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So the time has come...


Merkan

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I started to tapper today, starting with 0.25 mg of the morning dose of a daily dose of 2.25mg.

First step is to come down to 1.5mg in 3-6 weeks. I've done cold turkey etc. before but taking a more sane approach to it this time. I truly believes it inhibits the Libidio to a far much extend and inhibits the dopamine function too much (i am on DA now and feel so alive).

I hope that when i reach 1.5 i feel that i can come off completely but it is not a goal in itself. If i "need" the 1.5 mg to function of course i will keep going.

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Wish you luck man. Only 50% of ppl have hard benzo wd's from what Ashton said. If you did it cold turkey before w/o winding up in the hospital you should be better off then most lucky ass :) My job as of now won't allow me to taper. I'd loose it in all meanings of the word, or I'd be w/u. I love my klono though, but I really would like to know what life w/o klono having hppd is even like (I don't even know crazy huh) Wish you luck man, keep up the diving and snorkeling. I did that going through benzo w/d's 10yrs ago. Totally took my mind off it.

Later!

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Thanks 1998, i am doing this while studying at the univ. lets se how it goes.

Jay>> dopamine agonist. Makes me feel normal and functional. I need to quit it however since it was more a test, when i have my next doc app. I will hopefully get a schedule how to take it om a regular basis. Its awesome, really.

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Crap, so last night it hit me like a brick!

I was doing great, more the great with my new meds and was really looking forward to studying this weekend. Late last night it just hit me 36 hours since cut the dose and it was bad. I didn't sleep at all last night, just pain pain pain! My symptoms came back, no surprise there, but its almost at baseline without meds and that is indeed bad to me since i am a free man without HPPD symptoms normally. Swirls, floaters, trails etc. everywhere.

I hope it'll pass the coming week, this new med i am on is really great and hopefully it can suppress the symptoms till then. The WD i can function with but not HPPD, when it comes to class that is.

However i will go threw to "the end", that is to drop another 0.5mg so i am on a stable 1.5mg dose, or else going back up would be for nothing. Last drop was only 0.25mg but man that was enough to put me in Limbo. Almost like i wanna drop the 0.5 at once if i get better next week so i am done with it. Though if i am still vulnerable then i'll guess i need to wait with the drop and do slow. I am not very patient with this kinda things as you might understand. I can take the intensive pain for a short while but dragging it out and being semi-functional over time is not my best game. Well, just wanna wright about it, it wont make it go away but i believe it is better to put words on it and then look back in a couple of days and see how i felt. Its easy to forget when things get better (cuz they always do)!

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I am not very patient with this kinda things as you might understand - Watch out for this one. Don’t know if it follows the pattern of ‘addictive personality’ but you need great patients. We all need great patients.

Am surprised that such a small reduction in Klonopin is causing so great a reaction. First thought is you are dropping below a ‘seizure’ threshold that the med has been resolving – even if you are not technically experiencing seizure. You ARE experiencing loss of brain balance/control. It is pure hell.

Have never taken more than 1mg Klonopin a day. Also, have never taken it without Gabapentin. For me there are very similar results between the two. And it is much more tolerable to change dosages of Gabapentin. Also, the Sinemet is very stabilizing.

Recently went off all meds for a month so as to be evaluated by another specialist. Two weeks were hideous but was able to do it (though never was even remotely well). Now have reintroduced Sinemet and it cares for 75% of anxiety and most of the visual crap.

[ Note: I blat all this extra stuff just to put comments in perspective so each reader can extrapolate for their own situation ]

Anyway, hang in there and keep us posted

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I do understand what the seizure threshold means but can you explain why this would happen. I do not have classic wd libe sweating, trembling or even anxiety. My head aches and my body feels like its been beaten up, that and i feel like popping out of my head. I am with you on that cuz its seems that my symptoms are very isolated. I feel fine now except somatics.

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I do understand what the seizure threshold means but can you explain why this would happen.

Can’t really explain, at least in a technical way. It is more an intuitive observation and feeling. There are complex feedback and feedforward loops thoughout the brain.

Take panic-attack as an illustration. Too much fear response. It is crippling instead of saving one from danger. Benzodiazepines reduce the rate of neuronal firing, quieting the brain. So while panic isn’t epilepsy, both are excess activity and run risks of damage from excess glutamate.

Again, if you hold a microphone too close to a speaker you get feedback squeal. Hellish anxiety is a system in runaway mode.

There is a lot of empirical evidence with my particular disorder. So while DA restores regulation and coordination. More seems to be needed to ultimately resolve too much activity.

My head aches and my body feels like its been beaten up

This is what it is like for me. However, much of this I had before taking the meds, so it isn’t withdrawal but rather a return to the original problem. And don’t be surprised if the original problem manifests itself in altered ways.

