My psychiatrist told me to take my Xanaz as needed, but only gave me 30 pills. Same with the Klonopin. Both are 1mg. Klonopin is, in the end, 2mg a day. Xanax is either 1mg a day or none. Lately, since I lost my job, I've been having more frequent panic attacks and ran out of Xanax 6 days before I can get a refill. I have a clonazepam left and some (not very) old Lorazepam floating around.
Should I be okay as long as I have at least one type of benzo in my system for 6 days? I honestly loathe Xanax and want to get off it, but I'm not sure about withdrawals. If there ARE no withdrawals by just taking Klonopin or Lorazepam, awesome. If there is something ELSE that helps with panic attacks besides Xanax (maybe something that last longer, but still gives the initial burst of 'calm' that Xanax does) that would be great. Maybe I need Xanax slow-release, since the regular tablets don't seem to really do much. Just an initial calm that lasts for maybe 10 minutes, which is just enough to get me through a job interview.
Honestly, my benzo tolerance is INSANELY high. I've been taking them for nearly 6 years (started out on Lorazepam, went to Klonopin, found my truly helpful benzo, went to psych, got Klonopin AND Xanax). My normal doctor was prescribing me 4mg of clonazepam a day rather than the 2mg my psych switched me to.
My MAIN question is, if I have benzos still in my system, but no Xanax, will I go through any type of withdrawal? I looked this up in Google, and the results all differed. I am NOT a heavy user of Xanax, this is my first month taking them.
My second important question...I'm used to 4mg a day of Klonopin. I have to go 3 months on 2mg a day. Will this cause any type of unpleasantness, since I do have lorazepam to suppliment it if needed.
Remember, I have VERY HIGH benzo tolerance and have been using them (LEGALLY!) for years. I don't know if that makes my situation worse or not.
Answers & Comments
If you switch from one type of benzo, you might experience withdrawals because the different benzos target different sub-receptors. It's hard to say because it is different for everyone, but generally it's a bad idea to abruptly switch from one to another. You won't know how you tolerate it until you do. Sometimes when you switch you have to play with the dosage until you find out what works for you. The benzo equivalent charts are approximations only.
As for dropping from 4mg to 2mg a day of klonopin, again it is different from everyone but you will most likely find that is too big of a drop. The only way to find out for sure is to do it and see what happens. The withdrawals can be severe, or you might hardly notice. It's just not an exact science. One person wold drop from 4mg klonopin to 2mg, and have a seizure and end up in the hospital. The next person would hardly feel a thing.
I would strongly recommend you NOT make that abrupt of a drop. Try going from 4mg to 3mg for a few days and see how you do. If you are OK, then drop down to 2mg. Cutting your dosage in half can be dangerous, you really should go slowly from one dosage to another, and make the transition gradual.
The key here is that if you start to feel anxiety and withdrawals, that means you are changing your dosage too fast. If you feel fine, then keep going!
You have been fooled into thinking that you need to take these meds, psychiatry is a fake science, they only want to sell meds.