Health - Getting off benzos safely

[BobTheGreat]

Swim has been on xanax and klonopin for about 8-10 months.(sorry for not using trade names but swim sucks at spelling them and is feeling a bit too lazy to look them up). Swim went to his doc today who had said at his last visit he wants him off the klonopin regulary and just to use it in high anxiety situations. Swim is also going to start CBT so it was just a matter of time before he had to do this. Anyway, Swim is prescribed 1mg of Kpin twice daily and has been taking this for the majority of the time(about all but a couple months). He would like to know how slowly he should start to slow down on the dosing.

EDIT: Swim tried to ask his doc but he was in a hurry to finish is patients for the day since he's taking a couple weeks of vacation now. He bascially told swim he was a smart kid and could figure it out. Swim isnt too worried as he could probably figure it out but he would like some feedback from some swimmers who have gone through this.

[GreatWonder]

Originally Posted by BobTheGreat

but he was in a hurry to finish is patients for the day since he's taking a couple weeks of vacation now.

Get another doc.

[IHrtHalucingens]

As far as i know benzos are terrible to go through withdrawals from and very dangerous too.

Has SWIYS doctor switched your script to klonopin to taper you off of the benzos? or does he expect you to stop daily doses immediately?

Cold turkey isnt a great idea with benzos. Id go back to your doctor and ask about withdrawals and risks coming of the benzos, if he doesnt take the time to explain this to you then yes abolutely get a new doctor.

[BobTheGreat]

Originally Posted by IHrtHalucingens

As far as i know benzos are terrible to go through withdrawals from and very dangerous too.

Has SWIYS doctor switched your script to klonopin to taper you off of the benzos? or does he expect you to stop daily doses immediately?

Cold turkey isnt a great idea with benzos. Id go back to your doctor and ask about withdrawals and risks coming of the benzos, if he doesnt take the time to explain this to you then yes abolutely get a new doctor.

Swim was originally prescribed xanax but asked to be switched to Klonopin. His doc doesnt expect him to go off cold turkey. He was just rushed because it was the day before thanksgiving and he was going on vacation. Swim will be going back in a couple weeks and they will talk more about it but he wants swim to start getting off it now.

[Jatelka]

Clonazepam is not ideal for tapering. And here is why (copy and pasted from a very easily found benzo website, that cannot be linked to directly, due to it having forums)...

"However, Klonopin is far from ideal for this purpose. It is an extremely potent drug, is eliminated much faster than diazepam, and the smallest available tablet in the US is 0.5mg (equivalent to 10mg diazepam) and 0.25mg in Canada (equivalent to 5mg Valium). It is difficult with this drug to achieve a smooth, slow fall in blood concentration, and there is some evidence that withdrawal is particularly difficult from high potency benzodiazepines, including Klonopin.

Some people, however, appear to have particular difficulty in switching from Klonopin to diazepam. In such cases it is possible to have special capsules made up containing small doses, e.g. an eighth or a sixteenth of a milligram or less, which can be used to make gradual dosage reductions straight from Klonopin. These capsules require a doctor's prescription and can be made up by hospital pharmacists and some chemists in the UK, and by compounding pharmacists in North America."

I'm having trouble formatting the conversion from Clonazepam to Diazepam and tapering schedule as a table. But it's easily found via Google.

[BobTheGreat]

Originally Posted by Jatelka

Clonazepam is not ideal for tapering. And here is why (copy and pasted from a very easily found benzo website, that cannot be linked to directly, due to it having forums)...

"However, Klonopin is far from ideal for this purpose. It is an extremely potent drug, is eliminated much faster than diazepam, and the smallest available tablet in the US is 0.5mg (equivalent to 10mg diazepam) and 0.25mg in Canada (equivalent to 5mg Valium). It is difficult with this drug to achieve a smooth, slow fall in blood concentration, and there is some evidence that withdrawal is particularly difficult from high potency benzodiazepines, including Klonopin.

Some people, however, appear to have particular difficulty in switching from Klonopin to diazepam. In such cases it is possible to have special capsules made up containing small doses, e.g. an eighth or a sixteenth of a milligram or less, which can be used to make gradual dosage reductions straight from Klonopin. These capsules require a doctor's prescription and can be made up by hospital pharmacists and some chemists in the UK, and by compounding pharmacists in North America."

I'm having trouble formatting the conversion from Clonazepam to Diazepam and tapering schedule as a table. But it's easily found via Google.

Yea swim can easily find the table. Interesting swim figured Kpins would be decent to come since they have a relatively long half live. Swim would rather stay on Kpins because they preserve the memory better but would Diazepam be that much better? Also the .5mg clonazepams are made so they can be split in half.

Also couldnt swim grind up the pill and weigh it out himself?