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

[edaisycake]

I'm really feeling very lost and desperate sitting here at 9 in the morning after another sleepless night and I feel way too ashamed to talk to my bf or any of my friends about the extent of my benzo problems so I'd really value any feedback you guys have.

11 months ago, I first started taking xanax recreationally. At first, I'd take just .5 mg or .25 mg a couple of times a week but soon (I'd say within a month), I was taking anywhere from .5 to 3 mg a day.

Then last fall, I decided that the xanax my bf supplied wasn't enough, so I went to my doctor and got a prescription for more benzos. Over the last 8 months, I've tried Ativan, Xanax and Klonopin and I'm currently being prescribed 1 mg Klonopin daily. This is only what I've officially been prescribed. The reality is that there are days where I'll take a lot more than 1 mg and there are days where I won't take any Klonopin at all but my best guess is that I averaged about 1 mg Klonopin a day for the last 6 months and before that, I've taken at least .5 -1 mg of Xanax almost every day.

Problem is, in addition to the Klonopin, I've also been regularly supplementing with Xanax bars. Usually, I'll just take a .5 or 1 mg of extra Xanax but there have been days where I've taken 10 mg of Xanax (or more.)

I've recently realized how much of a problem this is as I'm almost always numb and have pretty much come to rely on it for sleep. So for the last 5 days, I've tried to go cold turkey and I don't know if it's more psychological or not, but I feel so goddamn awful!! Food tastes absolutely horrendous to me and if I even try to eat, my stomach starts hurting... I haven't been able to sleep more than 3 hours a night if I'm able to sleep at all and my anxiety is so high and my muscles are so tight, I'm surprised, I haven't had a panic attack yet. So I finally broke down tonight and took a .5 Kpin pill. I'm still nowhere close to sleeping but at least I don't feel like I'm so on edge that the slightest noise will send me into a panic spiral.

Should I taper or should I just try to go cold turkey for as long as possible and only take a little bit of Klonopin if I desperately need it? I'd rather tough out the withdrawal process than taper down but the idea of a seizure really scares me. I haven't been taking benzos for years and years so I thought maybe I could go cold turkey without risking a seizure but would I be causing my brain more harm if I were to cold turkey instead of tapering off? I also have GHB, tylenol 4's and weed at my disposal so I thought perhaps, I could use something else to get through the withdrawal.

I know that I should really talk to my doctor but I'd rather not out myself for taking illegal Xanax (not to mention outing myself for not taking the Klonopin even close to as prescribed.) Also, my doctor just refills my script as a formality and he keeps trying to start me on antidepressants so I'm not sure I would entirely trust his judgement anyway.

I'd much rather hear from you guys and would really appreciate your thoughts.

 

[Cliffy78]

I'm really feeling very lost and desperate sitting here at 9 in the morning after another sleepless night and I feel way too ashamed to talk to my bf or any of my friends about the extent of my benzo problems so I'd really value any feedback you guys have.

11 months ago, I first started taking xanax recreationally. At first, I'd take just .5 mg or .25 mg a couple of times a week but soon (I'd say within a month), I was taking anywhere from .5 to 3 mg a day.

Then last fall, I decided that the xanax my bf supplied wasn't enough, so I went to my doctor and got a prescription for more benzos. Over the last 8 months, I've tried Ativan, Xanax and Klonopin and I'm currently being prescribed 1 mg Klonopin daily. This is only what I've officially been prescribed. The reality is that there are days where I'll take a lot more than 1 mg and there are days where I won't take any Klonopin at all but my best guess is that I averaged about 1 mg Klonopin a day for the last 6 months and before that, I've taken at least .5 -1 mg of Xanax almost every day.

Problem is, in addition to the Klonopin, I've also been regularly supplementing with Xanax bars. Usually, I'll just take a .5 or 1 mg of extra Xanax but there have been days where I've taken 10 mg of Xanax (or more.)

