Need to get off benzos fast due to Gerd

[[si...]]

Long story not able to make it shorter. Here it is. Also excuse my English they might be weird as its not my native.

 

Hi everyone, I realized after frequent incidents of bad GERD discomfort and after some reasearch online and because I know I didn't have Gerd before starting benzos (Ativan), I definetaly must go off this drug as soon as possible.

 

But im not sure how and psychietrists where i live cost 10 euro/visit in the public hospital but are really public officials who dont give any patients any personal attention just prescribe the (free) drugs and so on....

 

I have no support that is, plus im broke (poor).I live in an Eu country but have no insurance.

 

Anyways, I started with gerd after taking benzos for 2 years now. I started with 1 ativan per day. Then some psychietrist in the public hospital suddenly raised it to 5 mg Tranxene twice per day, then I had tinitus and halucinations when I merely tried soon after to go cold turkey from Tranxene, slept 2 hours per day only, somehow I went off the drug in the end (after 1 year of not sleeping well).

 

This was in 2012 or so. Stayed clean untl 2014 when I started taking benzos again,this time ativans up to 2 mg per day to aid stress and sleep and phobias. Then I raised myself the intake (without doctors'approval) to 5 mg ativan per day and now im at 6-8 mg ativan per day to stay functional and sedated and sleep well.

 

But a Gerd crisis 2 days ago that was really nasty, plus constant night time gerd (i wake up with dry mouth and metallic taste and my stomach feels SERIOUSLY NASTY each morning, I decided to start again my road to off benzos life.

 

I read its really dangerous going cold turkey and I know that cause I tried it and for 3 days could not sleep at all then I went to the emergency hospital room for 10 mg ativan to be able to get something like 15 hours sleep.

 

Someone who also takes them told me to start this routine: 6 mg today/ 5 tomorrow/ 6/5/6/5 (propably go on like this for 15 days? or more? not sure how long...), then once comfortable with 5 mg/day, go to 5/4 routire, then 4/3 and so on until I take 1 mg/day.

 

It seems mission impossible to imagine myself sleeping without this drug, so I hope to read in here stories of success with tappering off, how much time it took for you to go off the drug completely, and what other methods /lifestyle changes worked for you.

 

Except the tappering off tecnique I will try to do some exercise daily (as I have no job i need to move this way at least),  definetally eat a low acidic diet (I have no choice anymore actually), and eat very small portions, and take all the gerd/gastro related tests, but really I believe its the benzo that created the problem since I didnt have gastritis or gerd ever before starting benzos. Note that aside benzos I smoked a lot and ate almost daily a high fat and processed diet (i usually order food asI dont cook). All that changed from yesterday, to give myself some hope I can go off gerd and benzos too.

 

Hope my experience will also help others as I hope to be successful in my effort...

[Guest [ba...]]

While I know that you want to get off Ativan quickly (for your GERD), let me caution you not to do this too rapidly.  You want to succeed, not end up back in the ER with a rescue dose.  Slow and steady is the best way to get off of these drugs.  If you want to stay on Ativan, you may wish to consider dividing up your dose each day to try to even out the amount of med in your bloodstream (if you're not already doing that). 

 

There are people who have tried the 6-5-6-5-6-5-5-5-5-5-4-5-4-5-4... approach, but I haven't seen it work as well for them as the cut and hold (or micro-taper) methods.  The 6-5-6-5... approach might work reasonably well with a long-acting benzo like valium, but I think the day-to-day variation for a short half-life benzo like Ativan would not work well.

 

Insomnia may be an issue for you since you took benzos to help you sleep better.  I had to come to terms with my sleep issues before I could move forward.  That meant 'accepting' nights of little or no sleep.  Yeah, I felt lousy the next day, but I tried not to make it worse by anguishing over the lack of sleep.

 

Do your homework.  Prepare yourself.  Stock up on antacids (I took a lot of calcium carbonate antacid pills).  Above all, don't push yourself so hard that you have to take rescue doses or reinstate. 

 

Good luck!

[[si...]]

