Posted by yxibow on January 14, 2006, at 0:53:42 [reposted on January 15, 2006, at 0:15:57 | original URL]
In reply to Any good meds to use during KLONOPIN withdrawal??, posted by qbsbrown on January 13, 2006, at 13:37:33
> Been on 1.5 for over one year. Got dumb, and tried cold turkey. Almost ended up in the hospital 3 weeks later, with symptoms across the board.
> No now i've reentroduced it, and will wean. It's making me ultra depressed, and does nothing for my anxiety anymore, sugar pills.
>
> My doc recommended neurontin or cymbalta.
>
> Any suggestions, reccomendations, experiences?
Well other than another benzodiazepine which doesn't cause as much depression, I think Klonopin is associated anecdotally from what I have seen here with more depression than others, very slow tapering. If you truly want to discontinue all benzodiazepines -- and that's a fine goal, although they're perfectly safe anxiolytics even for long term use, the name of the game is SLOW.There shouldnt be very many visible signs of "withdrawal." If there is, it is way too fast a taper no matter what any treatise might say about it. It may take quite a while, but there is no point risking seizures and discomfort. It could take some weeks or months, splitting half tablets and the like.
Crosstapering to Valium is a possibility; it has about a 24 hour in vitro half life; Klonopin has up to about 16, sometimes less. I currently use high dose Valium personally, and did a cross-taper over an extended period of time. I found that adding the extra Valium before removing the Klonopin works much better, and makes for a less rotten week. This took time, a period of weeks. There should be no rush, or there will be "withdrawal" and that is not the name of the game.
I hope you feel better
Tidings
-- Jay
poster:yxibow
thread:599201
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20051018/msgs/599210.html