I've recently realized how much of a problem this is as I'm almost always numb and have pretty much come to rely on it for sleep. So for the last 5 days, I've tried to go cold turkey and I don't know if it's more psychological or not, but I feel so goddamn awful!! Food tastes absolutely horrendous to me and if I even try to eat, my stomach starts hurting... I haven't been able to sleep more than 3 hours a night if I'm able to sleep at all and my anxiety is so high and my muscles are so tight, I'm surprised, I haven't had a panic attack yet. So I finally broke down tonight and took a .5 Kpin pill. I'm still nowhere close to sleeping but at least I don't feel like I'm so on edge that the slightest noise will send me into a panic spiral.

Should I taper or should I just try to go cold turkey for as long as possible and only take a little bit of Klonopin if I desperately need it? I'd rather tough out the withdrawal process than taper down but the idea of a seizure really scares me. I haven't been taking benzos for years and years so I thought maybe I could go cold turkey without risking a seizure but would I be causing my brain more harm if I were to cold turkey instead of tapering off? I also have GHB, tylenol 4's and weed at my disposal so I thought perhaps, I could use something else to get through the withdrawal.

I know that I should really talk to my doctor but I'd rather not out myself for taking illegal Xanax (not to mention outing myself for not taking the Klonopin even close to as prescribed.) Also, my doctor just refills my script as a formality and he keeps trying to start me on antidepressants so I'm not sure I would entirely trust his judgement anyway.

I'd much rather hear from you guys and would really appreciate your thoughts.

DO NOT GO COLD TURKEY!!!!! This can kill you. The benzo wd is worse than heroin wd most times. You must taper! Please don't use alchohol with benzos, I've had crazy blackouts doing this. Don't mix any Cns depressants I.e opiates(I think weed is one but well, well umm shit I hate being Hippocritical but don't smoke trees either) just taper the benzos please Hun. I'm no expert on this but I'm sure one will be along shortly lol. Just take a mg or so til someone that knows more than me answers you(should be very soon). This is a very serious thing so just be very careful. There's a lot of very smart people here that'll give u a taper schedule and explain better than I can. Don't take the codeine! Ttyl, so glad you asked

 

[tmuliosis]

At different points I've been legally prescribed 6mg of klonopin per day (and 6mg of Xanax per day, and 6-8mg of Ativan per day). In almost all cases, despite legally following my prescription, I could feel myself losing control after about 90 days and have quit all 3 cold turkey. I'm currently on 1mg of klonopin per day after no benzos for several years.

Everyone is different, and I don't want you to assume your experience will be just like mine, but after quitting klonopin and Xanax cold turkey after these high doses (Ativan never affected me for some reason no matter the dose), there would be about 4-7 days of physical w/d symptoms such as sweating, insomnia, increased anxiety, social problems, general brain fog, and so on. The real brutal part of benzo withdrawal is increased anxiety and feelings of depression for a month or two before starting to feel normal. And, if you legitimately have anxiety to begin with, it may help to just stick to 0.5mg of klonopin once a day for a while until you feel good enough to not have a safety net (state of mind can greatly impact the sudden end of benzo use). I would try to power through for a month or so using marijuana to help with sleep and see how you feel. If you still have trouble say, leaving the house or holding conversations with people who you aren't entirely comfortable around, I'd consider talking to your doctor about breaking a 0.5mg klonopin in half and takin one half in the morning and one half in the evening. Sometimes this will have enough of a placebo effect to not think about your problem while not doing much harm to you. But if you can, I'd try to quit all together unless you feel like you need them for therapeutic reasons. A lot of people make the mistake of using benzos for recreation and find themself in your situation. It doesn't sound like you have a real serious problem (although in your mind you may disagree, I know how it feels).

Good luck, and don't feel too worried. I've been through many benzo withdrawals and it can play brutal tricks on your mind, but things will te better and you will start feeling back to normal.

