about it for now. Would really appreciate any insight from other forum members.