Posted by cubbybear on November 13, 2003, at 7:13:00
In reply to How do I ween off of Clonazepan ?, posted by mack12 on November 11, 2003, at 23:35:59
The rule of thumb is SLOWLY and never go cold turkey. I don't know what dosage you are on, but that still doesn't affect the basic rule. Some people have a tough time getting off Clonazepam, some people don't. From a maintenance dose of 4 mg. last year, I was going down at the rate of about .25 mg every 7 days, then encountered withdrawal anxiety at around the 2.75 mg. mark. After reading numerous posts about tapering off this drug, and simply wanting to take it slow to minimize withdrawal symptoms, I've been going down in increments of .125 mg. (a quarter of the .5 mg pill). First I did it every 7 days, then every ten 10 days. When I got to about 1.25 mg, I started making my decreases every 12 days. This happens to be my own schedule, which has been working out very well. There should be no need to rush it along. Be prepared for several weeks or months of tapering, if you're on a higher dose. If you encounter really uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms, you can always go back up to the previous dose at which you felt OK, then space out your decreases even longer. Good luck.
poster:cubbybear
thread:278818
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031111/msgs/279303.html