Withdrawal... Need support/advice

[Natron247]

Just looking for somebody who has been in the same boat as me and could offer up some advice/support...  Last January I had a rough anxiety bout and started back on a combination of Paxil CR 25mg and Clonazepam .5mg.  Everything was going smooth, but after a couple of months I noticed my anxiety was getting worse so the doc upped the clonazepam to 1mg.  Ok for a couple of months, but after a while anxiety still crept up on me.  Doc decided to try a different SSRI (Lexapro) and kept the Clonazepam at the same dose.  Didn't work.  Went back on Paxil CR and increased dosage to 37.5 then to 50mg.  Still anxiety came in.  Doc then added in Remeron 30mg and increased Clonazepam dose to 1mg in am and .25mg in the afternoon and before bed.  Everything was good for a while.  Was even able to come down on Paxil CR to 12.5mg.  I began to slowly take away the afternoon Clonazepam.  Upon doing a bunch of MY OWN research I have found that benzo's like Clonazepam can form a dependence in your body after pro-longed usage.  Some sites say that for GAD which I suffer from, Clonazepam should only be used for the onset of Anxiety until the antidepressant medication "kicks in" then it should be slowly weened and discontinued.  I'm beginning to think that the Clonazepam has been my problem all along over the past year.  Does that make sense?  So...  I started cutting back on the Clonazepam (under doctor supervision).  Currently I am at .25 in the am and .25 in the pm and plan on cutting every 2 weeks by .125mg.  At that rate I will be off of the medication in 4 more cuts.  It is a painful process and that is where I need the support and advice.  Has anybody been in a similar situation to what I have described with a benzo?  Have you successfully gotten off a benzo and saw your anxiety actually improve?  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Jwasylak]

maybe you should ask your doctor about doing a taper with an extremely long acting sedative like librium or phenobarbital. Personally I've done the phenobarb taper over the course of a week and didn't notice any withdrawal symptoms besides the resurfacing of my anxiety. This was also coming off the equivalent of aloooot more xanax than you are taking with klonopin

[Alisonj29]

I came off ativan slowly and did very well. I did not have any withdrawal symptoms. I am currently on Clonazapam and dont find it as addicting as I did the ativan and seem to be able to adjust my dose when needed. My anxiety did not get worse after coming off the ativan.
Good luck I am sure you can do it

[erin626]

I came off of xanax 1.5mg daily. I went through hell for the first month then gradually got better. Its been 6 months now and other than the random panic attacks I got prescribed xanax for in the first place I feel fine. Its different for everyone though...I went through severe withdrawals even though I was weened off but others only experience mild ones. Good luck. You can do it :)