Your doctors advice is good. Getting off clonazepam is hard and the only way to do it is slowly. I too am trying to get off of clonazepam and have gotten down from 8 mg a day to 1 mg a day. However the past week has been a living nightmare. My sister got sick and died horribly and unexpectedly so my use of clonazepam went up again to around 4 mg a day. Just today I put myself back on the path to getting off it again.

So sorry to hear about your sister's death, I cant imagine going through that myself at this moment. Thanks for your comments, I find it challenging to get off this med., although, I had taken it before and had no issues going off of it. How long did it take you to get from 8 mg. to 1 mg?

It took me perhaps two years to get from 8 to 1 mg, but I have been taking it since I was a teen so it's only natural that it would take me longer to get off then you. Of course you will feel some anxiety at the thought of not having that safety net anymore but you will be ok so long as you learn some coping mechanisms. It scares me also to think of not having the clonazepam to fall back on but I would rather do it by myself now.


There was a time in my life when my anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia was so bad that clonazepam was a life saver. I still have bad days and days that I feel I am slipping back , but for the most part I am better off then I was.

I've read and plan to try one or a few of the following techniques when I'm ready to come off my lorazepam.

-with a razor blade cut your pills in half. Instead of taking 1mg 2x a day, take .5 4x per day, spreading each dose further apart each day until you reduce to 3x, then 2x, and so on.

-If the above is too drastic, and I've heard this to be the case with more addictive benzo's like xanax to shave a tiny bit off, or cut a small part off with a razor blade and effectively lower your dose.

-Similar to the above you can grind it up into a powder, and take a little from the pile each dose and mix the rest with water and drink it.

For more suggestions you could ask your doctor.

When I was clonazepam the first time and the pdoc wanted me off it he substited it with valium and reduced 2mgs over 2weeks then another week off the valium. It worked well until I got really physically sick a couple of weeks later which sent my anxiety into overdrive and back on the clonazepam.

Hi! I have been on Clonazepam 0.5 mg twice a day for about 7 years now. I\'ve tried to reduce my dose to one tablet a day (many times) but my anxiety creeps back up at full force. I don\'t know how to get off of this drug without extreme anxiety attacks! I was taking Prozac 40mg once a day (for 3 years) and I just stopped taking it cold turkey about 2 weeks ago. I feel a little more anxious, but not even close to when I try to CUT Down on the Klonopin! For me, I think Clonazepam (klonopin) is a mental dependence. I\'m not sure. Has anyone had any kind of success getting off of this drug?????? It seems so powerful even at a low dose of only 1 mg a day!

i have been taking low dose of klonopin .25 in the morning for about a year. I used to take .25 in evening also but have dropped that dose
however i do feel shaky later in the day occasionally. uncomfortable feeling not dizzy but just not right. I am not totally sure if its the drug or anxiety.

I am now on 0.5 mg. taken in the morning and it is going well. I will a couple of weeks before going down to 0.25 mg a day. I will ask my doc. about valium, but I understand it will take a long time before I am completely off.