How to properly taper of Klonopin...

[amanitamuscaria]

I've been on a relatively low dose of Klonopin for the past two and a half months (.5MG daily - taking .25 MG in the morning and .25 at night). How would I go about tapering off this dose properly?

The Doctor said that it's a "low dose" and that it shouldn't be an issue, but some Internet sites act like it's a "big deal" to ween slowly, even at a low dose. One site was saying that cutting from .5 MG to .25 MG a day is too much and is the equivalent of going from like 20 MG of Valium to 10MG or some such shit...

What should I do? I want to just start taking like .25 MG for a week and then be done... is this feesable - or would a slower taper be best?

Please advise.

 

[phatass]

try to drop to 0.25 a day then cold turkey it... its a very low dose... if the withdrawls are too bad, ask to switch to 5 or 10mg of valium and diminish by 1mg or 2mg every few days....

I've diminished far higher doses of benzos without much trouble...

 

[Heuristic]

I've been on a relatively low dose of Klonopin for the past two and a half months (.5MG daily - taking .25 MG in the morning and .25 at night). How would I go about tapering off this dose properly?

The Doctor said that it's a "low dose" and that it shouldn't be an issue, but some Internet sites act like it's a "big deal" to ween slowly, even at a low dose. One site was saying that cutting from .5 MG to .25 MG a day is too much and is the equivalent of going from like 20 MG of Valium to 10MG or some such shit...

What should I do? I want to just start taking like .25 MG for a week and then be done... is this feesable - or would a slower taper be best?

Please advise.

Take everything you read on the internet about withdrawal and the effects of drugs with a huge bag of salt. If you're feeling anxious about tapering your medication--and it sounds like you are--I would actually avoid reading "horror withdrawal" stories, they will only increase your anxiety without giving you any good information. Those who have fallen into the trap of abusing benzos can experience very unpleasant, though temporary, withdrawal effects; but those people are taking much, much higher doses than you are, often in conjunction with other drugs. You are taking a prescribed, very low, dose. You do not come anywhere close to that category. Those horror stories do not apply to you.

It is a very low dose, and you likely won't experience any withdrawal effects. If you do, they will be very minor (a slight and temporary uptick in anxiety--nothing more). Your doctor is correct; trust your doctor.

If you wish to be extra-careful, you could try reducing to .25 per day, for a week, then .25 every other day, for a week, and then stop (or go to .25 a week, per your desire).

If you were/are taking this medication for anxiety, it's possible that you might feel a certain amount of "rebound anxiety," in which your anxiety level temporarily shifts above your normal, drug-free, levels, before returning to a normal level. However, at this low a dose, imo rebound anxiety is either unlikely or will be so slight that you won't notice it.

If the event that caused an increase in anxiety has ended, or you've adjusted to it, or you've been addressing a long-standing anxiety problem with cognitive therapy, then you may well not notice any difference on stopping the medication, aside from feeling a little sharper and more aware through your day as you will no longer experience the sedative effects of the medication.

But I reiterate: you are on a small dose, and you should listen (and talk to) your doctor. He or she will probably smile when you tell him or her about the stories you've read on the internet, and then quickly assuage your worries.

Your doctor is your best source of information.

If you're still concerned, then ask your doctor to recommend additional sources of information for you. You could try searching on pubmed (just google "pubmed" to find it), or looking at the prescribing information for clonazepam.

Can you post back on this thread and let us know how it went?

 

[paranoid android]

Your not on that high of a dose at all but if you went off it cold turkey you may feel some withdrawals but not much. 0.5mg's of clonazepam is about equal to 10mg's of valium which is nothing really.

I would say drop down to 0.25mg for 5 days or so then go down to 0.125 for a week and stop from there. That is being pretty damn cautious but for the sake of harm reduction i would recomend that. More then likely all you will get is rebound anxiety or just your regular anxiety returning.

Those benzo horror story sites are to be taken with a grain of salt as the person above said. It all comes down to the dose your on really although some benzos are much less forgiving in withdrawals then others. The longer the half life the easier it is to taper off.

I tapered from 6 to 4mg's of clonazepam in about a month last year with no withdrawals at all. I dropped down 0.25mg's at a time and didnt feel a thing. But i was also on gabapentin and lamotrigine at the time so i had no real worries about the risks of tapering down from higher benzo doses.

 

[amanitamuscaria]

Many thanks

Thank you all very much for your thoughtful replies. I have enough left to taper down gradually and I'm going to do so, even though it's already a small dose.

.25 for 5 days and then like .125 for 5 and then stop.

 

[Luij]

Hi guys.

I revived this old thread(that I discovered while googling) because I sorta have the same problem and I liked your answers compared to all the other stories on the internet..

I would appreciate advice.
My problem is that I have mild general anxiety which I usually can live with but six years ago I experienced an increased feeling of anxiety and was put on 1.5mg of Clonazepam(basically Klonopin), prescribed 3 x .5mg a day.
I was taking that amount for less than a year and then went down to 1 mg(2 x .5mg a day) for a couple of months and eventually to about .25 in the morning and .25 in the evening(a total of 0.5mg) and kept that dose from about 2005 until now.
I now decided to come off of it completely and gradually cut back from .5mg to zero within 2 months.
Everything went quite smoothly with practically no withdrawal symptoms. After about a week after taking my last Clonazepam I felt a bit uneasy and made the big mistake of checking the internet on Clonazepam for the first time, discovering all these horror stories and that you even have to ween off a small dose like .5mg of Clonazepam reeeally slowly(for about a year) if you have been taking this small dose for 5 years. One site said that you will feel a harsh withdrawal about a week after the final dose and withdrawal might take up to 2 years. Of course while reading all these horror stories I suddenly got all symptoms at once, and being a chicken by nature I quickly went back on .5mg.

Now I was thinking of tapering off really slow but then I discovered your site and I 'm thinking that all these horror stories I've read might be way over the top.
How long would you recommend to taper a small dose like .5mg after taking this dose for 5 years? Would you still think I can get off of it quite quicky with no major withdrawal problems?

Sorry for being such a wimp but the stories on the internet make it sound like coming off Clonazepam is worse than coming off crack, smack, coke and booze all at once. In one forum a guy posted that it is actually harder than coming off of all these drugs. Who wouldn't freak out after reading all this?

 

[Pegasus]

^It's better to go slowly. I doubt you'll even feel 0.25mg, so just do that if you can for afew weeks if you want to ease your mind. From your description, you're probably not going to feel much difference, but 5 years is a long time... I'd just take a minimal dose and do it slowly, more than anything so that your brain is brought back to "normal" as gently as possible...

 

[Luij]

Thanks for your reply. The duration I was taking Clonazepam is my biggest concern but I'm hoping that there is a big difference between the long term use of a rather small dose compared to long term use of much higher doses.
I will gradually cut down but I'm not sure what the worst thing I might expect after the final drop could be.