Cold turkey withdrawal from Klonopin -- scared

Thanks so much for your reply Elaine.
I did manage to get a short script to tide me over until this week. Ive already been in touch with my doctor and told him I want to wean off of this stuff as soon as possible!. Oh my gosh, that was truly a horrible experience! I have a feeling my weaning is going to take some time as I have been on it for 15 years. Thanks again,
Bitty

Hi, Bitty. So glad to hear you have enough K-pin to get you through for now. And really glad to hear you plan on weaning off of it completely. Yes, after 15 years, it will take some time...I don't know...maybe as much as a year, I'm thinking?
But I will tell you this, YOU WILL BE SO GRATEFUL WHEN YOU'RE OFF AT LAST!

Just wean extremely slowly. Some docs don't even give you what I think is a comfortable titration plan. It seems they think you can taper off this kind of drug quicker than you actually can in reality - if, that is, you want to feel comfortable while doing so and I'm sure that you do... All of us do! We all want to avoid feeling the axiety encroaching back in on us.

I have been very comfortable with the plan my doc laid out. I cut my dose one quarter per MONTH. Sometimes, during the first 2 weeks of a dose change, a little of the old anxiety tries to creep back in. What do I do? Well, prayer and Bible reading is wonderful for relief. I also indulge in some comic relief: I picture the sabertooth tiger of the prehistoric past, the one my pychiatrist laughingly says is not REALLY in the room.,..So I don't need to feel threatened and the need to fight or flee. Yes, I actually (although it doesn't take but a second or so these days) picture my sabertooth, his fangs dripping slowly onto my carpet, as he stands nearby ready to spring. I think that by having just the momentary mental "distraction" has the great effect of pushing my anxious feelings aside. It's a good thing I'm not smart enough to think of 2 things at the same time.
Keep me posted:)
Elaine

The Ashton Manual- Goggle it. This a work by a respected English Doctor about her knowledge of benzos and show she dextoxed her patients with valium because of it's long half life. My Dr would not agree to the valium dexot with valium. So I decided to cold turkey-the worst nightmere in my life. After 21 days I was back on clonzapan.
I have Biopolar 2 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I have been on this med since 2001- I am taking 4mg a day. I also take welbutrin for my depression. I have little intrest in anything-I used to be active and happy. I am terrified to try even a step down detox because of what I have read about the Wd lasting months and then protacted WD lasting years or never going away. I was thinking I would be better off dead- but too much family would be hurt. Going off this drug- would the symptoms of why I went on it in the first place come back? I am rambling. I have a psych who prescribes for me. I don't know what to do.

my doctor put me on clonezapam .05 mg per day i ve been taking this pill for a year now and i have read online its highly addicting drug and i wanted to stop i stoped cold turkey after taking it for 8 months i got terrible fear insomnia feeling depressed horable headaches i went to my doctor and my doc gave me a new prescription for .05 mg colnazapam after i took the pill i felt great but i had fear of taking this  pill a was affraid to become addicted i tosed full bottle of pills down the drain then after i stoped cold turkey again i felt same as before when i stoped its nightmare my doc again gave me the pills i only took the pill when i get anxiety attacks i am determened to stop this drug i stopped without telling my doc its been two months since i last took the pill but now i feel horrible now i feel withdrawl symptoms kick in .here are my sympthoms, insomnia,headaches,restlessness,irreability,scared of everything extreme fear of death and something bad happening i am scared to leave my house i am scared to sleep, i am depressed i cry laugh for no reason at all,i feel lonley but all i want is isolation from everybody and everything i and ignoring my family everybody annoys me , confusion lost of concretation,i feel like needles through my skin,my palms and feet sweat its like water dripping out od my palm and yet my hand and feet are so cold ,my heart races i can feel it like its gonna pop out or like its skipping beats,scariest thing is shortnes of breath i feel like something is stuck in my throat and i cannot cough it out ,loss of apetite,constant feeling of being extremely fat or getting fat but i am normal weight for my height,i am scared of death but i feel like i dont have need to live and i wish i was no alive anymore i get sick of everything and i feel like what os the point of living,i am scared please if anyone reads this give me advice what can i do i am 25 yrs old i hate my doc for giving me this pill in first place,i know i have whole life in front of me but i cannot seen to be happy and i have no problem i. my life that could cause me to feel this way i having loving family friend life everything and yet o feel worthless. can any one tell me how lonh does it take to get off this pill how long is withdrawl process 

