NEED HELP w taper plan

[[Em...]]

Can anyone please help me.

 

i have been on 1.5mg ativan for years only for sleep. i was experiencing terrible inter dosing withdrawal symptoms which i believed where lyme until i put it all together..

 

i then switched my dose to 1. at night and .5 mid morning, experienced horrendous symptoms.. burning brain burning face, couldnt leave my room, dark self harm thoughts, sound, noise, light sensitivity...

 

i need help with a taper plan, i cant seem to find a dr to help me. 

[Guest [ba...]]

I'm assuming that you used 1.5 at night for a time, then went to 1.0 at night and 0.5 the next morning.

 

If that's true, you ended up temporarily lowering the Ativan level in your body by a small amount.  It will even out again fairly quickly, but if you are already experiencing interdose withdrawal, then 1.5 mg a day simply isn't going to work for you any more.

 

I was taking 2 mg Ativan (at night for sleep) and had a similar experience (I became very PTSD-like).  I c/t'd, but do not recommend that path.

 

The big problem with Ativan is its short half-life.  If you even out the doses throughout the day, you'll lose out on some of the sleep-giving attributes of the drug.  You 'might' do better switching over to a longer-lived benzo.  A lot of people choose valium, but for people with sleep issues, klonopin might be a better option.  1.5 mg Ativan = 0.75 mg klonopin, and with klonopin, you could probably go back to a single dose per day (at night to help you sleep).

 

Whether you stay with Ativan or switch to something else, the taper itself is pretty simple.  You simply reduce your dose periodically by a small amount.  10% per month is probably a realistic amount to taper, but the actual taper rate is something that you must discover by trial and adjustment.  Some people cut every 2-3 weeks; some cut daily (by very small amounts).  Some people do a liquid taper; some weigh out pieces of pills.  If you go the weight-out path, you'll need a scale.  A lot of folks buy a Gemini-20 scale (available from Amazon) for around $20.  It works pretty well for the money.  If you go the liquid route, you will probably want to joint the daily micro taper group.  They have tons of experience on doing liquid daily micro-tapers.

 

You do want to push yourself a bit, but you do not want to end up stuck in your bed or room or house for 12 months.  So you will need to find a taper rate that works for your physiology.

 

I know this is a big general.  There are many ways to do this.  Gets lots of input before you decide.