 

[Cliffy78]

Hey daisy there's a ton of threads on this so just search the site. I would strongly urge you not to go cold turkey though. Just search the site. Everyone's body/mind react differently...

 

[tricomb]

COLD TURKEY IS NOT AN OPTION. BENZODIAZEPINE WITHDRAWAL CAN BE FATAL AND IS GROSSLY UNDERESTIMATED.

The likelihood of inducing seizures after your body becoming so accustomed to potent anti-convulsants is just so damned high, your seizure threshold is so low, it is suicidal to cold turkey benzodiazepines, truly, it is a death wish.

The key to successful termination of benzodiazepine therapy is a closely guided plan that you can ask your prescribing physician for help with constructing to help reduce your dependency and reduce both the lethal, and the non-lethal effects of discontinuation, which can be extremely fucking severe especially if you rapidly lower your dose.

I know it's hard to deal with head on, but I'm sorry, there is NO way around getting off benzodiazepines without the help of a prescribing physician. If your current doctor is not someone you feel confident or competent in helping you through this transition, I would urge you to seek immediate medical attention with a psychiatrist, and if you even begin to run low on your clonazepam, heed my words: Go to the Emergency Room, Call 9-1-1, or otherwise seek IMMEDIATE medical attention and be HONEST about how you have been dosing these grossly underestimated drugs, request to be put on ****Diazepam/Valium**** instead of clonazepam, and calmly explain and make it clear to the doctor that it is your intention to discontinue your dependency on benzodiazepines VIA A SLOW AND STEADY TAPER OVER THE NEXT (AT LEAST) THREE [3] MONTHS in order to prevent losing your life. When you walk into the ER, do not hesitate and immediately insist on speaking with someone because by hospital standards, you are at the most risk of dying if immediate action is not taken by the medical professionals, more at risk than anyone in the lobby, TIED with those admitted to the ER who are having trouble breathing or cardiac failure. This is NOT a joke, PLEASE take this shit seriously and treat these drugs with the level of respect that they deserve because these drugs can and will put you six feet deep in a grave without any hesitation or consideration for your race, body size, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, NOTHING.... these drugs do not give a fuck and do NOT discriminate, so treat this with the seriousness that this situation deserves, it's better to be safe than sorry, and better to be safe than to be brushing your teeth and then out of nowhere lose consciousness and convulse violently and have a seizure, fall, hit your head on the hard porcelain sink, toilet, bathtub, floors, etc and lose your life. God forbid you are behind the wheel of a car or other vehicle on the freeway heading to or from work, etc, have a seizure that you don't feel coming and lose control of your vehicle and cause devastatingly lethal damage and casualties to yourself and everyone else on the road.

Benzodiazepines are pretty much agreed upon by 99% of people who know what the fuck they're talking about, to be the most severe and serious withdrawal/discontinuation syndrome of ALL drugs, although if you SLOWLY discontinue the drug and keep blood concentrations steady (Which you WILL NOT achieve using alprazolam/Xanax, which also does little to nothing in terms of preventing the fatal seizures which should be your primary concern) to prevent fluctuations which cause the unbearable withdrawals and the Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome that depending on one's usage and even more so, depending on how long a person has been dependent on benzodiazepines... (And your habit of ~1 year is in no way considered "short", but then again, on the bright side, it's MUCH shorter than the dependencies many others live with or have overcome.)

You can do this, I have decades of experience with benzodiazepine dependency and have overcome it many times and thankfully am still here today because of the massive amount of respect for the power these drugs possess that rarely people think about, especially people who "recreationally" use benzodiazepines, SWITCH TO DIAZEPAM, it's a potent anti-convulsant, better than clonazepam in every way IMO, and is MUCH easier to get off of than Klonopin especially since the dosing decrease (over however many months you and your doctor agree on shooting for to be totally benzo free) will be exponentially easier, and you won't have as many side effects since diazepam builds up in your bloodstream (like methadone and buprenorphine can, to use opioid examples).