Hey, there! I just had to respond as soon as I saw your post (from 4 hours ago) It broke my heart because I could so relate!! I'm just about at the end of my "titration" off of Xanax, praise God! I won't go into all the details of my own horrible experiences with this drug and the cold turkey that made me think I was losing my mind...cause you need help right now... Here's what I recommend. Take off 1/4 of your last dosage and stay at that level more ONE MONTH. Yes, you heard me. Then after that, go down another quarter FOR ONE MONTH. Keep doing this until you are done. This takes a while and believe me I know how desperately you want off of it, but you do want to stop the horrible withdrawals and what would inevitably be a "protracted withdrawal...lasting months maybe years. SO YOU MUST QUIT BUT DO SO VERY SLOWLY. Please keep me posted, and I'll be praying for you because, after it's all said and done, God is the only One who can truly get you through this. Elaine

I have been sick and could not take my Klonopin or Lexapro which I have been on for almost 2 years. I kept getting sicker and throwing up with a severe headache that I tried to freeze with an ice bag. I got up this morning had 2 pieces of plain toast and took my meds with the thought of "I will probably throw this up" but I did not and you are completely correct. Don't quit taking Klonopin cold turkey for any reason even if you are sick with a cold or flu. I was going to go to the hospital if that didn't work. Thank God because if my head hurt anymore I may have done something drastic to make the pain stop. My next Dr. visit I plan to discuss getting off of it so that it doesn't ever happen again.

Hi,

I have been tapering Klonopin and the withdrawals are tough to say the least. It started off ok, but now I am down to .0625 twice a day and the withdrawals are terrible. I've been at this dose for almost 2 weeks and have not stabilized yet. I'm not sure if I should go back up to the last dose or just try to keep going at this current dose in hopes of stabilizing soon. Any thoughts?

I honestly could not stand the headache so I took my regular dose to make it stop. Go see your doctor and ask if there is anything they can give you to help with the symptoms. I admire your efforts and I would think the doctor should be able to help ease the with draw. Good luck.

I am going through this now and would like any help advice as I feel like I am losing my mind.

Oh my God, I have never read someone describe the horrors of K withdrawal thats identical to mine. And the sad part is that all the workers at Mental Health knew I was going off them, unfortuately cold turkey and not even the Alcohol and addictions specialist Lee who I had a group with every week told me it should be pretty easy because I was on such a low dose and he never said a word more. Immediately I started having withdrawals. I felt like I was way too high on acid and it only got worse. So Mental Health let me go through a whole month of completely losing my mind. My therapist never believed me when I told her I was feeling extremely strange and it kept getting worse and worse, week after week until I couldn't drive anymore and was house bound because I could not function any more. And all I prayed for was a gun to take me off that acid trip I was stuck in. Lee, our drug & alcohol specialist never took me serious either.They either thought I was simply lying, exaggerating, or that I just plain made all this sh*t up. I left there one angry client.

Thank you for sharing your story. You don't know how much it means to me.
Sandy

We are not bashing Benzo's. We are just telling the truth on how the horrors of withdrawal's effected us individually. No one has to ever exaggerate the withdrawal symptoms from K-pin because where they take you in your head will be the most traumatic experience you have ever had in your life. It is equivalent to doing 10 hits of LSD and it feels exactly like that. Mine were way worst than being raped at knifepoint when I was 13. That's how truly awful it is and no one will believe you, and no one will help you. Mental Health gave me their blessing to go off cold turkey after years of use and abuse, they left me to go through the never ending sheer panic, extreme anxiety, suicide ideations (because it's so horrible you can't stand one more day), hallucinations, paranoia, heavy sweating, heart beating out of my chest, disconnecting from reality over and over. I didn't even know how to wash a dish, empty an ashtray or even wipe when I went to the bathroom because my mind wouldn't tell me how to do these things. I became totally shut into my house. I could no long function in the real world anymore. And Mental Health left me to deal with all these things, home, alone. With no help because they didn't believe me when I told them of my symptoms when I started having them. My therapist didn't believe me or the Lee, the alcohol & drug counsler on staff at Mental Health. So I am going to believe anyone and everyone when they start describing hellish symptoms they are experiencing from Benzo withdrawal. I don't care If they were on Benzo's for 1 day or 10 yrs. I will believe every word they say because I've been there.

Just wait until you develop Tolerance Withdrawals while taking the Klonopin as prescribed by you Dr. And after you've had enough of those debilitating symptoms when you try to get off of it, then tell me how much you like the Klonopin. Because the withdrawals are so horrible your going to look for a way to commit suicide. You are going to look for death to take you out of the hellish nightmare your going to be caught in. I know, I just barely made it.

Praying..going thru the same..i wish GOD would kill me.

I'm not going to make it

i just quit clonazapan cold turkey. its beeb exactly 1 month and 14 days without lt feel great clear headed still a little withdrawl symptoms like memory loss and like i cant control my thoughts and expressions but it seems like everyday that passes by i feel more and more like myself. the 30 days off were pure hell but i did it i cant believe drs give this out like candy.hope you like sunsets and i know the lord will give us favor anne trust me on this.