Posted by cubbybear on February 3, 2004, at 0:29:36
In reply to Probably the Klonopin taper, IMO, not poop out » cubbybear, posted by mattdds on February 2, 2004, at 10:27:57
> Hey,
>
> I really believe this is due to the Klonopin taper, especially since you mentioned that your main symptom is anxiety.
>
> Also, it is widely known that the "tail end", as you described it, of benzo taper is by far the toughest! Actually, I've heard of many people ramping down fairly quicklyand easily, until reaching only a miniscule dose (like 0.125 mg) and then *really* getting the withdrawal symptoms.
>
> Just out of curiosity, why are you so worried about being on Klonopin?
>
> What about an experiment? You could temporarily raise the dose of Klonopin back to 0.25 mg or even 0.5 if necessary and see if your Parnate response comes back. This would pretty much pinpoint whether or not your "poop out" is due to the Klonopin taper. If this doesn't work, then you could explore other options.
>
Hi Matt and fly,
Your guesses about the anxiety being the result of my Klonopin taper seem to be proven out! Last night I tried taking the .125 mg. dose again. Slept pretty well and am feeling much less anxious today. I keep personal journals, a log and even a graph of my Klonopin taper and saw yesterday how I've responded over the past year or so to various Klon. dose decreases. After being on a mtnce. dose of 3.75 mg./day for months, I encountered withdrawal anxiety at the 2.75 mg mark and at the 1.75 mg. mark, with some tolerable insomnia coming right on the heels of every decrease.I've had it real easy for the past 6 months, without any withdr. anxiety until I started doing the following: .125 mg. for one day, no Klon. for 2 or 3 days etc. I had planned on going for four days without K, then the outside stresses came last week and wham!--the anxiety hit like a thunderbolt on Monday A.M.
So, like you say, Matt, it seems that I'm one of those who have done quite well ramping all the way down but have encountered miserable withdrawal anxiety at the tiny .125 mg dose, i.e. while going into the homestretch.
You asked why I'm so worried about being on Klonopin. . . For a number of reasons: knowing that in my pre-Klonopin days, Parnate was THE solution for my depression and anxiety. If I experienced intermittent stress or insomnia, I could always manage it with .5 mg. or .25 mg. Xanax as needed.
Also, I don't want to be on a benzo in the event of needing an anesthetic or painkiller; I've read that one could run into serious repsiratory problems when combining benzos with opioid analgesics or anesthesia. I went for about 17 years without being regular benzo user and really want to get back there again.
The big question now is, how am I going to get off this minuscule amount? Evidently, I'm so sensitive to even .125 mg that even decreasing at the rate I mentioned (one day on K, 2 days off, one day on, 3 days off, etc.) is "too fast."
I'm going to see if liquid Klonopin is available here (Thailand) or try getting my dr. to switch me to Valium and proceeding that way--it's the method that the big anti-benzo crusaders ( U.K. organization) use. Will also start another thread on Psychobabble about this. I want to be off this med before the next Ice Age!!
poster:cubbybear
thread:308374
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040131/msgs/308748.html