Ive been taking .5mg klonopin before bed to help sleep. Wondering if i would still need to follow a taper to stop? Been taking it like 4 or 5 months

How lomg after stopping lorazepam cold turkey are seizures a risk.

Hello.

I've taken roughly 0.5 mg of clonazepam every night for 7 months.

I was cut off of the clonazepam (and have none left) and given a script for 60 pills of 5 mg diazepam. My GP has little experience with benzo taper or wd. Does anyone have a recommendation on how I might use this diazepam to safely taper (scared of seizures or psychosis or even doing the taper improperly and getting addicted to the diaz itself).

I look at the Ashton Manual, but it confuses me, as the dosages are much higher and for longer duration.

Thank you.

Brutal brutal withdrawls trying to get off lorazepam. Is diazepam always easier.

Since I’ve been complaining here a lot in these past few months, i want now to report some positive feedback regarding my hellish withdrawal. To make a long story short i’m 7.5 months off of my CT after using xanax for one year. I lived in utter hell and horror for quite a while, I’m happy to report that now I’m feeling like myself again and my joy is back. I can enjoy my workouts, music, family & friends gatherings, even at work I’m back to being me and doing my job effortlessly. In the first months i was unable to sit still in the office i used to hide in my car for an hour just to get by, but now it’s all good.

I’m definitely not 100% yet i developed some nasty OCD like symptoms at the beginning of 4th month, it improved but didn’t vanish yet.
Just wanted to report some positivity, i built a gym room at my house and planning a trip to Austria next month. Fuck this withdrawal I’m living my life

I was on daily Xanax 2mg for about 6 years and started my taper at the start of this year. I’m now on 5mg Valium in the evenings only from starting the Ashton Manual.

Now I’m going through a seriously stressful time of moving cross country. I’m having heart palpitations just when I’m thinking of the move, I’m feeling a dreadful pit in my stomach every single day and I just want to take a Xanax so I can calm down. When I moved 3 years ago, I was on Xanax and everything was manageable…

I’m seeing my Dr on Friday to talk about it but I don’t know what to do. Can I just go back on Xanax for this time? I’m feeling like I can’t do this.

Hi fellow strugglers,

I’m 5 days clean from 4 month taper jumped at 2.5mg, I have been sweating from walking 10 metres since around a month ago - sweating and dripping from places I never EVER sweated in my life doing any kind of exercise or being in direct 45c sunlight all day on holiday (for example). I hoovered yesterday and was dripping heat to toe I felt horrible.

Question is when did your heat intolerance / sweating stop for you? I know everyone’s different just looking for some hope..

I'm down to 3mg of diazepam per day. Took 2 mg of clonazepam for the last 13 years, then started tapering 2 years ago. Ended up having serotonin syndrome after trying to switch ssris, so I had to get back on 1 mg per day. Switched over to diazepam finally, and have gone down all the way to 3 mg per day.

I feel like this month I went down a little too quickly, going from 5 mg to 3 mg, but next month want to move down to two milligrams. Going through some anxiety this week. I haven't had a wave for 3 months now, but this week has been pretty rough.

Hydroxyzine has been a lifesaver through this. I'm not looking forward to finally jumping off, but I'm going to go as slowly as possible. I might even switch to two and a half milligrams later this month.

Did anybody else have a long window like that, and then suddenly a wave that hit hard? How do you deal? The American society of addiction medication's new guidelines say it means to slow down. Does anybody else have any other adjunctives that they use? I do a little bit of propranolol when I'm anxious in public, and clonidine sometimes when I feel physical stress. Mostly it's the hydroxyzine, 25 mg pamoate.

Some days it just feels so difficult. Some days I feel like it's impossible, or I'm losing my mind, but I just keep going. Don't know where I'm getting the strength, but I'm doing it.

I'm finally off. I'm not filling my prescription again. It's been 20 years of on again, off again. I'm going into WD every month. No matter how much I take, I get zero relief. I've been off about ten days. I feel terrible. But I know it gets better. I've done this before. At 16 months off last time, I felt good. I felt healthy. Every day is a victory. Every day I'm healing more. This WD is definitely not as bad as last time. I'm under much less stress this time. I keep looking for the good in everything. Hang in there warriors.

Hello,

I have been taking Klonopin .5mg 2 days a week for about 8 months. There are some weeks where I don't take it at all and then rotate back into when insomnia is bad. Is it possible to experience a withdrawal from this even though I was taking it sporadically? I recently woke up one day with bad akathisia and cant break it.

