[twfleger]

I read on here a few months ago many posts about people who are addicted to klonopin (generic clonozipan). I was right there. I had awful withdrawal symptoms and thought I would have to suffer to get through it all.

Wrong. My doctor worked with me and weened me slowly. I went from taking 2 of the 1mg. tablets daily to now being completely free! Here is what I did:

Every 5 days I reduced my intake by 1/8th of a mg. In other words, my doc gave me a prescription for the .5mg tablets, and every 5 days I reduced my intake by 1/4 of one of those .5mg pills.

So, I went from 2mg. per day to 1 and 3/4mg. per day for 5 days; to 1.5 mg. per day for 5 days; to 1.25mg per day for 5 days...etc., until I got down to just 1/8mg. per day (1/4 of the .5mg. tablet). If you get the .5mg size tablets, it is easy to cut them into quarters with a sharp knife.

I had NO WITHDRAWLS WHATSOEVER doing it this way! In fact, I could have probably done this a little faster, but my doctor said to just keep this up.

Well, it took a few months, but I am FREE! It feels great to only be addicted to ChapStick again. .

I am writing this to encourage others, by the way...I am not bragging at all.

Blessings to all.

- Tracey

[Robert_325]

Tracey,

Congratulations! You are very lucky. Most of us have a really hard time stopping Benzos. It was much worse than the opiates for me. I am envious. I had seizures and all kinds of problems. It goes to show that each one of us reacts differently to the exact same drug. Again, you are very fortunate.

[vduda]

TW,

That's great that you were able to be weaned off with little discomfort. As for individuals like myself who have been on Benzos for over 20 yrs it is not that easy. First of all I have an Anxiety Disorder and when I went through detox 9 months ago for opiates and benzos I really thought I was going to die. The opiates were easy to kick, it was the Benzos that almost killed me. For the last ten years I have been taking 40 to 50 mg of Xanax a day. How do you wean yourself off that? I went cold turkey. Well I stayed off the Benzos for almost 5 months and never got better and could not function. I had seizures and crippling insomnia and a multitude of physical ailments. My Doctors placed me back on a low dose of a long acting benzo diazepam and .50 mg of Xanax for panic attacks. Now I feel great. I sleep well and no more seizures or the other ailments. The only thing that really bothers me are cramps in my calfs in the morning. I just take a little more potassium and it helps. Good news I have been off the opiates for over 9 months and thank God for this miracle. I am not addicted to benzos, but I am dependent. Screwed my CNS up royally. Maybe one day God will heal me from this affliction. I don't crave them and sometimes miss a dose and back come the seizures. Consider yourself lucky, but the dose you were taking allowed a pretty easy tapper. That is not to take away from your awesome accomplishment. God Bless

VJ