A question about Clonazepam tapering

[coldex]

Hi,

I hope this is the right place to post my question.

I've been taking Clonazepam for about 8 years now, never daily.
For the first few years I took about 1.5 - 2 mg per week for anxiety.
Next couple of years I was really careful and abused them only once in a couple of weeks taking 4 mg at a time tops.

In the last year I started taking Ritalin, and noticed that I also increased the frequency and dosage b/c I use Clonazepam as a muscle relaxant my neck/back gets stiff and I also use it to help me sleep.
So in the last year I'm taking on average 2-4 mg per week, I try not take it daily but knowing that Clonazepam's half-live is very long, it's hard to tell if it became a habit.
I do know my tolerance is way up now, for recreational purposes I'm taking 8-10 mg + Ritalin (snorted) + Alcohol, this happens only once a month or so.

I lowered my Ritalin dose from 80 mg a day to 20-30, yet sometimes I still need to take Clonazepam, at least once a week, if I do I take it the dose is 0.5 - 1 mg.
I would like to taper my use of Clonazepam and I wanted to get your opinion on how I should do it.

I have lot's of Clonazepam at my disposal, so running out is not a threat.

Thanks and sorry for the long post.

 

[pasha]

What has your exact dosing regimen been like for the last month or so? (eg. 2 milligrams x 2 daily x 2 days a week).

 

[coldex]

1mg x 1 daily x 2 days a week

 

[pasha]

Then do a drop of 0.250 mg every second dosing day of every week. Maybe on week 4 drop from 0.250 to 0.100 then jump off the following week. It shouldn't be too uncomfortable since your dosages and frequency of use aren't that high.

Here's when you do the drops:

Week 1: 0.750 milligrams x 1 daily - 2nd dosing day of the week
Week 2: 0.500 milligrams x 1 daily - 2nd dosing day of the week
Week 3: 0.250 milligrams x 1 daily - 2nd dosing day of the week
Week 4: 0.100 milligrams x 1 daily - 2nd dosing day of the week
Week 5: Jump off at 2nd dosing day

If you still feel discomfort and think the taper is too rapid, then do the drops from the beginning at 0.100 milligrams, or/and leave longer periods of time between each dosage drops. As I said though, even though your habit is long, your dosing is very responsible (maybe even excessively) for someone who's been on benzodiazepines that long.

Once your done, use valerian and magnesium. Worst case scenario where you have terrible acute symptoms, try gabapentin for about a week or so to help you get over the bump.

 

[coldex]

Then do a drop of 0.250 mg every second dosing day of every week. Maybe on week 4 drop from 0.250 to 0.100 then jump off the following week. It shouldn't be too uncomfortable since your dosages and frequency of use aren't that high.

Here's when you do the drops:

Week 1: 0.750 milligrams x 1 daily - 2nd dosing day of the week
Week 2: 0.500 milligrams x 1 daily - 2nd dosing day of the week
Week 3: 0.250 milligrams x 1 daily - 2nd dosing day of the week
Week 4: 0.100 milligrams x 1 daily - 2nd dosing day of the week
Week 5: Jump off at 2nd dosing day

If you still feel discomfort and think the taper is too rapid, then do the drops from the beginning at 0.100 milligrams, or/and leave longer periods of time between each dosage drops. As I said though, even though your habit is long, your dosing is very responsible (maybe even excessively) for someone who's been on benzodiazepines that long.

Once your done, use valerian and magnesium. Worst case scenario where you have terrible acute symptoms, try gabapentin for about a week or so to help you get over the bump.

Thanks Chromophobia, I'll give it a try.

I never actually tried valerian together with magnesium (will look in to it), valerian doesn't seem to affect me even at relativity high doses.
I ordered some kava kava, I'm hoping to use it instead of valerian, hope that it has a better effect on me.

BTW any suggestions on what I can use as a muscle relaxant if the kava kava fails ?

Thanks

 

[Nicsdragon]

Hi Coldex, I take colnazepam (col for short) at .5 mg 2x day for a total of 1 mg daily. I also take zanaflex at 2 mg 3x day. The zanaflex is not a narcotic so your doc should be happy to give it to you especially if you tell him you want to get off the Col! So what I do is if I don't have any panic attacks during the day I don't take the Col. Instead I crush up 2 col and 2 zanaflex and sniff them together. Only do this at night before bed cause it Will knock you out. The zanaflex is quite strong so if you need one during the day I would suggest splitting in half. Also when you sniff them they give you insane dry mouth! 8(So keep drinks handy. Good luck

 

[coldex]

Hi Coldex, I take colnazepam (col for short) at .5 mg 2x day for a total of 1 mg daily. I also take zanaflex at 2 mg 3x day. The zanaflex is not a narcotic so your doc should be happy to give it to you especially if you tell him you want to get off the Col! So what I do is if I don't have any panic attacks during the day I don't take the Col. Instead I crush up 2 col and 2 zanaflex and sniff them together. Only do this at night before bed cause it Will knock you out. The zanaflex is quite strong so if you need one during the day I would suggest splitting in half. Also when you sniff them they give you insane dry mouth! 8(So keep drinks handy. Good luck

Thanks but I was never prescribed with colnazepam.
And form the little I know there is no point snorting any kind of benzo.

I'm trying to think of a non Rx substance to act as a muscle relaxant.
I do have an Rx for the Ritalin but I'm not sure I'm comfortable telling the doc I lowered my dose to 30 mg (Rx for 60mg x day ) b/c of a stiff neck, his reaction would be to lower the dose for sure, and I do need the higher dose of Ritalin when I'm at Uni.

Any more ideas guys ?

 

[pasha]

Magnesium is a calcium-channel-blocker and can definitely mitigate some of the symptoms 'under the hood' so to speak. Valerian is a gabagenic drug of some sorts, so it may help slightly.

There's a whole library of muscle relaxants. Why exactly are you interested in a muscle relaxant?

 

[coldex]

I'm getting "stiff" muscles in my neck and shoulders when I'm taking even small amounts of Ritalin (20 mg).

Sometimes when it gets really bad I use colnazepam as a muscle relaxant, I was thinking that if I could treat the muscles stiffness in a different way I could temper down colnazepam much faster.
What do you think about kava kava for this need?

 

[easy as]

Great advice on the taper.

You should try heat pads or using some stretching and breathing techniques to alleviate the stiffness in your neck before jumping to a script. It seems crazy to take Ritalin and then a muscle relaxant. If you need it to study, as I'm assuming "uni" is, then taking a muscle relaxant would eliminate the benefits you're hoping to achieve with Ritalin anyway. I would seriously consider Yoga or Pilates techniques to help with the muscle stiffness or lower your Ritalin intake as well.

 

[coldex]

Hi, I've tried Yoga and it's great, but the issue is I simply don't have the time to do it regularly.

Also I wrote that I was looking for a non Rx (not a script) substance to ease my muscle pain, and I lowered my dose to 20 mg, any less has almost no effect.

BTW just got the kava kava I ordered, took some and it seems to help a bit, hope the "liver damage" warnings are bullshit.

 

[pasha]

There are a lot of muscle relaxants. Whether or not they're OTC depends on where you live. In some places, you can get good muscle relaxants such as methocarbamol, chlorzoxazone, and tolperisone without a prescription. That however is venturing into discussion which isn't allowed, so you should discuss it with your pharmacist/doctor.

 

[Venrak]

Perhaps hit up your regional drug discussion and find out which relaxants are OTC. That's not sourcing.