FIRST DAY/NIGHT WENT FROM 6/8 MG/DAY TO 4MG/DAY

Yesterday I consider the first day I tried to reduce or control dose. ALthough I was taking only 4 per day for months, last 2 months stress and worries got me to up to 10 mg/day (Lorazepam, aka Ativan or Lorans or Lorivan). Normally 6-8 mg/day would keep ok and sleeping well (7-8 hours).

 

 

Yesterday then, it was 4 mg ativan distributed throughout the day except that 2 of them was just to fall asleep.

 

1 mg about 2 hours upon waking up

split a pill of 1 mg into 0.5 3 hours later

had to take the other half only 1 hour later(!) to stabilize tremor and confusion

took 2 mg once i started feeling sleeping (but if i dont take benzo i just never fall asleep)

 

WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS?

 

So I woke up with a migraine and slept only 5,5-6 hours instead of 8 hours, plus some slight tremor in my hands/body upon waking up, and due to the HORRIBLE added problem of Gerd crisis since 2 days now I feel weak in general, yet I will assume I am having withdrawal symptoms already:(

 

This is the part I want to fight with cardio exercise and hot baths. I find that very hot shower or very cold sea swimming (yes, as you read it), helps a lot with tremors. I have once before in my life gone off benzos and at the time I lived in north europe and it was easy for me to do ''cold baths'' in some local lake or just generally expose myself (with light clothes) to outside street temperatures of zero or 5 below zero. For some reason this did not make me shiver as withdrawal made me sweaty and feeling as if I have a fever, so I enjoyed being out in the cold weather or even when possible immersing for 1-2 minutes in a cold frozen lake. (not sure if someone else has ever used this as withdrawal help method, the ice bathing Imean). The reason cold helped me is because of the feverish reaction during withdrawal, the migraines that are also healed with ice and cold weather and the numbing of the whole body (so numbing of the nerves too-> less tremors).

 

So, I go read now about micro-tapping, thanks for your reply. That is something I still dont know how to do, what type of tapping is best for lorazepam. I tried to go into diazepam and missed one night's sleep as the dose was too low (I took 6-8 mg/day lorazepam and then switched to 20 mg Diazepam but didnt work and didnt sleep..).

 

 

 

[Guest [ba...]]

If you've recently taken 6-8mg then dropped to 4mg, you'll probably experience some level of withdrawal.  Hopefully, it's manageable.  Might be a good idea to stay at 4mg for at least a week to make sure that you can handle that level.  If the symptoms get too intense, don't torture yourself.  Updose to 4.5 or 5mg if necessary, and try to get stable.  It's OK to feel a little bit 'off', but you want to start from a manageable place.

 

It's not surprising that valium didn't do well for your sleep.  It's not as strong a hypnotic as lorazepam or klonopin. 

 

I found heat to be useful with my tremor.  Long baths or showers or soaks in a hot tub felt very nice.  I don't think that I would have jumped into a cold lake/sea, but if it works for you... 

 

I found long intermediate exercise to be preferable over shorter intense exercise.  The latter would rev me up a bit and made it hard to sleep (I exercised in the evening; maybe it would have been OK if I exercised earlier in the day).

 

Micro-tapering is a good approach, and that group is very active and supportive.

[[si...]]

@[Ba...]

 

Tomorrow I will see a private doctor for 55 euro which is ok if I spend it once per month. I will talk with her about withdrawal for as long as it takes (I guess a 55 euro visit is like 45 minutes consultation? Cause in public hospital its not even 10 minutes because 20 more ppl wait outside for their turn.Also out of 7 or 8 public hospital doctors (psychiatrists) only 1 warned me against ativan and wanted to get me on withdrawal, the rest of them were very happy to even raise my dose, something I cannot forgive seeing the results on me now...).

 

Today I woke up after only 5.5 hours sleep and normally its 7-8 hours, so for that alone I feel confused and mentally off.

 

Unlike others I cannot handle lack of sleep. I know people who sleep 5 hours anyways and function perfectly well. I was born to sleep 7 hours minimum and 8 hours max (cause sometimes with benzos I slept 9 hours or 10 hours and woke up with migraine, which means I should not sleep more than 7-8 hours).

