Posted by tizza on April 16, 2006, at 1:27:28 [reposted on April 20, 2006, at 1:30:04 | original URL]
In reply to Getting off Klonopin or benzodiazepines, posted by jon137bus on April 15, 2006, at 6:27:13
> Greetings members,
>
> I was given Clonazepam (0.5mg) and Ambien (10mg) as sleeping aid by my doctor. I only learned about the dependency nature of these drugs after coming to this website. Ouch!. I was using the Clonazepam for almost 4 weeks and Ambien for about two weeks. Is this period of usage long enough to develop dependency ?. I have a nagging suspicion it is because I have problem sleeping when I stop taking these pills cold turkey. Am I doing something silly by going cold turkey ?.Will the remnant of these drugs in my body fade away over the next week or so ?. I have been prescribed Xanax and that's why I stopped using the other drugs.Xanax is one of the most potent benzo's to come off and it's withdrawal can be very nasty because it doesn't stay in your system as long as the clonazepam does, so you will need to take more doses of xanax during the day than you would on clonazepam. I would much rather taper off clonazepam than xanax, it will be a much smoother ride and won't take as long. I got very sick coming off xanax so be careful about stopping it cold turkey like I did 10 years ago. I didn't know back then about tapering off benzo's. Also maybe consider using valium for the taper process, it pretty much has the longest half life of them all but if it has only been 4 weeks and you still have clonazepam left you really shouldn't have too many problems getting off them at all. It hasn't been very long and you were on a very low dose so I'm tipping you will be just fine. Just be very wary of the xanax. Paul
poster:tizza
thread:635118
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20060412/msgs/635123.html