Posted by katekite on July 21, 2002, at 18:47:58
In reply to Clonazepam half life withdrawl...., posted by Gabbi on July 21, 2002, at 15:05:26
Sorry to hear you felt so desperate. Glad it didn't work! I had no idea -- I wish you had written in and said you felt like that -- there are always other options.
Half-life of 17 hours means if you take 65x 0.5mg pills you will have 32.5 mg in your blood, if you absorbed all that. After 17 hrs you have 16 mg, then after 34 hours you have 8 mg, then after 51 hrs you have 4 mg, then after 68 hrs 2 mg, then after 85 hrs 1mg and finally after 102 hrs you have 0.5 mg. So 102 hrs is about 4 days.
However, klonopin's real half-life is more like 20-50 hrs in adults (it is shorter in children). If it was a 50 hr half-life it would take about 12 days to reach the same level.
So you are looking at anywhere between 4 and 12 days to reach the blood equivalent of having taken it as prescribed.
I don't know what dose of Ativan you are trying to get off of, or what dose of klonopin you were supposed to take, but:
Two things would be unwise:
1. For you to have access to any more than a few pills of anything, for a while.
2. For the doctor to let your blood levels fall to zero: mostly for the risk that in withdrawal you might do dumb things.
You could call your doctor and explain that you've done reading and it says that with a half-life of 17 hrs you would be lower than 0.5 mg in 5 days, that you don't think you'll be able to just cold-turkey like that. You know they probably don't trust you and you're sorry about that, but you are physically dependent and need to taper or you'll just wind up back in the hospital. That you would appreciate it if they would call in a prescription for whatever they are comfortable with: for example 2-3 days worth at a time.
It will work best if its the doctor who originally prescribed the klonopin or the ativan. No one else is likely to want to take the responsibility of prescribing it.
It is not likely that you would have withdrawal seizures or anything like that because you've only been on klonopin for a short time and you've probably now already gotten through the worst of the Ativan withdrawal.
Klonopin helps someone to withdraw from Ativan but the two drugs are not identical, so there will be some places in your brain that are just aching for Ativan, even now. Since you haven't taken Ativan lately that part is currently slowly getting better (even despite you taking too much klonopin -- a set back -- but does not put you back at day 1).
Please do not despair that this will stay the way it is -- it will get better.
Let us know what happens. If they give you a few doses of klonopin, write back and we can figure out how to use them so that you have the least withdrawal symptoms.
If not, you will go through withdrawal quickly, but you will also be better quicker than many of us who spend months tapering. You will be smarter, faster, and have a better memory off of benzos. You will make better decisions about your future and the present won't seem like a hopeless hole. Ultimately it is something you don't want to take (I know you probably disagree at the moment.)
Take care of yourself.
Kate
poster:katekite
thread:113170
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020718/msgs/113189.html