I apologize in advance if drug talk (even though it's legally prescribed and I'm asking for help with managing withdrawal symptoms while coming off of it) rustles your jimmies. I'm genuinely concerned though and The Escapist has generally been good for support on a wide variety of issues in my experience. That said, if you really want me to take this discussion elsewhere, I will.
I've been taking 1mg of Klonopin per day for anxiety for the last year or so with minimal benefit considering the fact that it knocks me on my ass and is highly addictive. My Doctor and I decided to try and wean me off of it and so I've been taking .5 mg for the last week. I haven't discussed what comes next with my Doctor, but presumably he'll bump me down to .25 for a few months and gradually taper me off until I'm not taking anything.
The problem lies in the fact that I'm only one week in while still taking a relatively sufficient dose and I've been already begun feeling like I'm going crazy. The last couple of days I've been feeling constantly annoyed for no reason and once or twice I've just gotten full-blown angry with minimal provocation. After some research, I've found that those are fairly standard symptoms of Benzo withdrawal and that the list of symptoms is rather long and that withdrawal from this class of drugs can last for upwards of 2 years depending on the circumstances.
What I'm basically trying to say is that I'm kind of scared for the following months if I'm only one week in and already feeling like shit.
Is there anything I can do to try and minimize the shittiness of the overall experience? Preferably something that doesn't involve other substances or meds.
Also, to clarify, I knew beforehand that benzodiazepines are notorious for being addictive and very difficult to get off of and my doctor told me straight up that this was the case when he prescribed them, so it's not a case of me blindly walking into a bad situation or the evil pharmaceuticals industry ensnaring another unsuspecting victim. I've been in too many arguments with friends and family over psychotropic medication to be comfortable not addressing that.