Posted by Siraris on September 21, 2004, at 23:54:11
In reply to Re: Has anyone successfully gotten off Klonopin?, posted by cubbybear on September 21, 2004, at 23:28:04
> I had been taking Klonopin, as much as 4 mg. per day, back in 2002, then decided to wean off of it last year. It took me many months to do it, going down VERY slowly every couple of weeks. A few times I had some withdrawal anxierty or insomnia but eventually I prevailed because I decreased as slowly as possible AND I substituted an equivalent dose of Valium (Alprzolam) toward the end of my taper. I know very well about the benzo.org website and it sure is enough to scare anyone needlessly. But they do have very useful conversion and tapering charts for you to use. Good luck--it CAN be done!
> cubbybearThank you for this. I have been taking 2 mg a day for the past 4 months... I used to be on 1 mg a day but I had to move up to 2 because I started having some bad attacks on the El here in Chicago. I wanted to ask you, when you said you started having anxiety again, did that subside? I dropped down to 1.5 mg from 2 a few days ago, and I can function ok, but I was at my friends and I started to get very dizzy and disoriented for no reason.
The whole reason I want off the Klonopin is because it's WRONGLY PERSCRIBED. You are only supposed to take it sparingly, and it is HIGHLY addictive. I also have been seeing someone who is a master at Craniosacral Therapy and Visceral Manipulation. She told me the reason I have anxiety is because of the pressure that is being put on my face, from being caught in the birth canal when I was born. Being caught in there caused my head to form incorrectly (nothing visible to the human eye) but the pressure is not only causing me to have breathing problems but it's also pressing against the emotional centers in the front of my brain. I am getting relief, and my panic attacks are a lot less potent then before, but they are still there. I still have about 5 months of work with her, she can't do it too fast, because my body needs to heal, but there is hope.
I also finally came to a realization, to anyone who reads this post. Doctors put you on these meds because they think you are weak, and all they do is shut your body off to feeling. All Klonopin does is make you stop feeling. Anxiety/Panic disorder is not some mysterious sort of ghost that's inhabited your body, it's something physical that is causing it, in almost every case. There is hope out there, you just have to find the right path, and the strength to overcome it. I am on the path, I hope... it's very scary, especially dropping my meds, and not because I am afraid of dropping them, just becuase of the side effects.
I'd like to keep this discussion going, so please post your thoughts if you want.
poster:Siraris
thread:392513
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040921/msgs/393536.html