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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Stopped taking Klonopin 3-4 days ago, will i be ok?

J

jonny1

Greenlighter
Joined
Aug 21, 2013
Messages
32
I know you guys aren't doctors but i figure you guys would have the best advice. I've been taking klonopin for about 9 months, pretty much every single day averaging at about 0.5mg/ day.

I had a script written out for 60 1mg pills but i decided to keep it until i needed it. Well i didn't realize they expired. The good news is however, that i tapered down to 0.25mg about a month ago and stayed there until last week. last week i was taking it every other day but in higher doses.

The last time i took it was on saturday (or sunday cant remember) and took .25mg, and .75 mg the day before that. So i'm about 3-4 days in without taking klonopin and im pretty anxious. Just wondering if i will be ok? Thanks

EDIT: Also wondering things i could take to help with the anxiety
 
I'm in almost the exact same boat. I'm currently taking .25 every three days. I have yet to experience withdrawal. It can take a while to hit, though. Good luck!
 
I've read, anecdotally, as long as a month. I don't know if I buy that though. Even with clonazapam s long half life, I'd like to believe it'll hit ya quicker than that. I'd imagine you'd feel it within five days or so. With our dosage, I really don't expect to run into too many problems. I've been lead to believe its people who's habit grow to the several MG a day level that have the toughest time. ,
 
Your dosage isn't that high, I doubt your at risk for seizures or anything.

As mrflowers said, rebound anxiety and insomnia are going to be the main symptoms.
 
hatrix said:
Your dosage isn't that high, I doubt your at risk for seizures or anything.

As mrflowers said, rebound anxiety and insomnia are going to be the main symptoms.
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I would disagree. It's not all about the dose. It's just as much about the length he was taking it and the half-life of the benzodiazepine. In his case he was taking a long-acting benzodiazepine for around nine months, more than enough time to develop a chemical dependance, even if he was just taking 0.5. I would tread lightly and taper yourself. I recommend taking 0.25mg every 24-48 hours for 2-3 weeks then dropping to the smallest possible dose you can get out of your pills, preferably around 0.12mg for another week or two, then hop off.

It's always better safe than sorry when it comes to benzodiazepine withdrawals. Everyone's body reacts differently to benzos and everyone experiences different levels of withdrawals. I would say you're still at risk of a seizure in the next week or so if you don't taper from now on. I have read countless stories of people taking 0.5mg Clonazepam for less time then you were that had seizures around the 1-2 month mark because they decided not to taper.

Be safe.
 
I took .5mg for 10months and got withdrawal after 3 days of not using it when my doctor went out of town >:( I used Lyrica to prevent seizures and the random panic I had inside me over no reason I could think of...was weird. I slept decent only because I loaded up on Lyrica + Oxycodone + Flexeril...but I wouldn't recommend opioids and that combo if you don't know what your doing. The way I look at Clonazepam is the same as I look at Methadone. Think of Klonopin as the Methadone of Opioids (along with Valium) and Xanax as like the Hydrocodone. Long half life drugs accumiliate even longer after prolonged use, after a few months you might have a shit ton of klonopin in your system even after 2-3 days of not using it. I would always taper...WorldWarMe has a good idea of what you should taper down to...also with that taper plan you can do like every other or every 2 days once you get really low just to be safe since accumiliation is going to happen with longer acting benzo's.
 
Midazle said:
I took .5mg for 10months and got withdrawal after 3 days of not using it when my doctor went out of town >:( I used Lyrica to prevent seizures and the random panic I had inside me over no reason I could think of...was weird. I slept decent only because I loaded up on Lyrica + Oxycodone + Flexeril...but I wouldn't recommend opioids and that combo if you don't know what your doing. The way I look at Clonazepam is the same as I look at Methadone. Think of Klonopin as the Methadone of Opioids (along with Valium) and Xanax as like the Hydrocodone. Long half life drugs accumiliate even longer after prolonged use, after a few months you might have a shit ton of klonopin in your system even after 2-3 days of not using it. I would always taper...WorldWarMe has a good idea of what you should taper down to...also with that taper plan you can do like every other or every 2 days once you get really low just to be safe since accumiliation is going to happen with longer acting benzo's.
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Yes, I said he should take it every 24-48 hours as the half-life of Clonazepam is very long. Its half-life is 18-50 hours. If we were to do the math, using the lower range of the half-life, we would multiply 18 by 7 which is 126 hours. This is how long it takes Clonazepam (with the lower end of the half-life) to leave your system completely. This comes out to 5.25 days.

Using the longer end, 50 times 7, you get 350 hours. This is fourteen and a half days. So, Clonazepam stays in your system for 5.25-14.5 days after your last dose. Withdrawals usually start on the forth or fifth day.
 
WorldWarMe said:
Yes, I said he should take it every 24-48 hours as the half-life of Clonazepam is very long. Its half-life is 18-50 hours. If we were to do the math, using the lower range of the half-life, we would multiply 18 by 7 which is 126 hours. This is how long it takes Clonazepam (with the lower end of the half-life) to leave your system completely. This comes out to 5.25 days.

Using the longer end, 50 times 7, you get 350 hours. This is fourteen and a half days. So, Clonazepam stays in your system for 5.25-14.5 days after your last dose. Withdrawals usually start on the forth or fifth day.
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Thanks for doing the math. I ran the calculations up of drug elimination excluding factors like lipid solubility, absolute metabolism limitations, and other factors a bit ago.
 
