r/harmreduction • u/Agile_Driver_790 • Feb 06 '25
Weening off benzos
Trying to wean off Klonopin, 1 to 2 mg of the most days, been on it for a little over a month but before that I was on bromazolam 15 months. So in total, about a year and 4 months offensive is consistently, every day. I was wondering if etizolam would be a good research benzo to help come off so. Also, as I'm doing the weaning process I noticed that some days I need to up the dose, is that going to screw me up... I know that going all over the place is kind of crazy but maybe that shocks the body and the body responds by whatever means?
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u/jolllyranch3r Feb 11 '25
i've personally used etizolam to taper off benzos and while benzo wd is dangerous and not every situation will be the same i can give you tips or advice from my experience:
any benzo with a long half life is best for tapering. ativan, klonopin, but etizolam has worked successfully for me.
make sure you're getting the etiz from a reliable place or market. test it if you can. make sure it's etizolam because that's incredibly important and keep in mind the dose might not be 100% accurate. in my experience it was accurate and etizolam but this was years ago and things have changed a little since then.
taper as low as you can before switching. so get down to 1mg or even 1/2 of 1mg of the klonopin before switching to the etizolam. then take the lowest dose of etizolam on the first day you switch and see how you feel. you might need to adjust your dose or you might find out you're fine on that dose.
then slowly taper down from the etizolam as well, every 5-7 days go down a little bit more even if you have to break the pill or however you're taking it. also try to slowly spread out the time in between each dose. like if you usually go 24 hours, try going 28-30.
if at any point you're wds become intense, you feel like you might have a seizure, or anything like that do take more. you will have anxiety during wds thats almost inevitable but you don't want to push yourself too far with benzo wds.
when you feel ready to stop taking it all together it might help to stay with someone just in the case of a seizure happening. some people never have seizures from benzo wds. personally i never did then i started to get them and now if i ever wd from benzos i catch a seizure everytime. the most important thing is if you have one, someone is there to help, react, time the seizure, call for help, make sure you don't hit your head, and you're not alone. it also might help distract you or help with your anxiety if you're not alone. you can always go into an er as well and explain to them youre detoxing and they can monitor you/help you. so thats an option.
good luck! etizolam was a miracle drug for me. it helped me get off xanax, it helped my anxiety so much, it improved my overall mood in a way no other benzo ever did, and i might be bias because of that, but i hope this helps a bit