 

I guess every person is different and maybe having different withdrawal symptoms. From the ones I read here[https://www.futuresofpalmbeach.com/addiction-treatment/ativan-abuse/withdrawals//url], I have today, just one day after making my dose 1/2 (which is a bit cold type of tapping off):

 

Headaches - YES, Migraine not headache. Migraine accompanied by a sense of elevated temperature in my head and warm forehead. I put icepacks on my head each morning regularly and then renew during the day. This is a problem when I must go out of the house, hence I get panic attacks usually when im outside. I dont want to take any medications for migraine as I have abused all kinds of migraine-medi you can imagine and it has contributed to my Gerd. So i must find alternative therapies for this pain Ice cubes in a towel seem to help take the pain away but must prepare it every 2 hours.

Restlessness - Yes, its part of the panic attack

Insomnia - No, because I still take 1/2 of the dose I am used to, so I sleep 1/2 of the hours im used to, (4.5-5.5 hours instead of 7.5-8.5)

Nausea - YES, always a little or more nausea, depends how many hours I managed to sleep.

Vomiting - Yes - sometimes, but because it makes my Gerd worse, I try to take antimetil (ginseng in tablets) and real fresh ginseng and inhaling fresh mandarin  smell or fabricated (somehow this helps me), but ginger is the best anti-vomitting from nature. Provided I havent eaten anything bad. When I have eaten fast food and im on withdrawal I usually throw up, damaging and inflamming my esophagus, which in turn will cause other problems.

Loss of appetite - Yes, because I feel my stomach and my mouth bitter and having a weird sensation, last thing I want is to eat food. But I try to eat non-acidic fruit and mushy non-acidic foods (to control my gerd too). But its not going down easily. I eat very little and usually on withdrawal I lose weight very fast but im starting from an óbese point so its healthy to lose anyways. Maybe though its not healthy to lose it so fast.

Diarrhea - No

Anxiety - Depends (same with depression)> Panic Attacks make me very miserable and I dont know how to overcome them as I dont want to take more benzo and hot showers dont help always with panic attacks. The only way I get ''helped'' with a panic attack is to start walking fast or jogging as if im running away from something.

Depression - Depends, if I have also panic attack I get very depressed. If im without panic attack and I know I have tools (showering, swimming, jacuzzi, eating healthy, controling my Gerd with medicin) to stay kind of ok, I feel optimistic. All I want from my life right now is to get off the benzos and the Gerd, nothing else.

Tension - YES, this is one of the hardest symptoms to deal with. I try to relax with hot showers (maybe 2 times/per day or more)and if i have access to gym jacuzzi or warm sea water I also try that although driving there while having slight vertigo/confussion is not pleasant or safe. My mind seems to clear up for short periods when I inhale some aromatherapy oils, today I bought a blend of calming essential oils in one roller sold by barrets.

Sweating -Only during panic attacks

Abdominal cramps - no, but I get due to tension consipation so I take 1 tablet probiotic pill per day with food and it seems to work.

Hyperthermia - YES, i dont know if its for real but i wake up feeling my head warmed up (only my head)

Involuntary movements - YES (jittery feets/hands/fists and neck sudden moves)

Hypersensitivity to noise and light - YES So im wearing sunglasses (dark shade) and trying to avoid noise but its not easy where I live (constant cars go through), and somehow due to agitation raised, I cannot enjoy the music I usually put on to avoid the car noise from my window.

Vertigo - YES, and I hate this cause the only remedy is to close my eyes all day even when im not going to sleep. Or wear dark glasses if I must keep my eyes open. Dark glasses help but I can get accidents when I fall onto things because even in a night time room with 1 bulb, if its not warm yellow light  (I cant stand fluorescents), or if its too bright, I still wear glasses. And I dont even start talking about having to go outside to a class and ppl asking why I wear sunglasses in the evening class:/

Panic attacks - YES, when I am in a bad environment, like dusty, driving in traffic inhaling benzine from street, anything that can cause me discomfort I quickly get panicky

Irregular heart rate - I feel agitated for sure, and having no way to measure my heartbeat I can't tell but I feel im not exactly calmed down.

Short-term memory loss -no

Sensory changes - bitter taste in my mouth no matter what i eat (but its also due to Gerd, and some sufferers online mention they start getting Gerd ONCE they start withdrawing, I got Gerd when I started benzos and its just getting worse and worse, so it will accompany my withdrawal too).

