Benzos Trying to quit Klonopin - can I cold turkey or do I need to taper? I feel so lost...

[gypsyanon]

I agree with many posts above. Do not do it CT.

From my own experience, I was taking about 7mg a day and was taking them for 4 years about (klonopin). My doctor stopped my prescription and told me I needed to go to a psychiatrist for them. I couldn't get an appt for 6 weeks. I was forced into withdrawal, and I had every symptom up to seizuring a few times during this time. This can severely hurt you, and do irreversible damage or even kill you.

Please get on a taper plan to be safe, and do comfortably. It just is not worth going CT, nor safe.

I am currently tapering from sub, which is different, but the reason I mention it, is because I know what it is like right now to want want want to be off of a medication but, in a sense, forced to still take it. Hang in there, and know that tapering is the safest way, and that you're doing wonderful in the fact that you recognized the problem and now want to tackle it.

No matter how slow you taper, the point is that you are taking a step by step approach to better yourself!

If you'd like to talk more, just let me know.

And good luck, you'll do great (look up and read some benzo taper success stories, this will help encourage you, instead of scare you!)

congratulations on your decision, and I wish you the best!

 

[Mycophile]

I simply don't understand why everyone is saying it's so dangerous to get off Klonopin.

I believed all the things people said about this and I personally was on Klonopin for 11 years, 1.5 mgs a day.

Well, recently I was cut off from my Klonopin almost cold turkey and I thought I was going to die because people said all these things.


I was taking 3 pills a day and then for a few days took 2 pills, then one day I took 1 1/2, then one pill for 3 days, then nothing...and that was 7 weeks ago.

I had ZERO symptoms of withdrawal.

NOTHING.

A psychiatrist advised that I do this because he said that Klonopin has such a long half life that it would taper itself but he didn't outline my "make shift taper"...he just said to spread out what little I had left over a few days till I ran out and then stop, so that's all I did and it worked.

He said that if I was on a higher dosage or a short acting benzo like Xanax that I'd have been in trouble withdrawing so fast, but that because I was on such a low dosage of such a long acting benzo, that I'd be fine going off of it very abruptly without being a seizure risk, and he was right.

Even after taking 3 pills (1.5mgs) EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR ELEVEN YEARS I was fine going off of it abruptly.

That is NOT to say that the OP should do that...she absolutely shouldn't.

My point is that everyone on here who says that DEATH is a serious risk from LOW DOSAGE KLONOPIN WITHDRAWAL is in my personal experience wrong.


I'm not talking about Xanax or other benzos or a dosage of Klonopin higher than 1.5mgs....but this particular dosage of Klonopin is not likely to have a risk of death from withdrawal.

The first of 2 psychiatrists I saw to help me get off of Klonopin told me that death from benzo withdrawal is fairly rare and only occurs from abbrupt cessation of VERY HIGH dosages of benzos or short acting benzos.

It's a bad idea to do....do NOT get me wrong...I wouldnt' advise cold turkey for anyone.

BUT IN MY CASE I took 1.5mgs of Klonopin every single day for 11 years and EASILY got off of it without seizures and death was never a realistic possibility in my case from withdrawal according to 2 psychiatrists.


I just wanted to provide a differing account from so many others who state that the kind of thing I experienced is not possible, because it most definitely is.


Believe me, I was just as surprised as everyone else would probably be to hear I stopped an 11 year Klonopin habit with ALMOST no taper because I thought it would kill me from what everyone else here said....but here I am 7 weeks after stopping Klonopin quite abruptly...no problems whatsoever.

Don't always believe everything you read.

I may be an exception, but I don't know why I would be because I'm no different from anyone else.

Still...I do NOT recommend anyone stopping any benzo cold turkey so don't misread what I am saying.

 

[gypsyanon]

Yeah. 1.5mg is a low dosage and congratulations for tapering and stopping.

However, just because everybody is different... Anybody with any dependency or addiction to a benzo should be very careful and I'd always advise against cold turkey. My dosage was much higher than 1.5mg... Being at 7mg a day was far far far from pleasant when I was forced to go CT. Just because everybody reacts differently, I would still consider the latter and not do it CT just to be on the safe side of it.

Good luck to everybody in this position and congratulations to everybody who has conquered it!

 

[butcher22]

Did anyone read her post? She's already went cold turkey for 5 days, clearly she is not going to die.

Benzodiazepine dependence is serious, but come on guys, some of you are fucking going overboard. Perhaps y'all need some Xanax?

