Benzos Slowly Getting Off Klonopin....

[kanyeknievel]

Okay so long story short I've had Depersonalization for a little over a year and i feel a lot better than i used to a year or even 6 months ago. I've learned a lot about myself and anxiety and DP all together. I've realised that anxiety is all in my head, i empower my dp and my worrying and all that stuff. Anyways, I thought I needed clonazepam or xanax or something to deal with my anxiety and so i could think less about my out of body feeling.

But i've been realising everything I was taking was basically all a placebo and A LOT of it is all in my head, I realise this and i realise if i DONT take something, nothing will happen and i wont die and all that. And i just turned 19 and I shouldnt be on medication like Clonazepam at this age, and so I'm slowly getting off of it.

I use to take .5mg when i woke up and .5 mg within 6 hours or so depending if i went out or not, i thought I needed it but I dont. Then a month or so ago i went down to .5 in the morning then .25 12 hours later, now recently I've been just taking .5mg in the morning and nothing at night.

Ofcoruse after taking it for a long time I got used to the way I was more calm and less anxious, so its a little tough to start doing. I think more than i normally would about things I shouldnt, but I feel the best way to deal with these problems and solve them is to teach myself that i dont need htis medication and i can do it all on my own, and i think it will work well. I'm just wondering if there is anything in the meanwhile i can take thats natural that would help later at night so im a little less anxious? Or should i just not take anything all together and just get used to not having to take something to control my feelings?

P.S- I've also realised that after its been about 10-12 hours after my initial dose, I always end up looking at the clock or thinking what time is it and how long has it been since i took the last one. For some reason that idea gets stuck in my head, i dont know why. I think it will start to diminish slowly as I start taking only one in the morning because i can get used to it and keep telling myself i dont need it and yesterday and the day before that, etc. i was fine.

 

[debaser]

Don't you have the drops formulation in your country?

You could then slowly take 0.4mg, then 0.3mg when you feel it's the best time and so on untill nothing at all.

 

[kanyeknievel]

Don't you have the drops formulation in your country?

You could then slowly take 0.4mg, then 0.3mg when you feel it's the best time and so on untill nothing at all.

No, atlesat I don't believe so. Its .5mg pills with a score in the middle

 

[stuie]

To OP,

I am almost twenty one years old. Ive been in chronic pain for almost six years. I was put on oxycontin and norco by sixteen. After about three years of being on the pain meds and not finding an answer for my the cause of my pain, my anxiety started to skyrocket. The drs tried me on just about every kind of anti depressant til I told them how much I hate how those made me feel. (couldnt decide my moods/feelings)
I was prescribed xanax .5mg, I was on it for a bit over two years. The most i got up to was 1.5mg/ day but then dropped down to about .5mg/1mg/day. It was very hard even to drop that small amount, my anxiety was noticably worse, but after a while it got better. Fast forward a year and im completely off it now. I cannot believe how much less anxiety I have all together and how i can reduce my anxiety somewhat with breathing techniques and mind games. What I use for my anxiety now is two all natural amino acids. One called " L-Theanine" (found naturally in green teas) and that works just as good as xanax. ( I take 3 100mg pills in the morning and 3 100mg pills at night.) I cant go without the stuff, kind of hard to find a place that has it, just call around. The other is 5-HTP(a lot easier to find ie. Rite Aid), I take 1 100mg pill daily for depression/anxiety, and those two together they work amazing. Honestly just as well as xanax, but no w/ds, no dependence. I hope this all helps!

 

[HdoubleODeezy]

