Posted by Chairman_MAO on February 3, 2004, at 21:19:13
In reply to Re: Need Klonopin Taper Schedule from .125 mg., posted by Ame Sans Vie on February 3, 2004, at 11:44:16
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> While Depakote, Gabitril, Neurontin, and other similar GABAergic drugs may help during the withdrawal, it is my opinion that they should never, ever be used as a substitute for a careful taper.They shouldn't be used as a substitute. I'm not a neurologist, but I cannot imagine that anyone without neurological problems could EVER need tapering past 0.125mg. Sure, there may be residual psychiatric issues past 0.125mg, but this is a given; post-acute benzodiazepine withdrawl symptomology can last for 6 months or perhaps longer. But residual psychiatric symptoms do not require nor are adequately treated by giving virtually homeopathic doses of benzodiazepines.
>My first doctor attempted to withdraw me from 4mg of Xanax daily (about equivalent to 2mg Klonopin) using solely Depakote.
4mg of xanax is equivalent to _8mg_ of Klonopin. That is malpractice.
After several months on this dose of Xanax, he started me on the Depakote and began titrating the dose upward without informing me of his intentions; then at one of our next appointments, he just refused to write a prescription for Xanax saying that I had already been on it too long and that the Depakote would prevent withdrawal. What a crock! Those next few weeks were some of the worst hell I've ever been through. I was numb all over, I couldn't taste anything, I was suicidal but too physically weak to even move -- literally. I just can't believe I made it through without having a seizure.
The Depakote probably prevented the actual convulsions. However, the crazy neuropathies that you are describing feel a lot like what I felt when I tried to detox myself from Valium using phenobarbital. Don't forget that there are peripheral as well as CNS benzodiazepine receptors. I am truly sorry you had to suffer such a sadistic/incompetent doctor.
> And oddly enough, it was the GABAergic anticonvulsant Gabitril which induced my first-ever seizure in November of '02 that nearly killed me! My first 8mg dose put me into a 30 minute catatonic state (during which time my little sister, thank god, had the sense to dial 911), followed by three hours of status epilepticus which the hospital was unable to arrest.How soon after your benzodiazepine withdrawl was this?
> I finally awoke eight hours after my dose of Gabitril; I was intubated in the E.R. with no idea what day (or year) it was, and I didn't recognize my family doctor when he came to see me. Scary stuff. I haven't heard of this happening to anyone else, but I'd certainly be wary of putting a drug into my body which could cause convulsions while already being at a high risk of seizures due to benzo withdrawal.
No one that's been taking 0.125mg of Klonopin for a while is at risk for anything even near a convulsion. 0.125mg probably couldn't be distinguished from placebo in benzo-naive people.
> Besides, as far as using Gabitril as a replacement GABAergic, it mostly inhibits the reuptake of GABA-B; it's GABA-A that is the primary target of benzodiazepines.It it is a GABA reuptake inhibitor. Thus, it increases the amount of GABA at all GABA receptors (GABA-A & B).
poster:Chairman_MAO
thread:308755
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040131/msgs/309094.html