Confusion - YES

Irritability- YES

Agitation - YES

Lack of ability to feel pleasure - YES

Numbness of extremities - none

Hallucinations and/or delirium - none

Depersonalization - none

Suicidal thoughts and/or behaviors - no!

 

I made a calendar on paper of the dose-tapping off. I started a bit cold by tapping 1/2 of my regular (my regular being 6-8 mg/day). Since yesterday I take 4-5/day. Today I will go for 5 and tomorrow for 4 mg. I try to distribute them throughout the day but I must always keep the 2 mg for sleeping. So I  have only 2 more pills (of 1 mg each) to go by the rest of the day, thats the hardest part, cause unfortunately my body is used to 2 mg/every time I dosed.   I feel very guilty of course for tapering up my dose and never informing any doctor but then as I said public doctors here dont even listen when I speak and they dont see me for more than 5 minutes, its rare when they devote 10 minutes to me).

 

The most scary withdrawal symptoms for me is the tremor in the head/neck,hands (which makes me unable to drive or even walk normally), thats is really scaring me. THen the next scary thing is panic attacks but i get them only outside the house usually. The next scaring thing is the GERD but it seems to be controlled by my medicine(for the gerd)and by eating light and low-acidic mushy foods. And the next scaring thing of course is not sleeping well but im grateful I can sleep at least 5 hours because once in the past when I tried to stop benzos again I did it completely cold and slept non for 2-3 days then slept 2 hours per night for 1 month and that was hell on earth, im surprised I overcame it but it took 6 months when I reached 5-6 hours/sleep at night and then another 4 months to reach 7 hours sleep at night. I was helped by living in a cold weather location maybe and not having to drive to go out shopping (where I live now i must drive) and having all trains/metro/buses all kinds of transport options to me available so even when I was super dizzy from not sleeping I was still able to go the gym or library (I was not working of course).

[[si...]]

Just an update, today I experienced two new to me scary withdrawal symptoms.

 

1. Blurry vision (as the 5 hours expire between each 1 mg of ativan, that is I take them with 5 hours intervals). As I was reaching that is 5 hours since last 1 mg of benzo I started seeing everything burry.Now im ok again cause I soon took another 1 mg:/

 

2. The most scary withdrawal symptom apart from frequent throwing up the food one eats (but I supress that by eating healthy food due to my gerd anyways), is the weakness from the base of the spine towards both knees, that is, I walk by dragging my feet not like normal walking. The reason being,my feet feel so heavy.

 

Does anyone have this symptom too? I never had it before. I have quit benzos before in my life once, I didnt have this at all (neither the blurred vision). I had constant throw ups (back then I allowed myself to freely throw up after each meal, it was automatic I was not causing the throwing up), and lack of sleep. These two things mainly I remember were my problems during withdrawal. But now I have extra concerns. Maybe I should go check my eyesight of course. Im in a (potentially expensive) route of rulling out causes of my weird symptoms since I started half dose 3-4 days ago. Im a neurotic wreck right now but I have hope.

 

 

[Guest [ba...]]

Yes on both accounts.  Usually the blurry eye thing for me was just one eye (my left eye).  I'd blink it a few times and it would clear up.  Sometimes it would persist for a minute or two which would cause me some pause.  But then it would clear up all by itself.

 

A feeling of weakness is common.  Mine lasted a few months.  It was just a feeling of weakness.  If I really needed to exert, I could.  I just didn't want to (it seemed so hard).  Like everybody else, I wondered if I was getting some terrible degenerative disease.  Nope - just withdrawal.

[[No...]]

Just an update, today I experienced two new to me scary withdrawal symptoms.

 

1. Blurry vision (as the 5 hours expire between each 1 mg of ativan, that is I take them with 5 hours intervals). As I was reaching that is 5 hours since last 1 mg of benzo I started seeing everything burry.Now im ok again cause I soon took another 1 mg:/

 

2. The most scary withdrawal symptom apart from frequent throwing up the food one eats (but I supress that by eating healthy food due to my gerd anyways), is the weakness from the base of the spine towards both knees, that is, I walk by dragging my feet not like normal walking. The reason being,my feet feel so heavy.