Midazle said:
Thanks for doing the math. I ran the calculations up of drug elimination excluding factors like lipid solubility, absolute metabolism limitations, and other factors a bit ago.
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What conclusion did you come to? I'd love to see your answer with all the factors included.
 
WorldWarMe said:
I would disagree. It's not all about the dose. It's just as much about the length he was taking it and the half-life of the benzodiazepine. In his case he was taking a long-acting benzodiazepine for around nine months, more than enough time to develop a chemical dependance, even if he was just taking 0.5. I would tread lightly and taper yourself. I recommend taking 0.25mg every 24-48 hours for 2-3 weeks then dropping to the smallest possible dose you can get out of your pills, preferably around 0.12mg for another week or two, then hop off.

It's always better safe than sorry when it comes to benzodiazepine withdrawals. Everyone's body reacts differently to benzos and everyone experiences different levels of withdrawals. I would say you're still at risk of a seizure in the next week or so if you don't taper from now on. I have read countless stories of people taking 0.5mg Clonazepam for less time then you were that had seizures around the 1-2 month mark because they decided not to taper.

Be safe.
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I don't think you understand...I have none left... Its the fourth day and i don't feel too bad. I'm just loading up on kava tea and herbs. Am i really still at risk for a seizure?
 
jonny1 said:
I don't think you understand...I have none left... Its the fourth day and i don't feel too bad. I'm just loading up on kava tea and herbs. Am i really still at risk for a seizure?
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Yes, you're only on day four. Withdrawals might not have even started yet. Clonazepam has a very long half-life and stays in your system for a long time. I advise going to the Emergency Room with your Clonazepam bottle and explain to them that you have been taking it for three months at 0.50mg and you ran out and are worried about going into withdrawals/a seizure.
You might not have one, everyone's body is different, but do you really want to take that chance?

For example, I had a friend who took 0.50mg Clonazepam for 5 months and tried to quit cold turkey. He was partially successful and thought he had cheated withdrawals, then, two months later he was driving his little girl to school and had a seizure. Luckily his daughter was okay but he almost smashed into a light post. Benzo withdrawals are not to be taken lightly, they are a medical emergency. I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just telling it how it is.
 
You said the ones you still had were expired so unless they are ancient and stored badly you could use those.
 
WorldWarMe said:
Yes, you're only on day four. Withdrawals might not have even started yet. Clonazepam has a very long half-life and stays in your system for a long time. I advise going to the Emergency Room with your Clonazepam bottle and explain to them that you have been taking it for three months at 0.50mg and you ran out and are worried about going into withdrawals/a seizure.
You might not have one, everyone's body is different, but do you really want to take that chance?

For example, I had a friend who took 0.50mg Clonazepam for 5 months and tried to quit cold turkey. He was partially successful and thought he had cheated withdrawals, then, two months later he was driving his little girl to school and had a seizure. Luckily his daughter was okay but he almost smashed into a light post. Benzo withdrawals are not to be taken lightly, they are a medical emergency. I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just telling it how it is.
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My doctor said he could maybe get me a 5 day emergency supply tomorrow. Now im just scared ill have a seizure in my sleep...

ALSO, your friend may have had an underlining condition that causes seizures, or had something else cause that seziure...2 months is way after clonazepam leaves your system
 
jonny1 said:
My doctor said he could maybe get me a 5 day emergency supply tomorrow. Now im just scared ill have a seizure in my sleep...

ALSO, your friend may have had an underlining condition that causes seizures, or had something else cause that seziure...2 months is way after clonazepam leaves your system
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He is a very healthy individual, no conditions other than Generalized Anxiety Disorder. For your information, benzodiazepine withdrawals can last up to two years if you take enough. Having a seizure two months in is not unheard of.

Also, the five day supply, is it 0.5mg? If so, split them all in two and take half every 24-72 hours. If you can go four days without dosing then you should probably be able to go 72 hours in between each dose. It's safer to hop off of 0.25mg then it is at 0.5mg. I would still advise you find a way to get more because this is still a very rapid tapering plan.
 
mrflowers00 said:
kava works similarly to benzos and COULD prevent a seizure but don't take that as the gospel
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This is true. Kava Kava does work in a similar fashion that benzodiazepines do, but not the same way. Their mechanism of action are different. Kava Kava possesses anticonvulsant, analgesic, sedative and central muscle-relaxing effects. I would not solely rely on Kava Kava for benzodiazepine withdrawals though as they work differently. It is not entirely safe to rely on it for withdrawals.
 
WorldWarMe said:
He is a very healthy individual, no conditions other than Generalized Anxiety Disorder. For your information, benzodiazepine withdrawals can last up to two years if you take enough. Having a seizure two months in is not unheard of.

Also, the five day supply, is it 0.5mg? If so, split them all in two and take half every 24-72 hours. If you can go four days without dosing then you should probably be able to go 72 hours in between each dose. It's safer to hop off of 0.25mg then it is at 0.5mg. I would still advise you find a way to get more because this is still a very rapid tapering plan.
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I'm not sure how big the dosage would be on the supply, i'll let you know when i talk to him. Had a great 8 hours of sleep though. Also i forgot to mention, i did find maybe .1 mg on my floor and took it on Tuesday. Not sure if that would help much
 
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