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Preparing to get off Klonopin
by Steven, Aug 02, 2000 12:00AM
I've been taking 1 mg klonopin for 3 years.[started at 1/2 increased to 1 mg.] for depression, anxiety, and to sleep. This drug has done wonders for me in many ways, but now its time to come off. I've tried to taper off 1/4 at a time, but the hyperacusis [intolerance to loud sounds], lack of sleep, unbelievable groin itching, and my almost uncontrollable talking [feeling high, motor-mouth etc} made me go back on, now I take
1 1/4 at night to feel normal. Since I work as a waiter, I'm going to have to stop working to get off this. Please tell me what to expect, and how long I should plan on being out of work. Also has any one noticed an increase in rate of hair loss from Klonopin?... WILL THE HYPERACUSIS GO AWAY? this is my biggest concern at this time. Please help me. Thank you, Steve.
1 1/4 at night to feel normal. Since I work as a waiter, I'm going to have to stop working to get off this. Please tell me what to expect, and how long I should plan on being out of work. Also has any one noticed an increase in rate of hair loss from Klonopin?... WILL THE HYPERACUSIS GO AWAY? this is my biggest concern at this time. Please help me. Thank you, Steve.
I am currently taking 1 MG of Klonopin every four hours and have cut down from 12 MG over a month period without much trouble.
1 MG is a very small dose and you should be able to taper that in less than one week. You may want to see a psychiatrist about some of those problems you mentioned or even a Neurologist.
So far no hair loss on my end, but I do get up-tight when my dose is over an hour or two past due.
My psych doc put me on 12 MG of Klonopin as an in-patient for 10 days to get me off the alcohol withdrawal due to siezures I was having and then tried to reduce the dosage slowly as an out-patient. Then my psych doctor out me back in and tried to cut me down from 12 MG TO 6 MG because she was worried when I had relapsed on alcohol a couple of months ago and was mixing the two. I went into seizures and DT's in less than 36 hours. She had forced me to go into in-patient treatment, so after the DT'S attack that day I released myself. I freaked out and was ready to kill the entire staff there, I was in both alcohol and Klonopin withdrawal together. I don't know if she did that on purpose to teach me a lesson or made a mistake, but after I released my self and shook down for one more week at home and almost died of seizures I finally admitted myself again and she raised the dosage back up to 12 MG of Klonopin. Then she slowly tapered it to 6 MG over six weeks in-patient. She tried to cut another 1 1/2 MG over a three day period and I started to shakedown again so she put me back on 6 MG. During this time I was diagnosed by a Neurologist as having a seperate seizure disorder from the withdrawal as well as withdrawal and anxiety disorder.
I am now released and am staying on the 6 MG OF Klonopin for seizures and anxiety. Also Neurontin for seizures.
Why did you decide to stop the Klonopin? Maybe the reason you are having such a hard time getting off such a small dose is you still have the anxiety disorder. Those types of mental disorders can stay with you for life. It is normal for a man to lose hair sometimes even at a fairly early age. I hear some of the SSRI'S cause hair loss such as Depakote. I got really sick on Depakote when my psych doc tried that on me. I could not take it. Anyway enough of my babbling for one day. Good Luck.
"""Why did you decide to stop the Klonopin? Maybe the reason you are having such a hard time getting
off such a small dose is you still have the anxiety disorder. Those types of mental disorders can stay
with you for life. """"
Barbara, this is very misleading information and very innacurate. You probably don't understand that reducing this fast ( or even slowly ) will cause rebound withdrawal symptoms that resemble or are much worse than the persons original problems. They won't last forever. There is absolutely no way to tell if a person is returning to an original anxiety state when the brain is trying to reset the GABA transmitters which have been downregulated for so long. At least a year off the drugs are needed. This is a very old TRICK used by some very ignorant doctors who do not wish to deal with the withdrawal problems that benzos can create. It is also not true that anxiety and panic would always stay with a person for life but maybe in a few cases. There are other ways to deal with anxiety than using these substances which are as addicting as heroin.
Steven:
You are tapering way too fast.
If you need help I have found another board which you need to register for ( but it's free and closely moderated by 5 moderators ) and they are so much more informed about what these drugs can do since all of the 425 members there have been through this or are at various stages of dealing with benzo problems. I hope this will help you and others who may be experiencing problems with their tranquilizers and maybe don't even know it.
It is very fair to say that not many doctors know the proper equivalencies for withdrawal. I can also tell you that 1 mg of Clonazepam is not a low dose at all and it might take you a year to taper it off slowly but using Valium to do this would be a better choice since Clonazepams lowest dose is a .5mg tablet and it has a medium half life of 18 to 50 hours but Valium which comes in 2 mg tablets is far easier to taper from. 1 mg of Clonazepam equals roughly 20 mgs valium. I bet few people here knew that !! Also with the active metabolite in Valium, the half life is from 36 to 200 hours and without the metabolite it is 20 to 100 so it is easier to keep a more even blood level of valium.