 

Does anyone have this symptom too? I never had it before. I have quit benzos before in my life once, I didnt have this at all (neither the blurred vision). I had constant throw ups (back then I allowed myself to freely throw up after each meal, it was automatic I was not causing the throwing up), and lack of sleep. These two things mainly I remember were my problems during withdrawal. But now I have extra concerns. Maybe I should go check my eyesight of course. Im in a (potentially expensive) route of rulling out causes of my weird symptoms since I started half dose 3-4 days ago. Im a neurotic wreck right now but I have hope.

 

You were diagnosed with GERD? Did they give you anything for that? I developed GERD about a year ago (my dad has it) and the doctors said it often happens with age. A low acidic diet helps but if you're still throwing up, you need something for that. I was told that anxiety can make it worse because your esophagus closes up from being so anxious. They also told me surgery can sometimes help. I don't want that!

 

I watch my diet carefully to avoid the acid and vomiting. I also looked at tips from people who compete in eating contests about getting food down and keeping it down!  You could look into that as well - how to relax your esophagus. There are medications over the counter that can help with acid reflux AND with sleep.

 

Do you have access to Benadryl or Dramamine where you are? Both often help people with sleep. What about aromatherapy or music to help you sleep? It's recommended that people not exercise, watch TV, be on a computer/cellphone, play video games, etc... at least 1 hour before bed. A quiet activity like reading can help the body calm down and get ready for rest.

 

P.S. I got GERD when I wasn't withdrawing. It may not be related.

[[si...]]

Hi, Gerd is related cause I started having this symptom only after starting benzos and then trying to cut down the dose some years ago. I spent a year sleeping only 2 hours/night (going mad that is) and throwing up every 5 days or so. Eventually it stopped, i started sleeping 7 hours (it was gradual, one month 3 hours/night, next month 4 hours/night, and so on).

 

during that first experience of withdrawing I did not have the symptoms I have now so im confused. I did have Gerd but did not go to the doctor (now I went and got drugs like pantoprazole x 3 times per day! and he also said I can sip on Maalox).

 

The Gerd is one symptom I had back then but didnt mind back then, I thought throwing up too is ok, but now I have a damanged oisofagus from throwing up so often back then, so now I want to supress my throwing up and Gerd. My gastro-doctor said the pantoprazole will help,but I just read online that it only reduces the acid in the stomach, it doesnt stop the reflux:/  Its a drug to protect the oisofagus from further damage as acid can scare the oisofagus. By all means I want the reflux to stop too but not sure what can I do about that. Iwill see my gastro in a few days again. He is clueless about linking benzos to my Gerd but I know from experience the two must be related.

 

I am now for 10 days ona bland diet with boiled soft chicken m eat and potatoes, but for 10 days now also on a much lower dose than normal on benzos. The day 1 I threw up and was hospitalized. Day 2 had so nasty reflux I could not breathe, so I was hospitalized again. Day 3 I started pantoprazole and eating much fewer amounts of food and much different foods....

 

Today I noticed I have a bloated abdomen for days now, it started a bit before I was going 1/2 cold turkey on benzo, when I raised my dose from 4 mg/day to 8mg/day during a stressful period in my life. At that time I got bloated even though I was eating same food/amounts as before. Now I feel even more bloated and online search shows me its another benzo-withdrawal symptoms (maybe). I will continue health checks up just to rule out other causes. If I end up without an official cause for my bloating and my gerd I will know 100% its the benzo or benzo-withdrawal.

 

Another thing, I started taking lemon balm in the form of a tablet (from the pharmacy), which has also a little bit of Melatonin in it. I read online these two can help calm down. I suffer inter-dose tremors. The lemon balm tablet didnt help with that, but since I take it I sleep much better, but of course you will say maybe its a placebo effect. When I cut my dose down I immediately had sleeping problems (alongside gerd etc). I slept only 4-6 hours/night. With Lemonbalm I sleep almost 9 hours.... But maybe its a rebound for lacking sleep the first withdrawal-days...

 

I keep a diary of when I eat, what i eat (pills+food) and drink, its tiresome but makes me feel I have control although the inter-dose withdrawal symptoms are scary: tremors, ideations, feeling as if my blood pressure is higher, feeling as if im going to have a heart attack, etc.  When I reach that point I take 1 mg benzo because I know its the point that I should not have reached even in withdrawal.

