Posted by erik98225 on February 16, 2006, at 2:26:14
In reply to Re: Benzo Withdrawal, posted by qbsbrown on February 13, 2006, at 4:52:53
> Good to hear Erik, sounds like a good plan.
>
> So is the taper to subtract .125 every week? Typically rule of thumb is to take 10 percent off each week (20 being aggressive).Yes. I switched from 2.0mg pills to 0.5mg pills at the start of the taper -- they can be cut into 0.125 pieces. Reducing by 0.125 every week seems to be slow enough for me and eliminates most (but not all) of the symptoms.
I get the "cog fog" mentioned by Ashton for a day or two after a reduction (taking more benzo actually makes me MORE alert), but I'm glad there are no seizures and panic attacks!!!
> You're right, the Ashton method is SO long (i went straight to valium, skipped the crossover step), and im impatient, so im going at my own pace, as slowly as i can.
> I too almost ended up in the ER from klono withdrawal as well. I thought once i was out of my system (10 days at longest), i'd be in the clear. Boy was i wrong.I went off 2.0mg Klonopin (40mg Valium equivalent) cold turkey about a year ago. After about 10 days I was a complete nervous wreck and drinking like a fish. Collapsed in the middle of a final exam (the last one needed to get my BA!) and the professor called 911.
At the ER I was given some valium (10mg I think) to stabilize me (they didn't know what I was sick with). When I was stable enough to have a conversation, the attending doctor asked me what medications I was taking.
"You've been on WHAT?! For HOW long?! You can't stop taking that abruptly!!!"
I was promptly put back on 2.0mg Klonopin per day and took the exam again the following day; got an A+.
Lesson learned. If you are taking benzodiazepines daily for any period of time, DON'T run out of them!
Erik
poster:erik98225
thread:599201
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20060117/msgs/610144.html