Another "want to try to quit" klonopin thread

[Tkipalgor]

Hello, I'm a new member here but have anonymously read some good questions and saw good advice. Over a decade ago, I lost everything in a divorce and my anxiety and panic attacks, that were self-manageable at that time stepped up a notch and threw me into a spiral that made me apathetic is the true sense of the word - I was dead inside. Long story short, along came klonopin and all of a sudden, life was doable again. My panic attacks have gone (haven't had one since) and my anxiety is a normal "butterflies" level which I can tolerate. Getting to my point, a storm left me stuck in a highschool gymnasium for three days and I was already late on my dose which is 2mg twice per day. It was 1mg twice but that seemed to eventually lose effectiveness after about the fifth of sixth year. This is the order of events:

1st anxiety and a little hypervenilation
then came panic
terror, visual, and auditory hallucinations
strange smells - everything spelled awful (I know, weird)
Shaking hands and profuse sweating
Finally, I was experiencing all of the above while immobile with awful and electric-like shocks in my spine and neck
I couldn't even open up my locker when it was time to leave because my hands were shaking too badly.

I want to get off this medication now.... NOW! I never want to experience this again. Ever!! It was... It was like as if I was in hell. I can't even think of the myriad of circumstances that could lead to me being cut off from my bottle but I'm chained to that bottle now and I don't want to be. I hear many people cheerily say, "I will be on this for the rest of my life and I don't mind." Sure, you don't mind because it works! But what if you get cut off? Stuck on an airplane? In a foreign country where it's not available? Too many things to name.

So there it is. 14 years, 4mgs/day divided in two doses of 2mg each. Help me here please. I read one article that it can take up to two years! Really? Isn't there a 'rapid detox' method? I'm willing to entertain many options but I have a fairly high profile job and can't be in a clinic for months. Maybe a few days. But even then, word could still get out. It's not that I don't think I will still need something. But I would like that something to be (((anything))) but klonopin. I though I was dying. To make this all even better, you can bet I have some anxiety about quitting... especially after that horror. And it was, take my word. Horrible.

Thanks people,

TKIPalgorithm  

[Tkipalgor]

My anxiety is much more under control although I think it can be controlled just as effectively with something not so addictive. I will continue to take the klonopin and have found a dosing schedule to wean off but I don't know how painful or how much discomfort is involved. I'll give it a shot.

[lynn57]

You are absolutely right.  Your symptoms were not psychological.  Your body has built up a dependency on this drug.  You are addicted and this is the double edged sword that benzos provide.  On the one hand , it makes your life normal.  Your anxiety is gone and you can function well.  How debilitating was your anxiety/panic attacks?  On the other hand you cannot stop this drug cold turkey. There are many drugs like this.  You can get a three month script for klonopin and never let it run out.  Always have the newest bottle with you with half the script in it.  You really do have to plan ahead.  I have weaned off my Klonopin..  I was taking two mgs per day.  I tapered off(took about a year).
I found myself building right back to the old anxiety even with taking the SSRI. I went back on the Klonopin at 1 mg a day and I've been fine ever since.  I actually lowered my dose.  Every now and then I take a half dose in the morning leaving me with extra pills in case of emergency due to a late refill.  Either way I wish you luck.  You can taper off and there are many methods. All of them should be done under the supervision of your doctor.  Weigh the pros and cons before you decide.

[Tkipalgor]

@alylove,

Thanks. Yes I agree with everything you said. However, it's only been in the last decade (maybe less) that people that have been taking klonopin from earlier when it came to market, these things were not fully known. I did read an article that suggested going to a less potent benzo like valium with a shorter half-life and try to match up the potency and then wean off of a benzo with not nearly as high an affinity for receptors as klonopin. For example, I think (and this is going back a few years) that the article said that 1mg was equal in potency to 20mg of valium (or something ridiculous like that) so klonopin is VERY strong and can even is prescribed in .5 mg tabs. That's taking a half a teaspoon and dividing in 2000 parts! That's smaller than a grain of sand. And to think that 4 of these grains of sand, over time, have gotten me to this point. In any case, I have houses, kids, cars, businesses, I'm going to have anxiety. There's no way around it. And klonopin combined with bct has done wonders! There is no doubt to its efficacy. All this is off-topic to the point which my situation is what it is, for whatever reasons, that's just where I'm at. But I can't walk around life knowing that if I get stuck in Jamaica for a week, I'm going to have to experience that horror. I guess you could say I've been "scared straight". I have a suspicion that I will need medication for GAD but one that does not have the acute withdrawal. I'm not a drinker and I don't use drugs. This is what my doctor recommended and I listened to him. That's it. Here I am. I'm looking for benzo withdrawal tips or methods that are as pain free and short as possible.

thanks for responding though, love. This withdrawal is not a psychological thing. I hadn't even anticipated it. It's bloody real, right? No worries :)

[alylove]

first of all, ive heard nothing good about klonopin!, my mother was on it for a while and was exibiting some of the same signs you had mentioned ... i told her she should talk to her psychiatrist about switching meds .. you know so that it was easy to manage the anxiety ... they had switched  her , but im not sure of the name of the medication.....  now i have alot of problems myself but im really trying to stay away from medications as much as possible , which could be good or bad ... not a clue , but  ive learned to just relax , and music seems to help .. or talking to someone ..... i have alot of anxiety especially in certain situations , and ive had panic attacks as well its hard but you have to just work yourself through it whatever the problem is ,  if its something you can avoid until your stonger then id suggest it ...getting off of any medication is going to be rough though see your body has had a chance to get use to it and therefore needs it , well your mind needs it , i honestly believe alot of it is psychological...  this may not be any help to you  but i tried ......