 

Thank you all for your replies!

[[si...]]

Whenever I try to mix in some part Diazepam (I tried to follow the Ashton manual for withdrawal that I found online) I get some weird symptom although it may be due to other factors. The first time I did it wrong,i substitute the entire 2 mg dose of lorazepam with 25 mg Diazepam (did not mix them as Ashton advises at first stages) and I just did not sleep, skew sleeping completely and felt hat diazepam just doesnt work at all for me although I took an ''equivalent'' dose (1 mg lorazepam is 10 mg diazepam according to Ashton).

 

The second time I tried to mix diazepam and lorazepam, I got inability to breathe deeply from my chest for 1 hour, although it may be due to stress or overeating without getting pantoprazole first for my Gerd. It was 0.5 lorazepam mixed with 10 mg diazepam. I also slept shorter hours (6), when the normal is 7 and at best 8.

 

So it seems I have to tap off lorazepam alone, crossing to diazepam is now scary.

[[si...]]

I just realized how much i need to learn to cut my 2 mg tablets of lorazepam (I will soon ask my doctor for 1mg per pill version ), in 4 quarters, its difficult as they can also be easily cut into 2 (1 mg each half). Ashton says this is one of the challenges with lorazepam:/

 

I may need to buy some equipment, from the pharmacy? Any ideas do hit me...  So far I bite away the 1/2 after cutting in half a pill of 2mg ativan. In this way I take 0.5 mg for ''breakfast'' along with food.

[Guest [ba...]]

Whenever I try to mix in some part Diazepam (I tried to follow the Ashton manual for withdrawal that I found online) I get some weird symptom although it may be due to other factors. The first time I did it wrong,i substitute the entire 2 mg dose of lorazepam with 25 mg Diazepam (did not mix them as Ashton advises at first stages) and I just did not sleep, skew sleeping completely and felt hat diazepam just doesnt work at all for me although I took an ''equivalent'' dose (1 mg lorazepam is 10 mg diazepam according to Ashton).

 

The second time I tried to mix diazepam and lorazepam, I got inability to breathe deeply from my chest for 1 hour, although it may be due to stress or overeating without getting pantoprazole first for my Gerd. It was 0.5 lorazepam mixed with 10 mg diazepam. I also slept shorter hours (6), when the normal is 7 and at best 8.

 

So it seems I have to tap off lorazepam alone, crossing to diazepam is now scary.

 

The problem is that the lorazepam is very quickly lost when you reduce your dose, while the diazepam takes several days to build up its level in your blood.  So for a few days, the total amount of med (A + V) is significantly less than what you're used to.  In order to have a smoother transition, either you do this in 4 stages (which is what Ashton recommends, I think), or you use more V (just once - on the first day or your crossover) to more rapidly increase the level in your blood.  I cannot (in good conscious) tell you how much more you would have to take, but it is quite a bit more.  You may wish to discuss this with your doctor.  That should test his knowledge of 1st order kinetics.

[[si...]]

Yes I agree that diazepam needs bulild up it seems. I was to see a doctor but that day I gave a lot of money to gastro/other doctors and skew-ed the psychiatrist with whom i was hoping to discuss the cross to diazepam. I saw the gov doctor who only costs 10 euro (for 5 minutes consultation) and she went on and gave me heaps of free packets of 5m diazepam just cause I told her I read the ashton and want to cross with the aim to stop.... But as i said before this gov doctor doesnt really have time to discuss with me. I will try to eventually see the more pricey private psychietrist just cause I need to discuss the withdrawal in more depth. But im not sure she knows about this anything. She seems to know a bit cause when I cancelled my appointment with her she asked me if I have enough pills to get by (I guess she means, get by to the next appointment for prescription). This question though kind of means that she wants to prescribe these drugs to patients. I dont have many options regarding psychietrists where i live its a small town /island, I only have 2 in my area and cannot drive far away to find more.

[[si...]]

Reading the Ashton tonight. It says that Gaba is limited due to benzo use so without the usual dose all gaba-related organs go into crisis.

 

I have a question regarding Gaba, I read somewhere online that during withdrawal I should not take supplements that work on Gaba, such as magnesium, vitamin B and Lemon Baln or Melatonin....

