Sorry I’m posting it here, for some reason I can’t post over at BenzoBuddies.
I want to get off Clonazepam and my pdoc suggested that I stop taking 0.5 of Clonazepam in the morning and night replace it with 2mg of Xanax both at morning and at night. He told me I will experience interdose withdrawal between doses but that’s a good sign that the taper is working.
Is this a good route to go through? What are your thoughts?
What’s Xanax but another benzo?
Xanax and Clonazepam are similiar in strength, however Xanax is good for 4 hours while Clonazepam is good for 6-8.
2 mg is a lot of Xanax. I take .25.
That’s what I thought too.
Wouldn’t it be harder to come off Valium and Clonazepam since it has a long half life? Wouldn’t that mean it would stick in your body longer and prolong withdrawal symptoms?
Alright so I guess the Xanax switch would help but it’s even harder to get off Xanax instead of klonopin. I’d suggest Valium 10mg which equivalently is like .25 klonopin at most and then u go down to 5 and then 2 and then half of that and so on. But as much as Valium lasts longer it gets ur body used to being on a less intense and strong dose. Valium is a little different it’s like an intense hypnotic instead of 𝑰𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 feeling the relief u do from the other 3 major benzos. I’ve been on benzos for over 5 years. Got off em for about a year and now only take like 15 a month. I think 1 mg Xanax would honestly do the job but I get the logic about Xanax being shorter acting. It does have a shorter withdrawal period like 14 days if ur used to it but yea. I’d ask about Valium but I honestly am more partial to taking Xanax instead so it’s kinda tough
Thank you all for your advice, much appreciated
“The withdrawal time generally varies according to the type of benzodiazepine. A short-acting drug, like Xanax, has a short acute withdrawal phase, usually lasting around 7 days. A long-acting benzodiazepine, like Valium, can cause acute withdrawal symptoms lasting around 90 days.”
I realized it ruined my short term memory. ■■■■■■■ benzos.
It removed my long term memory plus my ability to concentrate and focus.
We gotta find some alternative. Which works.
I’m a professor, and I can’t focus. Certainly not going anywhere like that.
How long have you been taking clonazepam? .5mg is such a low dose. I was on 1 mg of lorazepam every night for a year, quit cold turkey and had no withdrawal effects at all.
Also Xanax has a much shorter half-life than clonazepam which has the longest half life of all the benzos. Longer half-life=less chance of having bad withdrawal because it leaves the system more slowly. So I have no idea why your doc is switching you to a higher dose of a benzo that technically should be more difficult to come off of if you are already on the lowest possible dose of the benzo that is supposed to be easiest to come off. Did he give his reasoning behind that?
He told me that Xanax has a shorter half life and is therefore easier to get off of if I were to taper. Why would I want a drug to stay in my system longer if I was to to get rid of it? If I taper off Xanax using the same method as I would for clonazepam it would leave my body faster. Check the link above
The reason why he upped my benzo was because if he put me on the equivalent of clonazepam I would feel the effect for an hour before it came off.
Hey dude I just forgot about something I wanted to mention. I’ve come off Xanax ativan and clonazepam specifically. Xanax is always more a mental anxiety issue when getting off it BUT when I did a slow taper (lowered it by .5 mg (per dose) every month) I Barely noticed any discomfort the last month. And u have better luck bc they make .25 mg now. By that point it probably won’t do anything for u but ud be surprised how much the brain needs it to be lowered atleast monthly if not longer. Oh and check out the Ashton Manual to see what I meant about Valium- that’s always best to refer to when all else fails
Do it slowly. I had a gran mal coming off of xanax. I just stopped it for a day or so and bang! Not any fun waking up in an ambulance.
Listen to your doctor. We are all different and we can vary greatly.