Sorry you are being so misinformed here
Try this group:
http://www.egroups.com/group/benzo
Rand, you also appear to be misinformed. Valium is also an addictive substance and since Steven is on a relatively low dose of Klonopin other anti-anxiety drugs would be more beneficial and give less chance of further addiction as Brian was mentioning above. Some withdrawal symtoms cannot be avoided even if taking Valium,(another benzodiazapine), simply to trade off for the Klonopin.
You obviously know somethings about addiction, but very little about mental disorders which in many cases are the reasons the individuals become addicted to their medications in the first place whether it be alcohol or drugs, illegal or prescribed.
There obviously was a reason Steven took Klonopin for three years. Many people also self medicate for other physical problems such as severe pain, that many addicting substances temporarily seem to help until the real addiction sets in.
Oh, by the way, Klonopin is good anti-convulsant, with very little side effects compared to the others I tried!
You should think before you type the next time.
You misunderstood me.
If you go back and read why it is easier to taper off Valium than Klonopin you might get it the second time around.
I hate explaining simple things twice.
Yes all benzos are *addicting* including Valium.
Valium is the benzo of choice to taper down off benzos with.
I will repeat this, study it carefully. I know EXACTLY what I am talking about and personally know the worlds foremost expert on benzo withdrawal, a psychopharmacologist in England who ran the worlds best kown exclusive benzo detox facility for 12 years and about 400 patients during that time. Heather Ashton is quoted by just about every expert on the subject.
I am not going to bother debating this any further seeing as you missed almost everything I was trying to say.
There is NO risk of further addiction by following the proper stepwise switchover to valium and the very gradual tapering recommended in the Ashton manual.
But Klonopin is far from ideal for tapering from. Yes it is an anti-seizure medication but also prescribed for anxiety and panic disorders though not meant for use for more than 6 weeks. I was on it for 9 years :-( If he is taking it for epilepsy or something like that then he should not stop but if it is for anxiety/panic/sleep problems or transient pain it is far preferable to deal with the sometimes awful stmptoms of those than it is to deal with the heroin like withdrawals. Your advice on tapering from K will only serve to make him more miserable than he would need to be.
Here is what I said before:
" using Valium to do this would be a better choice since Clonazepams lowest dose is a .5mg tablet
and it has a medium half life of 18 to 50 hours but Valium which comes in 2 mg tablets is far easier to taper from. 1 mg of Clonazepam equals roughly 20 mgs valium. I bet few people here knew that !!
Also with the active metabolite in Valium, the half life is from 36 to 200 hours and without the
metabolite it is 20 to 100 so it is easier to keep a more even blood level of valium."
You can debate this till you are blue in the face if you like but the information here is 100% accurate. Of course withdrawal symptoms usually cannot be avoided, I did not say they could. I am saying you will get a smoother ride down using valium because of the 2 mgs tablets available compared with the lowest dose of K which is .5mgs equal to 5 Valium tablets of 2 mg strength. Sorry you are having a problem understanding this. maybe you should consult with a pharmacologist ? Incidently, my own doctor is a pharmacologist at he University of British Columbia.
If you don't agree with Heather Ashton and other experts on withdrawal, then who do you think you are ?
( nothing personal is meant by this please )
Maybe I should put it in another way so anyone here can understand the simplicity.
Let's say you are down to the lowest available tablet of Klonopin which is .5mgs It would be literally impossible to cut this down even by shaving the tablet carefully. Because of this, a person on his way down cannot maintain an even blood level which makes it harder to avoid the horrible withdrawals that are possible. I used this drug and I know. Been there done that, have you ?
Now compare this one tablet to 5 tablets of 2 mg strength. Is it not obvious that it is easier to taper down when you hace 5 scored 2 mgs tablets rather than one .5 mg tablet of K ?
Again, .5mgs of K is equal to 10 mgs of diazepam for WITHDRAWAL PURPOSES !!
I happen to have all the protocols here but I posted it once and I'm not sure why but the site here objected to it because of the rules of the site but I am not sure which rule so instead I would point those having need of more information from people actually going through this to go to the support site:
http://www.egroups.com/group/benzo
so I don't break the rules here. Anyway, there are 425 members there who can answer a persons questions. The group is growing every day by about 1 or 2 members.
I was quite insulted by your tone. You don't know who I am nor do you have the credentials to challenge the world experts on this subject who I am in personal contact with. So please step back so this person can get the proper advice.
he needs.
Thank you
Rand
Rand,
WHEW!!!! And I thought I liked to babble. Yes I completely understood your initial post, however as you admitted in your second post there is no way of completely avoiding withdrawal symptoms.
You mentioned in your first post, "I can also tell you that 1 mg of Clonazapam is not a low dose at all and it might take you a year to taper it off slowly......"
This is the most rediculous thing I have read so far. A YEAR!!!!!! COME ON, GET REAL!!!! Why should anyone be playing around with addiction withdrawal for one year when it could take as little as one to two weeks using non-addictive drugs as temporary substitutes rather than another addicting drug