OP im coming off of a 10mg phenazepam & 5mg clonazepam/day addiction (i usually just say 10mg clonazepam and no phenazepam, but it's really not) anyway i tapered off the phenazepam pretty quickly and painlessly in about 5months, i used phenprobamate (which i have a lot of since i used to sell it and now no one wants it anymore so im stuck with it, oh well.. moving on) i stopped the phenprobamate and got really sick (keep in mind i still have the addiction to 5mg clonazepam and am still taking it, it was prescribed so it was fine). i told my psychiatrist about it and we decided it was time to stop the benzos as i have too many medications i am addicted to. So we have been tapering the 5mg a half mg a month.. I am down to 1.5mg/day now and i am in complete hell with w/d's. I might as well just CT it, but it's too dangerous so i will continue with the taper. I don't know what my point is, but the name of this thread "Slowly getting off Klonopin" caught my attention and i figured i would share my experience with the same topic.
Your doses don't seem to be too large so coming off *might* be easier, I know i wish i had known how badly this was gonna suck and i would have kept my tolerance/doses low because another addiction (im addicted to opiates also, but i am on bupe) is not what i needed, too late now tho. Anywho... good luck with coming off! If you need anyone to talk to BL is a great place.. i will keep an eye on this thread and if you have any questions for me than just ask here or you can PM me.. again, good luck. Benzo w/d's suck. But you can do it if I did. %)
And for your question about something to take that's natural or legal you can try Kava, Valerian, Phenibut, Phenprobamate(like i did for a while) but don't try to use phenazepam to get off kpins.. it's just asking for more addiction IMO.

 

[laCster]

benzo w/d's suck...they feel like they last a lifetime, and your anxiety and depressive symptoms will come back even worse than before for the w/d period....good luck bro, you'll need it...i admire that you have come to terms with your addiction; i wish i could just wash all my scripts down the drain...

 

[kanyeknievel]

how do you know if your having withdrawl from it? I've never noticed any noticeable differnces, and I would think if I am slowly lowering my doseages over months and stuff then by the time im take .25 in the morning it will be no problem, just more anxiety that I will learn to cope with, without medication to aide me.

I feel like once I'm able to control the anxiety and stuff I have WITHOUT the medication, i will feel so proud of myself and even stronger than before, knowing I was able to overcome something like that and chose to do so myself

 

[Tommyboy]

how do you know if your having withdrawl from it? I've never noticed any noticeable differnces, and I would think if I am slowly lowering my doseages over months and stuff then by the time im take .25 in the morning it will be no problem, just more anxiety that I will learn to cope with, without medication to aide me.

I get tremors, or "the shakes" when benzo withdrawal is starting. Also, it becomes very difficult to sleep, and I get some headaches that make it feel like my brain hurts.

 

[jamesBrown]

I guess I am oone of the lucky ones because I do not get benzo WD.

I have been prescribed clonazepam and temazepam for probably just over a year(30mg's temazepam/day and probably about 3-5mg's of clonazepam/day depending on how much I buy extra off the street). And not once have I had any WD symptoms when I stopped taking my benzos for an extended period of time. Lots of times I would stop taking my benzos for up to a few weeks just so I could take alot more at one time once I started taking them again to get some sort of high or something like that.....and I never lost sleep during the period of abstinence, nor did I have any other negative WD symptoms.

Im not trying to say that this is normal and that everyone else should feel like this....im just showing my experience and letting people know what happened to me or what has happened to me.

I wonder what makes me different so that I can stop taking relatively large doses of benzos without WD symptoms. It absolutely baffles my mind and I really have no clue as to the cause of this....and if anyone happens to know what could be the cause please let me know and I would be greatly appreciative.

 

[hydrochron]

James after about a year it gets a lot more difficult, who knows what makes you different, you might be used to anxiety, insomnia, pain. To the op, take it very slow, you need to buy some sleepy time tea it has velerian root extract and chamomile. I used it with extra valerien when I quit and got a great sleep. If you can get some valium and take that for a few weeks, it will make the transition to no benzos un noticable. But if your done now just get the tea, you'll have anxiety. But what's amazing is it goes away and life gets so much better without klonopin. That shit made me act strange, feels so good to be off of it. In a few months your life will be a lot better. Hang in there buddy.

 

[feedyourdead]

Yea man good luck with the tapering. I think your doiing it the right way by taking your time. You seem to have your anxiety figured out so be patient with tapering you don't want to have a nasty anxiety/panic relapse.

 

[kanyeknievel]

James after about a year it gets a lot more difficult, who knows what makes you different, you might be used to anxiety, insomnia, pain. To the op, take it very slow, you need to buy some sleepy time tea it has velerian root extract and chamomile. I used it with extra valerien when I quit and got a great sleep. If you can get some valium and take that for a few weeks, it will make the transition to no benzos un noticable. But if your done now just get the tea, you'll have anxiety. But what's amazing is it goes away and life gets so much better without klonopin. That shit made me act strange, feels so good to be off of it. In a few months your life will be a lot better. Hang in there buddy.