What is the experience in this forum of this issue? Do supplements DURING WITHDRAWAL like Melatonin help? Or HTP-5? Or should I use them only after complete cut out of benzo use as aids to sleep?

 

Today I will experiment again with Diazepam as I understood its critical to make a cross to that benzo from my lorazepam.

 

Total: 2.5 mg / day , usually all of them Lorazepam but today I will try this:

 

1st dose *upon walking up and feeling intense tremors: 0.50 Ativan

2nd dose - after 2-3 hours since dose 1: 5 mg Diazepam

3rd dose - after 5 hours since dose 2: 5 mg Diazepam

4rd dose (just before sleep) - 0.50 Lorazepam (Ativan) + 5 Diazepam

 

 

[[si...]]

Ok 2,5 hours after taking 5 mg DIazepam to replace 0.5 Lorazepam, I feel the following:

 

- My tremors are helped/stopped (the intermitent withdrawal main symptom)

 

but I feel as if my brain is numbed, and slight more vertigo than normal (since I started cutting off benzos I have slight vertigo all the time but right now 2.5 hours after 5 diazepam i have more vertigo). I have to close my eyes and sit still in one place to make the vertigo stop....

 

I also feel like sloth and slowed-down.... I dont have experience with diazepam so all this scares me. If I had taken 0.5 benzo I would have complete calm down of my tremors and anxiety peaking 1 hour after the dose and going again into tremors/anxiety only 2 hours after the dose.

[Guest [ba...]]

You might not need 5 mg of V to replace 0.5 mg of L.  The 10 to 1 conversion is just a guideline.  Some sites give an 8 to 1 conversion rate.  You might be fine with 4.5 or even 4 mg of V.  There's no need to change anything right now.  Get steady.  If you're taking more than you need, the first few cuts will probably be pretty easy.

[[si...]]

doc gave me paxil but i read this online and freak out so im not going to take it,I already have an issue with benzo addiction, dont need another, my mood can be better when im off benzos, i know that for sure almost as i done it before... maybe i need a subscription to a gym actually (for endorphines!) I used to be more active person only last 3 years I became sedentary maybe thats one of the causes of the depression and the gerd and the ativan abuse.

 

I just tossed 15 euro for paxil that  i wont take.

 

She gave me also 1 mg tablets of lorazepam and told me to tap off like this:

1st month: 4 mg/day (my usual dose, and she freaked when i said some days I took 8 mg/day...)

2nd month: 3.5 mg/day

3rd month: 3 mg/day

4 month: 2.5 m/day

 

and so on.

[[si...]]

forgot the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-peter-breggin/fda-warns-that-paxil-make_b_21388.html

[[si...]]

Psychiatrist freaked when i said i had taken 8-10/day (mg lorazepam) but also freaked when I said i went to 4 mg/day then to 2 mg/day ... she said i should stabilize at 4 mg/day for 1 month so thats what im doing, which means im not going to do ''cold turkey'' (cause 2mg/day from 5-10 mg/day is almost cold turkey). I will now write my experience of withdrawal in other sector of benzobuddies since cold turkey is not an option for me anymore.

 

Back in 2012 I had taken strong medcs (Tranxne at 10 mg/day for example) but only for 2 months I think. It didnt take long for me to figure this is nasty stuff and did cold turkey on them and it was pure hell (insomnia for MONTHS) but I did it, and got back to normal sleeping and almost normal life after 2 full years. THat was just 2 months (abusing tranxene) though. Now i tried to do cold turkey on ativans im taking for nearly 2,5 YEARS so i guess im in deep trouble now, far more than back then, and cold turkey now wont work even with 1-2 hours /sleep at night Now if i dont take benzo i just dont sleep at all plus I get horrible tremors and nasty feel that i didnt have back then, back then it was a hell lot of tinnitus for 1 month , innability to sleep for 1 month then sleeping gradually more and more... Im not saying it was easy it was pure hell. Now that i took benzos for so long its a lot harder to cut them off and cold turkey doesnt work for me, its really also dangerous from what happened to me last 10 days.

[[ma...]]

