Date: Thu Jul 20, 2000 10:37 am

Subject: tapering protocol

dear Group,

There were some question about the protocol I used and advised for tapering. The principle of the protocol is that long acting benzos (like Klonopin and Valium) have half-life ~ 50-70 hours. It means if you take 10mg of valium 2days later you still have 5mg in your body. But we take benzo every day, which means that that we accumulate more benzo than we think. Do the math you will not believe how much extra benzo you have in your body after just one week. Now if you taper by reducing the dose let's say by even a small amounts it can have more effect on the total dose of your benzo level than you count for. Do the math again and you will see.

It is actually know in Europe and they use a method for long acting drugs (like steroids) which can minimize the sudden drop in your drug level. Practically they alternate a high dose and a low dose with increasing days on lower dose. For me that was the only way to wean off from Klonopin. I advised couple members about it, and so far everybody had success. I recommend to do the math to truly understand the basic of it, you just have to add up the amount you take and the leftover benzo from your body.

Update on me. 13 months off, anxiety is very rare, I still have ear problem, I just got some ringing in my ear so I am very convinced now that it is due to benzo. Couple lymph nodes are up (on my neck) I just got them checked they are normal not malignant.

Love eva