Posted by cubbybear on July 12, 2003, at 7:18:46
I'd like to hear from anyone who has had withdrawal problems coming off Klonopin, even when going at a very slow rate of reduction (like .125 mg. every 7 days).
At first--about a year ago-- I was at a high of 4 mg/day and over the course of the last four months, I've been able to come down to 1.75 mg. I (naively?) thought I'd be done with it all in about 4 months.
I had experienced withdrawal anxiety once before-- when at the 2.5 mg. mark, had to backpedal to 2.75 (I was then decreasing at a rate of .25 mg every week), then realized I had to go at increments of .125 mg every week. All was fine for awhile until I got to the 1.75 mg. mark. About 6 days later (last Tuesday), I started getting unusally short-tempered, snapping at everybody, then the anxiety set in and seems to be getting worse. I didn't think I'd run into problems at such a small rate of decrease as .125 mg. every 7 days. (The anxiety might also have been exacerbated by the fact that my stepfather had a cancer relapse.)
But I wonder, have many people run into problems while tapering off at such a slow rate? I have a feeling that I'm going to have to go backwards again (to the 1.875 or even 2.0 mg dose) and extend the time interval between reductions. Does this sound like the way to go? Any input, empathy and good old fashioned help would be appreciated.
poster:cubbybear
thread:241121
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030708/msgs/241121.html