This reduces how much you will be affected by your misuse of these drugs, during acute and post acute withdrawals. Like methadone, diazepam (and it's main metabolites, like nordiazepam which has a half-life of up to 750 hours! clonazepam REALLY sucks to taper with IMO) consistent dosing will make this transition so much smoother.

The best way to take diazepam, is to take your dose in as many (reasonable) doses as you can per day. For example, say I'm prescribed 40mg Valium/Diazepam per day, DON'T TAKE IT ALL AT ONCE. To minimize the risks of agony and misery and the many other horrific withdrawal symptoms, SPREAD IT OUT EVENLY. Taking the 40mg over 4 split doses of 10mg will help the diazepam and it's metabolites build up MUCH faster, for example taking 10mg immediately upon awakening, then 10mg before lunch, 10mg in the early afternoon, and your last 10mg dose (in total, bringing you up to your daily 40mg) after dinner or before bed.

This is just one example, and I would strongly recommend against the blue 10mg formulation of oral diazepam tablets, and highly advise you keep your bloodstream levels as steady as humanly possible, which I've found to be MUCH easier using the yellow 5mg formulation oral diazepam tablets, which can be divided in half to form doses of 2.5mg which will begin to matter much more towards the end of your taper plan. The 10mg tablets sure, they can be cut into four pieces, but it's nowhere near as easy and is NOT recommended to try to get 2.5mg doses by dividing such an already small tablet into four equally sized pieces.

So to sum things up, get yourself set up with a psychiatrist if possible, but if all else fails, DO NOT HESITATE TO USE ANY MEANS NECESSARY TO GET TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM / HOSPITAL and get yourself the 5mg oral diazepam tablets and come up with a plan that you can commit to with the doctor who will be prescribing your SAFER way of discontinuation/gradual tapering off benzodiazepines.

Best of luck to you,
~TC

 

[Cliffy78]

Blulight is fucking awesome!!! So many knowledgable, experienced caring people. It's gives me a bit of faith in humanity still...

 

[Masshole]

DO NOT COLD TURKEY.

Tapers take MONTHS. It sucks.....way worse than dope.

 

[Lorne???]

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.

 

[Masshole]

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.

My seizure happened on day 7.... Day 5 isnt even close to the end.

 

[Masshole]

and Lorazepam is the weakest and shortest acting, Klonopin is BY FAR the Benzo with the longest half life.

playing with fire telling someone that cold turkey is okay.

 

[Lorne???]

FYI, I've seen people with a heavier(and longer habit) then hers CT(involuntarily, I might add) and they were just fine, aside from the acute WD syndrome, and the fact they still eat any benzo's they come within 50 yards off.

As I've said, it is very, very hard to become *truly, fully* dependent on GABAergics. Once you are, yes, you CAN die without them.

A young person who has went 5 days doesn't fit that description. You have to keep that in mind before saying "you need a 120 5 point taper friend!" Or "just take 1mg Xanax. Right now. Just DO it".

 

[Lorne???]

and Lorazepam is the weakest and shortest acting, Klonopin is BY FAR the Benzo with the longest half life.

playing with fire telling someone that cold turkey is okay.

... Diazepam has the longest half-life. Clonazepam has the longest duration. Lorazepam an intermediate half-life, and it isn't "weak".

At these low doses, half-life isn't relevant to duration anyway.

And did I say cold turkey was ok? READ, I said A TAPER IS THE BEST PLAN BUT YOUR TOLERANCE WILL BE LOW". Again, 5 days cold turkey, she herself says it's mainly psychological, a short taper with low dose benzodiazepines is more than sufficient. Unless she wants a long taper. If she wants to administer 2ng triazolam rectally ever day for the test of her life. If she wants to cold turkey. That is the point. I have always, and will always, tell people not to CT(go read through my posts, I've done it repeatedly) but once someone has started, and went many days, you have to respect that as well.
Not relevant, since the OP has started back.

