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Benzos Possible transition from Benzo's to Z Class medications?

B

befitnessnow

Greenlighter
Joined
Mar 25, 2011
Messages
21
Would it be possible to switch from 2mg of Klonopin nightly to a 12.5mg Ambien CR without feeling drastic WD's? If not, what would be a reasonable transition?

The chart equivalent of 2mg Klonopin is 40mg of Valium but I have been able to switch to 20mg of Valium at night without a hint of WD, it just wasn't as effective. I can also take 1.5mg of my Klonopin any night I like as well, I am not stuck at 2mg but it is the most frequent dose I use, which is why I use it for my question. I know we all are effected by Benzo's to different degrees but I guess I'm just wondering if the similarity of GABA activity between Benzo's and Z-class drugs is enough to hold of WD's if one were to try that change. I know it seems like it would be a big jump but I figured it was worth inquiring about.
 
The Z-class drugs are primarily hypnotics - they will not substitute for the e.g. anxiolytic or anticonvulsant effects unless you use absurd doses.

2mg of Klonopin is a lot.
 
sekio said:
The Z-class drugs are primarily hypnotics - they will not substitute for the e.g. anxiolytic or anticonvulsant effects unless you use absurd doses.

2mg of Klonopin is a lot.
Click to expand...

I definitely agree that it is a large benzo dose to attempt and substitute with a hypnotic.

A better scenario I could of used, instead of the Valium was that there was about a month where I switched from Klonopin to Temazepam. Equivalency to my Klonopin dose is 80mg Temaz (granted, that can obviously vary) but 15mg was enough to get me to sleep without causing WD's from the k-pins. I stopped after about 3-4 weeks but it was not due to lack of therapeutic value I was receiving from it. I find that as long as I am able to feel less anxious and get to sleep, I don't seem to need equivalent doses. Temazepam is primarily a hypnotic, yet even at that low dose, I found enough anxiety relief as well.

Perhaps I should have tailored this thread to myself more specifically, as opposed to an in general type of question.
 
You need to talk to a doctor if you want personalized medicine advice. All we can provide is generalities - everyone is different.

The best option may be to first taper down until you are comfortable with e.g. 0.5mg or 0.25mg Klonopin and then think about switching.
 
^ Agreed. Clonazepam may be easier to taper all the way however; when I did it, I had very little problems from just decreasing the dose very slowly. I was down to 0.25mg every day (appx. 9 month prior use at ~1mg) before switching to 0.125 every day, then every other day and every third day, before stopping completely. It went surprisingly smoothly. I had much worse time from taking 0.5mg alprazolam for three weeks and quitting.
 
Why do you want to change from Klonopin to Ambien? Clonazepam does much more then just puts you to sleep for example takes away anxiety and so on...

PS. I've always found the "z-drugs" to be extremely weak, even before my tolerance from years of benzo use.
 
STEROIDS4kids said:
Why do you want to change from Klonopin to Ambien? Clonazepam does much more then just puts you to sleep for example takes away anxiety and so on...

PS. I've always found the "z-drugs" to be extremely weak, even before my tolerance from years of benzo use.
Click to expand...

I've been on Klonopin for almost a year nightly and various benzo's on and off for years before that. I've managed to not build up a gigantic tolerance over 4 or 5 years of use but I want to quit them before my luck runs out. Even though I'm prescribed them, benzo's are the one dependence that bothers me. I feel at 2mg I still have time to get off of them. I've used regular Ambien before but that was back before I came to these conclusions about benzo's. I would rather be dependent on an Ambien then a full blown benzo if I can make it happen.

I think long acting benzo's have a very therapeutic daily use in the medical field for GAD but my time, I personally feel like, needs to start winding down. I'm going to talk to my doc more in-depth in a few weeks, I was just wondering what BL's thought about the idea for the time being.

Thanks for the replies.
 
could work i was never able to get much out of ambien in terms of sleep due to my benzo tolerance (not unlike yours). i would suggest a gradual taper if your hell bent on getting off em.
 
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