Before Gabapentin + Klonopin, was curled in a ball 20 hours a day with ‘phantom’ pain. Recently discontinuation brought this pain back, but at lower levels so at least I can stand.

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.25 is not a small drop at all, it's 5mg of valium. I've read so much about benzo wd's and anybody worth talking with would agree that's not an easy drop. Last time I dropped .25 I had w/d's for 1 month and didn't sleep for a few weeks.

Merkan, I know you just want to get it over with and drop at a higher rate, but in the long run that could cause more problems and your w/d's might last longer.

I'm glad you're feeling a bit better, but from everything I've read and the ppl I've talked to, I'd do a slow taper no more then dropping 10% of your dose every 2 weeks. Take care! B)

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Thanks for your concern. I know about the relative dose equal to diazepam and a 0.5mg is like dropping a 10mg of diazepam after two years use. I try to keep that in mind. I am so much better today. the "peak" is said to come within 4-7 days and i have definitely passed that. I hope i ave the patience enough not to drop the 0.5mg at once. Benzo communities would go crazy with sucha drop while the doctors would say something like "as long as you are fine with it, you should do it". I will wait until i am where i was before the drop (feels like i am almost there) and then decide. What rushes me is the school. I rather take the pain in 10 days then feel moderately dissociated divided in 20 days. That would be devastating prior to my exams coming up.

to be honest, if i feel fine i will probably go for the 0.5 drop just to get rid of it.

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wish I could tolerate that high of a drop, but after 12 yrs. use, I need to be as careful as possible. I have read about ppl just getting off 8mg of klono after 5 yrs use with no problems. Hopefully you're one of those luckier one's.

I've had panic anxiety disorder prior to hppd and my family history has a high addiction rate. Makes it tough on me.

GL w/ wd's and school!

Also my doctor just prescribed me 400mg of tramadol to take daily for a torn labrum in my leg. I need to get away from all these drugs but it's the only way I can function at work (pain) sadly. Later all!!!

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I am sorry to hear about that, 1998. Tramadol is also a mind altering drug (you know that of course).

I have been on two years, my WD seem to have passed pretty much and i am going to do that 0.5 mg drop starting today. The upcoming week is not that tough when it comes to school so i try to do this now so that i can get back with a clear head when my next exam starts in three weeks. I won't have a a pleasant weekend anyway.

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Once you get down on these wd's you'll be having a very pleasant future so just use that as motivation. I can't believe you're able to even go to class during these wd's that hardcore determination.

? Did you mean you were on tramadol for 2 yrs. If so what mg. and what was the major side effects from the drug. I really don't want to keep taking it and just really on my zanaflex (muscle relaxer) but I don't have time to wd since I work 5 days a week and this is a relatively new job. I can't get enough days off in a row to go through opiate wd's. Tramadol wd's are just as hard as vicodin to me, but in no way does anything compare to klonopin. Take care and be ready for klono wd's to hit the worse on day 3-5 later man! If you're truly hurting and you've tried zanaflex or tramadol before message me I'll help you out! Nobody else message me about this though lol later!

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I am sorry i wasn't clear, i've been on clonazepam for 2 years, never been used to Tramadol.

Yes, the last week it hit me in 36 hours bad and i was really hurting in two days, didn't bother eating too much etc. After 5 days i got better and my mind started to adjust but i was very dissociated in a couple of days more. Not nice to go to class with that. Well, hardcore or not, i believe it has to do with pure stubbornness. I am very good at taking pain for a short while but i really sucks when it comes to patience. When i read those charts where you swap to diazepam and tapper for a half year i think to myself, i never could do that.

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Weird, first drop in 0.25mg made me really bad in just 36 hours. Now what i dropped 0.75mg at once i do not feel anything bad 72+ hours. Perhaps elevated HPPD and some fatigue but thats it. I'll probably become a bit more fatigue for a few days but no heavy WD symptoms really so far.

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I'm not trying to scare you, but I've talked to alot of ppl that got set back in their w/d schedule by doing 1 mg. drops. Some can handle it and it looks like you're one of them. But if anything gets too crazy I wouldn't risk it. Make sure you have somebody around just incase of seizures. If I was you I'd get 20 vicodin or percocet to help through what has to be hell. Later man.

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Done! no more WD symptoms +1week after last drop. Im starting to stabilize already. Sweet.

Do you think that the Sinemet is helping you to reduce Klonopin?

In some parts of the brain, dopamine regulates a lot of gabaergic neurons. Also, Sinemet reduces anxiety for me (though that isn't an 'advertised' effect of levodopa)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Zukov, It's advisable to taper at a very slow rate(from what I've read). I wish I were tapering from .5 mg. I never noticed anything at all unless I was taking over 1 mg. I would talk to your doctor but would imagine you could probably do that well in weeks to months at most. Good luck!

Personally, I notice more dp/dr and anxiety as I'm tapering the klonopin, however; I had all of that all my life prior to HPPD.

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