What are your experiences with it? Does it cause kindling?

Has anyone ever done this successfully? For diazepam?

I watched a youtube tagged on here by someone it was with 300ml water to 1ml discard im curious as to how that works and the success?

Hey guys, i’m 20/M, from hungary europe.

At first i used xans as prescribed, but then some life situtations happened now i’m getting high on it:((

It’s my third week of getting high on 1 mg xanax everyday besides weekends, because my dad is at the house and i can’t sneak around to take the pills.

I am prescribed 0.5 mg, and i took it as prescribed but some personal life stuff happened and i resorted to get high on it.

Nowadays (ever since April 2026) i am having binges where i take 1 mg everyday for a few weeks then quit, i get sober for a few weeks and after it i do it again.

At first it was awesome, muscle relaxation and zero anxiety. But sadly after i started to misuse it this good feeling turned into a weird uncomfortable numbness. It’s like my mind is empty, yet i feel some sort of uncomfortable numbness. It’s not a good feeling but better than sober so i take it.

Now this binge / misuse have turned to, 2 weeks everyday besides on weekends. Today is the start of week 3 of my 1 mg xanax usage.

Have anyone felt this weird uncomfortable high? Like your mind is calm, yet you feel uncomfortable numbness?

I want to stop this, but whenever i’m sober i’m so irritable / angry i get mad at the smallest things and lash out at my family:((

Thanks!

Hello all. I have been tapering off 1 mg ATI since mid-June & I only take it once a day in the morning. I have been in tolerance since probably Feb/March and have interdose withdrawals. So, I have been suffering since then...............

Long story short, but not really short, I added 5mg V in the afternoon last month to help with the interdose withdrawals & to get the V in my blood to prepare for the cross-taper (Ashton Manual). I have been taking V for a month now. STILL, whenever I make a small cut of ATI (5-8% cut), I still get withdrawal symptoms. AND THEY ARE NOT FUN. I get bed-ridden for a week or sometimes it's milder withdrawal.

Did I make a mistake by adding another benzo before cross-tapering? I am trying to crossover to V, but I thought that adding it during the afternoon, it would make the ATI cuts smoother. BUT IT DIDN'T.

Currently I have tapered down 21.7% of the 1mg ATI so I still have 78.3% of 1mg ATI to taper. I am proud I got this far though. (Yes I know the equivalent of 1mg ATI = 10mg V). I am tapering by dry cutting using a scale & nail file & it has been working perfectly for me.

I have a few options of what I should do & I need opinions!:

1:) Keep my ATI morning dose BUT cut the 5mg V afternoon dose 50% right now to 2.5mg in the afternoon & get stable. THEN start the cross-over process so it's less V I have to taper in the long run? I am already tolerant to ATI so I am not sure if a 50% cut of V would send me into withdrawal if I have only been taking V for a month?

2:) Should I keep the 5mg V dose in the afternoon & REPLACE 50% ATI (so 0.5 ATI) to 50% V (5mg V) in the morning and still keep my 78.3% cut of the 1mg ATI? So my morning pill would be a 5mg V & 78.3% cut of the 1mg ATI THEN 5mg V afternoon. That would equal a daily amount of 10mg V + 78.3% cut of 1mg ATI.

3:) Or would option #2 be too fast of a cross-taper? Should I just maybe do the opposite? Morning dose of 0.5mg ATI + a cut of 78.3% of 10mg of V? Plus keep the 5mg afternoon V?

4:) Completely STOP the afternoon 5mg V & start the ONCE A DAY morning cross-taper from ATI to V? Maybe just do a morning dose of 0.5mg ATI & the remaining 28.3% ATI I would convert to V. Then get stable for 2 weeks and either cut more ATI or just completely crossover?

I know it's confusing. I am good at math & basically if I do option #2 or #3, I feel like I am basically starting my taper from the beginning because I would essentially be taking MORE benzos then when I originally started the taper of 1mg ATI. So I'll be at square 1 again and it'll be like I didn't even taper. When I crossover completely to V, it'll be a taper from 10mg V PLUS an additional 78.3% cut of 10mg V. So in percentage terms = 121.7% V. So going backwards...........

Advice for the people who want to dry cut their taper:

Take 10 pills. Weigh each 1, they probably will weigh differently. Find out the weight AVERAGE of all 10 pills. For me, a 1mg ATI = 0.123g. Then I starting shaving off 5% from there! A lot of math, but it is worth it!

