Having to withdraw from Klonopin, direct taper-diazepam or ??

[Brac]

This is not a real case of substance abuse since I took the drug as prescribed, but I cannot find a better place so I am posting this question here.

I have been on the drug for about 10 years, for over 5 years at 2 mg a day, taken in the evening.
Prescribed as a muscle relaxant and for neuropathic pain but that is no longer an issue. Dependency is.

This drug always had some unusual properties and paradoxical or troublesome side effects, but I could tolerate them easily. No longer.
The past few years my health (physical, and as a consequence ´mental´ too) has declined seriously and it´d incredibly hard to either tolerate or taper the drug. I simply took it too long.

Typically, this drug is either tapered directly or one switches to diazepam. I did try diazepam, and for me it is a completely different drug. Short acting too. (´ half life´ vs ´duration of action´)
Diazepam was hard to tolerate, and I know it will take forever to get it out of the body if I would start a taper.

Doctors have been no help, on the contrary. In my experience they generally don´t have a clue. This drug is not commonly prescribed here.

What are my options, really ?
One the one hand there is the ´taper the drug directly´ school and on the other hand there is the ´Ashton cult´, to put it not so subtly.
I have read the Ashton manual, the promotional material. But the fact is that the ´duration of action´ of diazepam is shorter than clonazepam/Klonopin. The half life of both drugs is long.
The ´clonazepam vs. diazepam´ section of the Ashton manual is mostly nonsense. She did not taper people off clonazepam in her clinic. For me, all benzodiazepines are NOT the same.

Typically, people either taper the drug directly or they switch to diazepam. But what if both are problematic ?
I believe that my problems are partly due to some of clonazepam´s unusual properties (e.g. binding to receptors, serotonin). It´s also the case that I cannot split the dose in an afternoon dose and an evening dose.

I have no theoretical framework beyond the ´Ashton method´. Which is at least partly incorect.

Suggestions, advice ? At one point I considered a ´C-T´ with carbamazepine, but at this point that might just make things worse.

[vicki595]

Hi there- Why can't you split your dose? Usually, the answer for detoxing from any benzo is slow, slow, slow; cutting back by a small amount of the drug. It does take a very long time but we've seen success here.

Klonopin comes in a 0.5 mg strength. Maybe you could work with that because it would be easier to cut to a small dose. It might take a year to taper off but it's doable.     All the best!

[pillguy]

You are as informed about the benzodiazapines as anyone I've seen post here.  You've obviously done your research.  Hopefully someone with a similar situation will offer a suggestion for you.  I send my best wishes for your recovery.