Quitting Klonopin

Hi All,

I'm not sure if I am posting this in the right place as I am new to the Forum but it seems to fit the title I guess. After being on anti-depressants and benzo's for the better part of 2 decades I have decided that It is time to stop. I am successfully of my Anafranil and Zoloft which I am SO glad I got away from. It feels like I am waking up from a 16 year nap. I don't think these types of drugs are good (at least for me) long term. I'm not bashing you if you take them and I understand if you feel you need them. The only thing I am taking at this point is .5mg/day of Klonopin (down from 1mg/day). Yesterday I cut back to .25mg and I can feel some tension in the body but nothing crazy. My question is that, given the small dose that I am on, can I go from .25mg to zero in 2 weeks or so? I'm not so much worried about the "anxiety" that the WD may produce as I will continue to be very mindful of how my body and mind react and I've been through enough at this point where i'm not sure that much of anything could phase me. Does anyone have any experience coming off a relatively low dose of Klonopin? I'd love to hear about it. Be well everyone and keep fighting the good fight!

Gratitude,

R

I got through it.

For years I was stuck on those Klonopin pills.

What would happen was I had these nasty panic attacks that caused me to fear the next one when I started to feel some mild anxiety and that would CAUSE them unless I took another pill.

A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior.

My self-fulfilling prophecy was no pill = anxiety attack from hell

Reality = no pill means just feeling real bad for a few days with little sleep .

Check out these things

post acute withdrawal syndrome http://www.google.com/search?q=post+acu ... l+syndrome

post acute withdrawal syndrome benzodiazepines http://www.google.com/search?q=post+acu ... odiazepine

it takes a few months sometimes to feel 100 % but its better than that second job of doctors appointments, those ass holes in the pharmacy and pill dependence.

The beginning sucks but its like that old saying "no pain no gain"

I had an 8mg a day dependence, that last .5 sucked bad for a week but now I haven't taken one of those effing pills in years. Less anxiety now than when I was on them !

Copy Cat,

Thanks. You're the man. I hear you on the panic attacks. I believe that much of what we suffer from has been created by our minds and is manifested through assumptions and intentions. I'll take the .25 for a couple more days then toss them. I just didn't want to risk a seizure or some crap like that. Not worried much about the mental aspect. Thanks so much for your input. Cheers!

Dear R:

I came off a 17 year use of high doses of Zoloft (400 mg per day, 300 mg per day) and Klonipin, 4 mg per day/ as needed. My first effort while in psychotherapy, exercising, doing yoga- but all these I just started. My three months off ended up in failure because I got those anxiety attacks that I don't remember having before the Klonipin/ Zoloft. I did my best to stay off, I really, really did, all the will power in the world, lots of suffering, lots of anxeity. I went back on Klonipin first, to calm the anxiety and then was put on another SSRI, less stimulating than Zoloft. For another year. Then I came off those again, only slower, way slower. Way, way slower. And I made it. This time, as I felt increased anxiety I was able to practice observing my anxiety from a calmer place, that is, I was not ALL anxiety. I was aware of part of me, a calmer part of me and I observed my anxiety from that place.

If anxiety was like my toe I observed my toe. I was not ALL toe.

It went on for the longest time, feeling anxious, only not as intensely as before. I now have two years and two months abstinence from any and all psychiatric drugs.

Like I wrote, anxiety was increased as a result of stopping the anti anxiety drug Klonipin. I exercised mindfulness. I exercised a lot. Yoga. I used tools. And I made it. I still feel anxiety, still working on it via insight into my childhood, still seeing more and more, an ongoing process, the healing Path, I call it.

Best to you coming off Klonipin and otherwise.

anita

Anita,

That's awesome! Good for you! Funny you mention the "all toe" thing. That is pretty much the key for anyone to get off this garbage. I am off for close to 2 weeks now and it sure can be a son of a Bi!ch! But as you put it, If you stand back and observe these things as not things that are simply happening to you but sensations in the body, it makes it a lot easier to identify and deal with. I am now off all meds and it feels phenominal! Observation is the key. I'm so glad you are off these things and I send my love your way. keep fighting the good fight!

Ricky

Dear Ricky:

I like it that you liked my post to you. Thank you for the thumbs up. Please post here anytime, I will follow your thread "Quitting Klonipin." Since I made it, maybe I can be an online support to you when you need support. The not ALL of me is anxious and I can observe the part of me that is anxious was what made it possible for me. I am still anxious, unfortunately, but not as much. Overall I am way calmer when getting off Klonipin. I took a long walk this very morning, and every day- that helps me too.

anita (user name: atina, my real name is anita)

Atina,

Keep spreading the good word. lord knows so many people need it. Be well.

Ricky