A taper is the best plan, BUT after 5 days you're tolerance will be pretty low. If you did taper at this point, you'd need to start low. I'd say 0.5mg clonazepam per day.
I found clonazepam easier to manage than alrazolam, lorazepam is a good benzo for these purposes as well, as it's slow and long acting.

The fact you went 5 days if you're own accord is a great accomplishment, and a good sign. Starting a 90 day taper when you're that close to a clean break is insane. Unless you find you simply cannot function without a REASONABLE dose of benzodiazepines, you're probably best staying the course, while keeping a "rescue dose" on hand.

you have no clue what you are talking about. i was in detox for 9 days when i had a grand mal seizure lasting over 20 minutes and blood pressure over 220. everyone is different but 5 days no way means she is in the clear

 

[butcher22]

and even if death wasnt an issue, severe benzo withdrawals are traumatic. its not like heroin where you shit your pants and puke a lot, its pure hell and for a very long time for some. benzo withdrawals can drive you absolutely mad. cold turkey is a horrible idea

 

[keeping]

TAPER!

speak to your doctor and between the two of you figure out a taper timetable, don't just do it yourself.

i wish you well

K

 

[《Plasticity》]

Don't always believe everything you read.

Dude, google personal experiences of klonopin withdrawal and see how your experience is very uncommon. I'm glad you made it through easily but people write these warnings for a reason, they usually apply. Also, just because klonopin has a long half life that doesn't mean it lacks withdrawal, MANY people have year long miserable withdrawals from klonopin. Diazepam, which has a half life of 100+ hours compared to klonopin's 30 hour half life also causes devastating withdrawals more most of it's users. Be glad you got little withdrawal, but just bcause your experience wasn't doesn't mean the other thousands of people are lying. Quitting benzos cold turkey after long term use is incredibly dangerous. Yes, death is VERY unlikely but seizures and grandiose delusions are also a very real possibility.

 

[Mycophile]

Dude, google personal experiences of klonopin withdrawal and see how your experience is very uncommon. I'm glad you made it through easily but people write these warnings for a reason, they usually apply. Also, just because klonopin has a long half life that doesn't mean it lacks withdrawal, MANY people have year long miserable withdrawals from klonopin. Diazepam, which has a half life of 100+ hours compared to klonopin's 30 hour half life also causes devastating withdrawals more most of it's users. Be glad you got little withdrawal, but just bcause your experience wasn't doesn't mean the other thousands of people are lying. Quitting benzos cold turkey after long term use is incredibly dangerous. Yes, death is VERY unlikely but seizures and grandiose delusions are also a very real possibility.

Hey man how's it going.

I never said that anyone else was lying and I said that cold turkey isn't a good idea.

However, it's just my personal opinion from my experience and what the psychiatrists told me about my dosage that getting off of LOW doses of Klonopin, specifically 1.5mgs and lower, is not extremely dangerous or usually very likely to produce seizures.

Two psychiatrists told me that people don't get seizures from withdrawing from that low a dosage of Klonopin and that any effects from that dosage are almost always purely psychological.

They told me that higher dosages of Klonopin and/or other shorter acting benzos have more serious withdrawal, but that death only happens from withdrawal from very high dosages of benzos and that even seizures are not common on a low dosage of Klonopin (not other benzos) like the one I was on...and in my case they ended up being right so I believe them.

Of course I am ONLY talking about Klonopin...NOT other benzos...and only the dosage I was on and lower when I say this.

I also didn't say it lacks withdrawal because it has a long half life, I said that the doctor told me that Klonopin at the dosage I was on doesn't really require much of a serious taper because it stays in the system so long and leaves the system so gradually that it naturally tapers itself....and while I was extremely skeptical of this idea due to what I'd heard....it ended up being totally true for me, so now I think he was probably right.

I guess maybe my experience was uncommon in general for overall benzo withdrawal...but I am not sure that it's uncommon for withdrawal from Klonopin at dosages of 1.5mgs or lower specifically.

I mean, why would other people experience hellish withdrawal from the exact same dosage or less of the exact same substance when I experienced almost none??

Maybe there are strange differences that can't be accounted for between why withdrawal effects some people differently, but there shouldn't really be anything different about my body than anyone else's so I don't get why.

Another thing both doctors stated which I didn't think would be the case was that it didn't matter at all that I'd been on Klonopin for 11 years in terms of the withdrawal.

