Straight Ativan Taper - Hit Wall Hard - Help!

[[Be...]]

I dropped from 2.25mg Ativan to 2mg.  I am having all the symptoms (sad, crying, felling of hopelessness) that I had before I was stable at 3mg.  I have put back in a midday dose without going back up.  I am scared that this will never go away and that I am doomed to be on these awful drugs that have ruined my life!  Will this stop if I stay at this dose or will it be like all the years I felt so bad?  I am new to the forum and very scared.

[[Ca...]]

Sorry Better Place,

These are not meds that i know about... but have a read around, and im sure someone will get back to u.... if things are quite bad for you, i would just hold at what ur on, until u get better info than i can give...

Again sorry, stay strong...

[[ly...]]

 

 

It looks like you need to slow down.  You need to find a pace that works for you.  You can have a relatively "good" taper if you go slow and listen to your body using a "symptom based taper".  I'm fully functional and feel pretty good.  It took me awhile to figure out the right plan for me and I have adjusted things as I've gotten lower.  It does not have to be awful.  You can have a full life.

 

I would try to avoid crossing to Valium, if possible.

[[be...]]

Better I've been on Xanax, klonopin and Ativan for much longer than you (although not necessarily relevant) and at higher doses. I unfortunately did late in the game switch to Valium but it was a mistake. What you're feeling now will pass but I'd try to get stable (you will) and know that this will pass. Don't rush. Make sure you are comfortable before you make another cut. Try to make it small and stay on each cut until you feel well enough for another small cut. Go slow and steady and from personal experience switching to Valium was my downfall although others have success with it. Just slow with the Ativan and you'll definitely get your old self back again. Don't give up. Hang in there. B

[Guest [ch...]]

See if you can stabilize at 2mg. Learn to liquid taper, and from 2 go really slow, e.g. 2, 1.9, 1.8, 1.7, etc, holding 2 weeks at each dose. It takes a long time but you can get off these drugs. All the best,

CP

[[...]]

BetterP: I haven't used ativan.

But I do know how it is to tapper from zanax and valium.

I dropped way to fast, my pd told me it was OK. No it wasn't.

I'm still on 15 mg diazepam waiting to be stable.

Anxious, depressed, no motivation, heart race, BP up and down, nausea, cry all the time, can't talk to anyone but my husband and one friend who's been trough this he'll. Yesterday I was busy telling myself and my hubby that I'm crazy, felt like I had a meltdown.

 

I know that it will get better. Have had one "good" day since my cut from 30 to 15.

I just turned 49 feel like I'm 99.

Your not alone. It will get better.

I get inspired by Barb and all the brave ppl here.

 

You will heal.

 

[[be...]]

You may consider slowing down your taper. The recommended reduction rate is 5 to 10 percent every two weeks.  It looks like you have made new cuts without stabilizing between them. I personally would not make anymore until I felt a bit more stable. In my opinion it is easier to keep symptoms at bay by a slow taper, and making sure you are stable as possible before make a new one, then to try to reign them in once they get out of control.  You found out the hard way what rushing it can do.

[[Be...]]

Thanks to everyone who responded.

 

I felt great after each cut until the last one.  But maybe my body took longer to realize that it had less drug.  I am definitely not cutting with the way I feel now.  My spouse wants me to go back to the level where I last felt good (2.25mg/day), but I don't want to go backward.  What will stabilizing feel like?  Will the crying stop?  I don't mind the neck ache and stomach upset as much as the hopelessness.  I was at "tolerance" level on Klonopin for 2 years and didn't know it...I never got better from that.  I have a trip to the other coast this weekend and I am afraid that I won't be able to handle it.  Mostly, I want to know what stabilizing feels like.  Not my regular self though, right?

[[ly...]]

 

 

Cuts have a way of "catching up with you".  You can be going along fine and then...bam.  This is why it's a good idea to wait at least 2 wks between cuts.  You should start feeling better after holding a bit.  Technically, stable means staying the same and not getting worse/better.  I use it to mean that I feel stable - well, good/decent, functional in everyday life.  I think you probably have an idea and know when you are feeling ok and when you aren't.  I never cut when I don't feel well.  Everyone has their own definition of "well" and their own idea of when they feel well enough to cut.  I tend to err on the side of caution.  I have no reason to rush and just won't risk making myself ill for no purpose.

 

I think you will feel better in time but I wouldn't cut again until you've felt well consistently for a couple of weeks.  At that point I would do smaller cuts and give it enough time to make sure you are good before the next cut.  If things are really bad you could updose.

 

 

[[Ca...]]

The emotional and teary episodes may last a while, long after the hoplesness has gone, but we are all different... i find now, that its positive and even silly things that bring out that uncontrolable burst of emotion, -it can be someones triumph in a movie, on the news, -or in real life... i guess its a relating emotion... (or empathy) -asides from embarasing, i wouldnt call it bad, not like it is for u now....  the hoplesness comes and goes still, but is less and shorter, realy only when all my sxs r bad... and worse after i wake up in the day... -so am working on that slow n steady, that fits me...

Best wishes...

[[Ch...]]

Thanks to everyone who responded.

 

I felt great after each cut until the last one.  But maybe my body took longer to realize that it had less drug.  I am definitely not cutting with the way I feel now.  My spouse wants me to go back to the level where I last felt good (2.25mg/day), but I don't want to go backward.  What will stabilizing feel like?  Will the crying stop?  I don't mind the neck ache and stomach upset as much as the hopelessness.  I was at "tolerance" level on Klonopin for 2 years and didn't know it...I never got better from that.  I have a trip to the other coast this weekend and I am afraid that I won't be able to handle it.  Mostly, I want to know what stabilizing feels like.  Not my regular self though, right?

 

Most likely not.  'Tolerable' is what I would hope for. 

 

It sounds like your last cut was too much.  With a fast-acting benzo like Ativan, I would think you should stabilize by a week or so after the last cut.  I tapered Xanax and stabilized between 3-5 days.

[[Ho...]]

Hi Better Place!

 

I did a straight taper from ativan as well and there were points in the beginning of my taper where I never fully stabilized between cuts. At those points I just followed my time line of cutting every two weeks- but by very small amounts. I know others have said that making smaller, more frequent cuts is easier than making larger, less frequent cuts.

 

Keep pushing through, you can do this! For me the w/d was actually harder in the beginning and it got easier (not easy, but easier) as I went along. Best of luck to you!

[[PR...]]

I too am trying to get off Ativan, I know exactly how you feel with the hopelessness and depression. You have to keep yourself distracted. You are feeling extremely depressed I recommend getting a prescription for Prozac or another anti-depressant. As my friend Nick says when you are using benzos you put all your problems on the back burner and when you get off them this stew your mind has created hits, which is why some people relapse. Just realize it's just your mind. Good luck man message me if you want to talk, stay strong 💪 It gets better I promise.

[[Be...]]

Thanks, Everyone for the support.

 

I came out of the last bad spot and then did rather well.  I just did another cut (always less than 10%), and it is Day 6 and I feel awful.  I think the physical symptoms trigger the hopelessness.  I have bladder urgency ALL THE TIME now, and yesterday my spine started to hurt.  I guess I will just wait.  This sucks all of your life away.  My slow taper should last about 6-8 months, but I don't know how I can do it feeling like this all of the time.  Everyone says it will just get worse.