Coming off Benzos?

I’ve been takenjoying off of clonazepam and am having some withdrawal symproms. Has anyone else gone through this? Do you have any advice, perspectives, etc.?

drink a lot of tea stay super hydrated. take vitamin c too

1 Like

If by Benzos you mean Ativan - I never had any addiction to it.

When I switched medication - I just never took it again.

It took me months to break free of Cloneazapam. I was taking only 0.5mg daily. I had to come off it really really slowly.

The way I did it was by extending the time between dosages every 2 weeks.

So:

Week 1-2, take it every other day
Week 3-4 take it every 3 days
Week 4-5 take it every 4 days
Etc
Etc

I’m tapering off of Klonopin now.
It’s only been 5 days but I will go real slow.
It might take me weeks or months to come off completely.

I’m at less than 0.25mg currently.
Good luck @notsureanymore

I was on Ativan for almost a year. I stopped it cold turkey with no issues except I did have insomnia for 2 weeks because I used it as a sleep aid and my brain had basically forgotten how to fall asleep without drugs :frowning:

My biggest recommendation for minimizing withdrawal symptoms is to cut dosage very gradually w doctor guidance.

1 Like

I don’t really have the option of coming off slowly. I went to the hospital for suicidal thoughts on New Years and while I was there they cut my dose very quickly.

I was on 1.0 MG 3x daily as needed and they gave me 2 the first 2 days, 1 the second 2 days, and .5 the last 2 days if I remember right. Now I have really bad withdrawal symptoms…I was curled up on the bathroom floor last night almost wondering if I was going to die.

1 Like

i take ativan but i don’t take it everyday. which makes my pdoc happy. he gave me a prescription for 45 instead of 60 this time. but there was a guy in the lobby of the doctor’s office that was very upset about the doctor lowering his dose of valium. he threw chairs and had to be escorted off the property by a cop.

1 Like

I got back to it.monsters. Not cool.
But not as much as I was doing it before.

I went from 4mg xanax to 0.5 this past fall. I would take a sedating med like zyprexa or saphris to help ease the psychosis (withdrawals at the big leagues make you psychotic) and to help with sleep. Try 10-20% less every two weeks, if youre being aggressive. DO and I mean sound medical fact, DO 10% less month to be SAFE.

I went through this sh1t, dont let it knock you out…be careful.

Yikes that is rough. Not sure there’s much to do about it then. I hope it passes soon…

Anyone who is coming off benzodiazepines should read the Ashton Manual. It is considered the bible of benzo withdrawal. Here is a link for anyone interested http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/

2 Likes

Bookmarked. Thanks!