Thanks all for all the positive feedback at tips

Also Hydro- Isnt Valium a Benzo too? I would ask my doctor to change that but I dont plan on telling him I'm stopping because I want the prescription still to give to people or take myself for fun or if i REALLY need them, which I doubt i will. I do drink valerian root tea and sleepy time, but where do you suggest i get the best tea that will help?

 

[Tommyboy]

My advice is to stay one step ahead of your doctor. I have always done so. For example, I am down to 1 mg of valium, yet tell the doctor that I am down to 2.5 mgs.

 

[hydrochron]

I didn't realize your taking a small amount, you can just start taking .5 mgs or .25mgs every otherday, it would be best to take it at night. You definently won't have any problems. Have fun.

 

[Cyc]

My advice is to stay one step ahead of your doctor. I have always done so. For example, I am down to 1 mg of valium, yet tell the doctor that I am down to 2.5 mgs.

Do you think you will experience any major w/d effects going from 1mg diazepam to nothing?

I ask because I've been averaging ~1mg valium every day for about 1.5 years. I've kept my dose this low on purpose, and I'm wondering how difficult it might be to quit.

Also, to the OP. How has benzo use affected your DP? When I turned 20, I had pretty severe DP/DR which lasted a few years. I didn't take any drugs to combat it, it sort of faded on its own. In fact, i didn't know much about benzos at the time. I always wondered, looking back, whether benzos would have relieved some of my symptoms.

 

[kanyeknievel]

Do you think you will experience any major w/d effects going from 1mg diazepam to nothing?

I ask because I've been averaging ~1mg valium every day for about 1.5 years. I've kept my dose this low on purpose, and I'm wondering how difficult it might be to quit.

Also, to the OP. How has benzo use affected your DP? When I turned 20, I had pretty severe DP/DR which lasted a few years. I didn't take any drugs to combat it, it sort of faded on its own. In fact, i didn't know much about benzos at the time. I always wondered, looking back, whether benzos would have relieved some of my symptoms.

If your talking to me, it didnt raelly make my DP any BETTER, only ***I*** made it better, the only thing the klonopin is doing is helping me not think of it as much. Its not like the kpins combat the DP or whatever and make it go away, basically just kinda causes me to think of it less.

 

[MartinFn]

I use clonazepam for my pain(with other medicines)and i think that it's one of the easiest benzo's to cut off(just think if you were on flunitrazepam Rophinol and you had to cut it).I think that if you talk honestly to yourself,you will not find difficult to cut it off.(Just do it slowly,to make it easiest,there's no way to make it quickly),but this is just myself,my opinion,so..

 

[Tommyboy]

Do you think you will experience any major w/d effects going from 1mg diazepam to nothing?

I ask because I've been averaging ~1mg valium every day for about 1.5 years. I've kept my dose this low on purpose, and I'm wondering how difficult it might be to quit.

I am trying to keep a positive mindset while coming off of benzos, but yes I think the final 1mg will be worse than the previous doseage decreases.

You will still experience some withdrawal at your dose. The good thing is that you don't have a long way to go until you are off. The bad thing about higher doses is that you experience some withdrawal from almost every dosage drop.

 

[hydrochron]

I just jumped off 1.25mgs of valium awhile ago and the first thing that you get is rebound rem sleep. You start dreaming again. I actually got a better sleep without them. I took velerian for bout 2 weeks after stopping and besides feeling a little twitchy and paranoid for awhile. Its easy to make a full recovery. You willhave very mild withdrawal bairley noticable. What I did was I started skipping days unil I got to about 3 days between doses, this helps get the diazepam out of your body, and also helps your body get used to not being on benzos. 3 months after you quit you will feel a lot better ironically. Although you might have a occasional panic attack and urg you'll be great.

Peace

 

[Cyc]

Well, the good thing is that we can still use them 'as needed' for episodes or attacks once the dependency is gone.