I don't need anyway to tell me how WD from benzodiazepines l, much less clonazepam, works, that has always been my BOC.

OP, clonazepam has a long duration, I'd stick to 0.5-0.75mg per day, enough to keep anything baaad from happening.

I don't at all agree with a long taper though, until a shorter taper fails. You need to sleep though, try finding a low-dose hypnotic to take. I really wouldn't go over 1ng clonazepam though, not at first, or it's working backwards.

... Other than that, everyone really is right. But I think creating some 90 day taper when a low dose can "hold" you is just keeping a baby vamp attached to you're neck long enough to grow...

 

[Cliffy78]

... Diazepam has the longest half-life. Clonazepam has the longest duration. Lorazepam an intermediate half-life, and it isn't "weak".

At these low doses, half-life isn't relevant to duration anyway.

And did I say cold turkey was ok? READ, I said A TAPER IS THE BEST PLAN BUT YOUR TOLERANCE WILL BE LOW". Again, 5 days cold turkey, she herself says it's mainly psychological, a short taper with low dose benzodiazepines is more than sufficient. Unless she wants a long taper. If she wants to administer 2ng triazolam rectally ever day for the test of her life. If she wants to cold turkey. That is the point. I have always, and will always, tell people not to CT(go read through my posts, I've done it repeatedly) but once someone has started, and went many days, you have to respect that as well.
Not relevant, since the OP has started back.

I don't need anyway to tell me how WD from benzodiazepines l, much less clonazepam, works, that has always been my BOC.

OP, clonazepam has a long duration, I'd stick to 0.5-0.75mg per day, enough to keep anything baaad from happening.

I don't at all agree with a long taper though, until a shorter taper fails. You need to sleep though, try finding a low-dose hypnotic to take. I really wouldn't go over 1ng clonazepam though, not at first, or it's working backwards.

... Other than that, everyone really is right. But I think creating some 90 day taper when a low dose can "hold" you is just keeping a baby vamp attached to you're neck long enough to grow...

I didn't post shit talkin about u so don't post re:me please. I told her to take a pill yeah. It was better than the alternative while I tried to find help.

 

[Lorne???]

I didn't post shit talkin about u so don't post re:me please. I told her to take a pill yeah. It was better than the alternative while I tried to find help.

I wasn't talking shit about you.

Look, I'm dealing with opioid WD myself, ok? I lashed outa bit, but in no one in particular. I would delete most of what I have posted, but, alas, I've been "quoted for truth".

I am sorry though. Shows how WD can affect people. Benzo WD is far deadlier than opioid WD, so it drives the point home.

I was, and still am concerned though, that this is a situation that will quickly escalate back into abuse. But then what can we really do about that over the net?

I many not agree with every post(in this particular situation only) but none of them are wrong. Benzo addiction is a fragile thing that is still not dealt with in a universally agreeable way, except that hopefully none of us would have told her to just "take it like a man" and CT if she had came here 5 days ago.
Again, I'm sorry, drug addicts can only be relied upon to be consistent a certain amount of time, and, I'm probably the worst one here.(I don't even hold delusions of quitting! I went mad years ago and said "never!" I'll die with a syringe between my toes!"(kidding about my toes, years of IV drug use and I still have my cubian medial

 

[Cliffy78]

I wasn't talking shit about you.

Look, I'm dealing with opioid WD myself, ok? I lashed outa bit, but in no one in particular. I would delete most of what I have posted, but, alas, I've been "quoted for truth".

I am sorry though. Shows how WD can affect people. Benzo WD is far deadlier than opioid WD, so it drives the point home.

I was, and still am concerned though, that this is a situation that will quickly escalate back into abuse. But then what can we really do about that over the net?

