Withdrawing from Clonazepam / Alpha-Stim
I just posted the following on the ProHealth board. Thought I would copy and paste it to this thread. Leela, I would be interested in hearing how you're doing with your sleep, and what may be working for you these days.
Best Regards, Wayne
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Posted on ProHealth on 3/20/11
Hi Mikie,
I was taking about 2 mg/day of Clonazepam at my maximum (an amount that had begun to concern me). I also started seeing references to how long-term use can effect blood cell counts, which gave me another incentive to considering stopping. I believe I started my withdrawal by going down to about 1.5 mg/night (minus .5mg). I noticed some withdrawal symptoms, but my body seemed to adapt to this in a few days to a couple weeks. I think I then went down another .5 mg., so within a relatively few short weeks, I was down to 1 mg/night.
It was after this that the more noticeable withdrawal symptoms began to appear. I reduced my dosage amounts by about .1 mg at a time after that, often taking 2-4 weeks before considering my next reduction. After about a year, I was down to about .1 mg/night. I thought I was in pretty good shape to discontinue it completely, but was caught fairly off guard by the relative intensity of the withdrawal from that last .1 mg. When it became too intense, I would take just a "dusting" (perhaps .025 - .05 mg) at a time to take a break from some of the "relative" intensity, and to not overstress my system.
When I finally took my very last .25 mg. dose (on my birthday as sort of a celebration), I felt pretty confident I would be over my worst symptoms within a few days. Unfortunately, it took me another several weeks, with my withdrawal symptoms being as intense as any before that time. I always wondered how I could so easily go from 2 mg to 1.5, and then 1.5 to 1.0, with relative ease. But completely eliminating that last .025 was probably the hardest part of the whole process. And then when the withdrawal symptoms were virtually gone, I began to wonder if it was all in my best interest, as I experienced a lot of "agitated exhaustion" from having my neurological system always on edge.
I heard about Alpha-Stim about a year after stopping the Clonazepam, and felt I needed to at least give it a try (either that or probably go back on Clonazepam). An Alpha-Stim session involves attaching small clips to the earlobes so that a micro-current can be delivered to the neurolgoical system. I initially did a much shorter session than recommended, and at a much lower setting as well.
It turned out to be way too much for me however, and I became quite nauseous, exhuasted, and woke up the next morning with a bad hangover. Interestingly, it was a hangover similar to the clonazepam hangovers I had become accustomed to over many years (which was another reason I wanted to quit). This was actually encouraging to me, as it made me think that it may indeed have a similar effect of taking a potent benzodiazapine.
As I lowered my settings and duration times, I eventually found some optimal settings for myself (after about 2-3 weeks of trial and error). It was a long journey for me, but I feel really grateful to have come up with an effective alternative to clonazepam (with no side effects). I feel I've totally worked through all the withdrawal aspects, and am confident that I'm not becoming dependent on the Alpha-Stim as I was on the clonazepam (I've gone for several days at a time without it).
Anyway, that's my story. This is what worked for me. Of course, there's no guarantee it will work for others. These days, I'm always considering what else I can do to keep my system calmed down. "Earthing" seems to help a lot, as does eating a very simple diet of mostly fermented foods. Homeopathic "Calms Forte" helps consistently. Various energetic "tapping" such as EFT and he "Cortices Technique" also help at times. But it's the Alpha-Stim that has proved to be the most important and reliable for me.
Good luck with your challenges with your Sjogren's type symptoms. If it aint one thing, it seems to be another. Builds character, right?
Love, Wayne
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This Message was Edited on 03/20/2011]