a questshion on benzos??

if a person is on 2.5 mgs of xanax 5 yrs....what in  klonpin would this be..so the person wouldnt be in withdralws or whats  to much..so whats the ratio???

[dominosarah]

Is this person out of zanax?  Didnt the doctor give any instructions?

[kim715]

Thats probably a question best answered by your doctor...Goodluck to you...Kim

[SophieShine]

Xanax has a 1/2 life of 6 to 12 hours when Klonopin has a 1/2 life of 18 to 50 hours. So it stays in your blood longer.
Most of the time a dr would switch you to a longer lasting benzo in order to taper it off. You have less of a "high" and you feel less wd's.

[Kevin_Bacon]

The potency is roughly about 1mg Xanax = 2mg Klonopin = 10mg Valium.

Check the U.k. site and find the equivalence chart

search:  benzodiazepines  U.K.  equivalency

[Kevin_Bacon]

So it's 2.5mg Klonopin or 25mg Valium ... pretty high dose. Check the site to verify.

[worried878]

what is ur game plan?? xanax is one of the worst benzos cos it hits hard and is gone fast..klonopin is opposite but in reality just about as strong..ativan is right up there as well..valium is a substantial bit weaker..tapering off 2.5 mgs of xnax is in reality a big dose as a normal as needed dose for anxiety is 0.25   many take 0.5...1 mg is considered a high dose to take at one time....2.5 is substantial due to the benzo u r dealing with...can u talk to ur dr cos tapering at ur dose may be crucial

[SophieShine]

For the equivalence, I'd check out with my dr if I was you.
If you want real information about benzo this is one of the reference site
http://www.benzo.org.uk/
Best of luck. sophie.

[abby10]

DO NOT use the supervision from a doctor to come off benzos!!! unless the doctor is a "benzo friendly" doctor. Most know nothing about them and will taper you extremely fast. The way to come off a benzo is with a long acting benzo... klonopin or valium, you must do a "cross over" to one of them. Your doses are not that high and very manageable. Bring the Ashon Manual to your doctor and respectfully go over it with him. Do not offend him but try and work with him on a very slow taper plan. Those that taper very slowly recover much better in the long run than those that taper too fast.

Good luck,

abby

[SophieShine]

Abby, I do agree with you on the slow taper process, I'm tapering from oxazepam for 14 months now, almost there
I do have an issue concerning your recommendation of a taper plan w/o doctor's advice??????????
I'm seeing a addiction specialist/shrink and it helped me tremendously to understand the mechanism of benzos in my body as well as the damages I was doing to myself. Tapering is slow and can be dangerous! We are no dr's on here and IMHO, it is safer to have dr's advice along with this site.

[Kevin_Bacon]

Like Sophie and Abby recommend, see a doctor and get a referral (if you need referrals where you live) to an addiction specialist. They know the game plan much better than most GPs.

Bring along the information from http://www.benzo.org.uk/ (thanks again, Sophie) so she/he knows you've done your homework ... these specialists generally appreciate the need for a long taper.

If you're not satisfied with the recommendations (that is, if the plan isn't reasonably consistent with the advice on the website, find someone else. It's worth a bit of running around, if you have to, to get a long taper. These drugs are real buggers to get away from.

Good Luck ...

[abby10]

I'm really glad to hear you have had such excellent results from and shrink. I hope more doctors in the future become as educated to help more people from the benzo withdrawals. You are very fortunate. Most, including myself, are bounced in and out of hospitals and detoxes with brutal fast tapers. Most do not acknowledge that a taper can take many months or even a year or more and withdrawal symptoms can last for years.

You are the lucky one! I think in this age of the internet that more people are finding out about benzos from the help of other people. My doctor told me that I would have to stay on 8mg Xanax and 30mg temazepam for LIFE. The others tapered me in between 3 days to 9 days.  And then there were the doctors and nurses that would confiscate my bottle of Xanax so I could go home and have a seizure and hallucinations. You can imagine what this was like.

abby

[abby10]

FYI... I recommended to see a doctor but only a "benzo friendly doctor" like the one you your very fortunate enough to find.

abby