I many not agree with every post(in this particular situation only) but none of them are wrong. Benzo addiction is a fragile thing that is still not dealt with in a universally agreeable way, except that hopefully none of us would have told her to just "take it like a man" and CT if she had came here 5 days ago.
Again, I'm sorry, drug addicts can only be relied upon to be consistent a certain amount of time, and, I'm probably the worst one here.(I don't even hold delusions of quitting! I went mad years ago and said "never!" I'll die with a syringe between my toes!"(kidding about my toes, years of IV drug use and I still have my cubian medial

I'm sry bro, I'm having a similar problem ATM myself, I shouldn't have posted that, really I do apologize, it was lame of me. Fuckin subs make angry lol. Thank you bro I appreciate the apology but it was my fault reading into shit :0

 

[tmuliosis]

I will agree that benzo withdrawal is one of the worst types of withdrawal there is. I'm always telling friends going through withdrawal from other substances they are lucky it isn't benzos -- but from the sounds of it (duration, typical dose, etc) I doubt death would occur from going cold turkey. It would, however, be extremely uncomfortable. could always get a tiny Ativan rx for a month or two which is great for seizures and doesn't really do anything for anxiety (at least for me -- benzos can definitely affect different people in different ways, so take these statements with a grain of salt). I would at least let the doctor know you are trying to quit and see what the doctor has to say about it to be safe.

 

[Nateup]

I would like to add that you want to avoid anything that lowers seizure threshold (the codeine you mentioned, all opiods lower seizure threshold). It depends on the individual, tolerance and other factors, but I personally would avoid the cannabis, as well (at least the sativa end of things). Anything "excitatory" at any point of its effect duration is probably not in your best interest. (I don't necessarily feel you are in that dire a situation, but even if you arent in seizure territory - such substances could make you feel shittier)

While you are figuring out your plan, I would highly recommend continuing the 1 mg clonazepam you are prescribed. I really dont understand why you ceased that one in the first place.

-not a Dr, but have extensive experience with different methods of coming off benzos long and short-term.

good luck and keep your head up

 

[CaveBear]

Benzo and alcohol wd can kill you. Period.

Ive detoxed (medically) from both. Even under medical supervision, I was in ICU, I was seeing cats and shit in my room. I couldnt feed myself due to shaking. I had been told that I was near death. This is no joke, do not go cold turkey.

Ive been on quite the run of Ativan and booze lately myself. Trying to taper, but Its not working. I am outta Ativan, so thats good, but just started on a 30 pack. I'll try and get this to last a couple days

 

[daveykronick]

Like everyone else said, no cold turkey. Get yourself some gabapentin, it can really help the withdrawal (it did for me at least). You can start with 300-600mg and see how you feel and then you can add 300mg an hour until you get relief. I take 300-600 then every 45-60 minutes I take another 300 until I am at 1,200-1,600mg and then I just add 300mg every 45min (after I feel like its starting to wear off) to bring it back up again. Good luck!!


P.S. You can do this! I did this last year and it took me about 9 months to start to feel somewhat normal, but I had been using clonazepam for roughly 10 years on and off and much higher doses than you, but still, I made it! I have only relapsed 2-3x on benzos since then. Cheers!

 

[Ifeel4U]

Hey guys... I just started to take klonopins... I have a bad comedown from Mdma for the last 5 weeks.. Still going through it mental wise(brain still foggy/cloud) which the Klonopin eliminates so i wonder if it the pain it anxeity based?

The (first week)first day i took .5mg second day .25mg, 3rd day .5, 4th .25,5th day .25mg... Then i stopped for a week...

I know people build a tolorence and bc addicted.. So i stop or a week

Last night i took .5 at 7pm and went out had 1 drink... Then went to bed

My question is will I go through withdrawls for the amount i have taken? And is a tapper nessesary at this point? I know it not alot however, i want to be save and not become dependent on klonopin or build a tolerance .. I dont want to be on this for month/years

Any help or advice?!