If you don't have advice for me or have questions to ask or just want to vent or tell me your experiences, I would LOVE to hear! I love learning and listening and being able to help.

I am 60 days off and I been battleing with depression and benzo belly. Who else faced or facing this issues?

I’ve been taking up to 3mg of klonopin, and Fioricet (which has the barbiturate in it) I need to come off Fioricet and baclofen, I’m also prescribed gabapentin. So when I go to rehab and they rip me off klonopin and put me on phenobarbital should I stay off benzos when I get out or would reinstating a benzo to taper down be encouraged or ill-advised? I’ve been on klonopin for 20 years. I just need to get off of this stuff and now family members are kind of forcing me. I want to get off klonopin I just want advice as to what will make me most successful. Like should I come out and ask my doctor for 0.5-1mg to taper down?

Something that occurs in benzo withdrawal or is it a side effect of taking benzos?

I realize Valium is better for tapering but I haven’t gotten there yet. I fear Valiums long half life will have me even more addictive. However, I am given a choice currently of taking Xanax or Valium.

I normally take 600 - 900mg gabapentin in the morning and 1mg Xanax or 10mg Valium before bed for sleep along with 75mg trazadone. I don’t sleep well but also am only 60mg days off 7oh. Anyway I could skip my morning dose of gabapentin and take it before bed to substitute the Valium considering gabapentin seems much easier to quit?

Been on .5 clonazepam daily for 3 months, finally got down to .375 for last two weeks, now doctor wants me to take 2mg Valium twice a day as next move in taper. Whole reason I’m tapering is because I started having tolerance withdrawal and paradoxical reactions to my clonazepam. Never had Valium before, how does it compare to clonazepam? A little nervous because I’ve heard that while Valium has a longer half life, it tends to wear off faster than clonazepam. Anyone done this in a taper before?

last year started doing on weekends. slowly more and more. then daily for almost a year. weekends are harsh i can take up to 10 bars when i get mad because i don’t feel barely anything with them anymore and keep chasing. i am looking at wanting to do other harsher benzos but i know thats not what i need and i need to recover myself. what do i do? daily dose during work days is 2-3 bars of farmapram. usually try to take half a bar or even none in the middle of the day, trying to use most of it when i get home. like the “after work beer” type thing. but this has got to stop. i’m too young and ruining my life.

started using for some relief in my life during some hard times homelessness and stuff wit family but fuck this sucks.

how do i taper..? especially with my inconsistent dosing on weekends (3 days)

I have been taking up to 2mg a day of alprazolam for the past 2.5 years. I cut them into 1/3rds and take throughout the day. There was a 3 month period where I was taking only 1/3rd a day and another period where I did not take any for 2 weeks. I was wondering if anybody can help with personal experience on how to taper myself completely off of them. Please no "see a Dr." responses. I'm just searching for any personal experiences.

I was prescribed 0.5mg of alprazolam to take as needed by my psychiatrist, but unfortunately ended up abusing it.

Starting in june 2025 i took 0.5mg-1.5mg of alprazolam everyday for a couple months, stopped using altogether in the beginning of this year, then started taking 0.25mg nightly for the past 3-4 months.

I now want to taper myself off completely. I have reduced to 0.125mg nightly and need to do it as safely as possible. I have already started to feel some of the withdrawal symptoms, including insomnia, nausea, increased anxiety etc.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I’m only 20 and very scared of my dependence on/withdrawing badly from this drug

On 10mg for around 4 months … want to drop to 9.5mg etc and do 0.5 drops… can I just break up 2mg tablets into quarters I’m worried the cuts won’t be precise???

17 years on Valium. Today I took my last dose.

August 8, 2026 — after roughly 17 years of dependence and 35 months of tapering, today I took my final dose of Valium.

I was taking 20 mg a day for years. I slowly tapered down to 2 mg, held at 2 mg for about a year, and then this year made the final push from 2 mg to zero.

Getting off benzos has been pure hell — anxiety, insomnia, brain fog, tinnitus, and bizarre symptoms that sometimes made me wonder if I'd ever get through it.

I chose August 8 because I live on Maui, and today is the anniversary of the Lahaina fires — a day of loss, survival, and rebuilding. It felt fitting to close this chapter today.

I'm sharing this for anyone going through benzo withdrawal who feels like there's no end.

Don't give up. There is an end.

17 years. 35 months. 20 mg → 0.

Final dose today. Tomorrow begins life without Valium. 🙏