I figured that being on it longer would = longer and worse withdrawal but both the doctors I saw told me this isn't true and that the only thing that truly determines the strength of a benzo addiction is the dosage you are on and that 6 months vs 11 years of taking it every day would have been the same.

I'm not trying to invalidate anyone else's experiences...but really I think anyone would trust their own first hand experience over others.

If ANYONE would have gotten withdrawal from the dosage of Klonopin I was on you'd think it would be someone like me who took it EVERY SINGLE day for 11 years.

I just think that dosages as low as mine of this specific benzo are not a serious danger to withdraw from and from both how much it helped me and how easily I got off of it I have come to the opinion that low dose Klonopin usage isn't something that needs to be frowned upon so much.

Perhaps others experience more discomfort than me, but I'd assume right now that most people who have problems withdrawing are probably on higher dosages and/or different benzos than 1.5mgs or less Klonopin daily and so those aren't the people I'm talking about.

I'm sure results vary even with this benzo and this dosage, but I'm not so sure they would vary as much as to be a serious seizure threat for some without being any threat to me since there shouldn't be anything to really set me apart from other people.

That's all I'm saying dude.

 

[《Plasticity》]

Whoa, I didn't realize it was you who wrote that post myco... definitely would've worded that a bit nicer . I'll go over your post above later on. So you escaped with little withdrawal huh? Good for you man, but you gotta keep in mind that not everyone is so lucky so when I read your post it kinda ticked me off you know? Anyways I had to cut out PM's completely so sorry if you wrote me, I just have alot of health problems and life to deal with right now.

Edit. Okay, so I'm too lazy to write out a long response, instead I'll just dig up the first 3 stories of people having nasty withdrawal from 1.5mg doses and below to show that even low doses can cause hell for some and that you should be thanking god himself that 10years of 1.5mgs a day didn't cause another horror story.

1mg
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/inde...-who-would-like-to-use-benzodiazepines.18607/

1.5mgs
http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=31252.0

.25mgs!!!
http://www.drugs.com/forum/benzodia...se-klonopin-withdrawal-please-help-60841.html

 

[Thomas29]

I Found Clonazepam to be the Easiest to Withdraw From Probably Due to the Long Half-Life although I Am Sure Diazepam would Be Better to Switch to In Order to Wean yourself Down with.

 

[Mycophile]

Whoa, I didn't realize it was you who wrote that post myco... definitely would've worded that a bit nicer . I'll go over your post above later on. So you escaped with little withdrawal huh? Good for you man, but you gotta keep in mind that not everyone is so lucky so when I read your post it kinda ticked me off you know? Anyways I had to cut out PM's completely so sorry if you wrote me, I just have alot of health problems and life to deal with right now.

Edit. Okay, so I'm too lazy to write out a long response, instead I'll just dig up the first 3 stories of people having nasty withdrawal from 1.5mg doses and below to show that even low doses can cause hell for some and that you should be thanking god himself that 10years of 1.5mgs a day didn't cause another horror story.

1mg
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/inde...-who-would-like-to-use-benzodiazepines.18607/

1.5mgs
http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=31252.0

.25mgs!!!
http://www.drugs.com/forum/benzodia...se-klonopin-withdrawal-please-help-60841.html

That's cool man.

I wasn't try to tick people off, but I guess my experience kind of made me get annoyed at people when they say that no one should ever take benzos because the withdrawal is too much to deal with when I found them to be helpful and not hard to get off of myself.

That said...I know that it can be hell for others, and I personally was experiencing a lot of REALLY bad fatigue as a side effect from being on Klonopin which is better now that I'm off.

I only skimmed those links, but saw enough to see that many others are different from me.

Now I don't know if I should be pissed that the doctors that treated me were RIGHT for withdrawing me so incredibly fast without a taper...but it's kind of hard to be angry at doctors for telling me to do something that didn't result in withdrawal and telling me ahead of time that it wouldnt....they pretty much called it to a T even though I was highly skeptical of what they were saying.

I guess I didn't want anyone to be as worried as me because I was REALLY worried about something that ended up being no big deal and would have liked to know that it wasn't going to be a big deal ahead of time.

I really don't know how to explain that I'd get almost no withdrawal from my dosage when people had so much worse from so much less.

I'll be thankful to the benzo gods that it wasn't worse.

Guess it's hard to know the explanation and if it's even POSSIBLE to experience that kind of withdrawal off so little then it kind of pisses me off that my doctors didn't give me a taper.

Not quite sure how to feel about it now.