I'm tapering Ativan without crossing to any other benzo. First week I alternated (see my signature) and it was totally OK. I'm now changing to a compound suspension prepared at the pharmacy to allow for a smother reduction at the lower doses.

[Guest [ba...]]

doc gave me paxil but i read this online and freak out so im not going to take it,I already have an issue with benzo addiction, dont need another, my mood can be better when im off benzos, i know that for sure almost as i done it before... maybe i need a subscription to a gym actually (for endorphines!) I used to be more active person only last 3 years I became sedentary maybe thats one of the causes of the depression and the gerd and the ativan abuse.

 

I just tossed 15 euro for paxil that  i wont take.

 

She gave me also 1 mg tablets of lorazepam and told me to tap off like this:

1st month: 4 mg/day (my usual dose, and she freaked when i said some days I took 8 mg/day...)

2nd month: 3.5 mg/day

3rd month: 3 mg/day

4 month: 2.5 m/day

 

and so on.

 

Exercise is a good thing. 

 

That's a better taper than most doctors give, but the steps are too big (IMHO).  And a cut from 4 -> 3.5 is usually a lot easier than a cut from 1.5 -> 1.0.

[[si...]]

I'm tapering Ativan without crossing to any other benzo. First week I alternated (see my signature) and it was totally OK. I'm now changing to a compound suspension prepared at the pharmacy to allow for a smother reduction at the lower doses.

 

Hello, you start from lower dose (1mg/day) but 10 years is not easy. And each person is different and reacts differently.

 

I heard of the taper plan of alternating doses but this specific psychietrist didn't seem to support it. She said i should 'stabilize'at 4 mg/day first. I called another private psychietrist who tried to convinced me that even 5 mg/day is OK and normal dose for anxious patients. When I mentioned tapering and going off benzos he said there are specialized clinics for that in UK but im not sure I can afford that. It looks likeI need to find a better psychietrist in my area as I dont want to be given drugs I dont like (antidepressents with bad reputations online....and in scientific articles too). I dont feel respected by the doctor. I know thats what she learnt in medical school to do (to toss out the ''right'' drug) but I wonder did she ever read how some drugs both in benzo and paxil/prozac category have been proven to raise suicidal rates?

 

I know I can improve my mood with music, having some high goal again in life (although thats difficult when I hit soon 40 and am jobless for years and lacking a seirous CV...), exercise that i used to enjoy, cooking better instead of fast-food abuses, and cognitive-therapy with audiobooks or with an analyst if I can afford it. Im trying to find an understanding psychologist in my area and invest some money into that... As I do have depression (which actually is because of the...benzo withdrawal symptoms that make me feel like 100 years old body-wise and mental-wise, make me that is feel useless zombie-like...), I know after these symptoms are not there anymre possibly my mood will improve so why take paxil and endager making myself an addict to paxil while withdrawing from addiction to benzo. As said before I really like the idea of drug-free life, there are some natural drugs out there like cardio exercise, going back to school if not work, volunteering (although that can cause depression...), just going out and enjoying nature (hiking/swimming in sea/lake). I used to feel better everything I was in nature but I also used to live nearer to nature... Living in a city does not work for me. So i will try to move out of here but as long as im given benzos to sleep I must stay here as abroad im not sure the doctors will conform and help me (different countries in EU have different attitude to benzo users, in UK they may ''section''(that means, render me officially a loonie who must be arrested and taken for drug therapy into a mental institution), me and force me to live in an asylum for a year ifI mention that I abused benzos)

[[si...]]

 

Exercise is a good thing. 

 

That's a better taper than most doctors give, but the steps are too big (IMHO).  And a cut from 4 -> 3.5 is usually a lot easier than a cut from 1.5 -> 1.0.

 

Hello, I try to go swimming but im a sloth since i reduced the daily dose to 3-4 mg/day, im not having vertigo now but I have again constant migraines. Going to exercise that is, with a migraine and a body feeling like numb, is difficult but I try to do just walk around, simply, sit in a bench, walk some more. It feels as if im too old and my body is 100 years old... My legs feel heavy and uncoordinated. All that is very scary (and depressing me). But in the end the trying to get moving does make me happier in the brain so I guess its good even if difficult to do right now. It surely makes me feel more connected to the world to be among ppl who swim and jog .... although I feel like a turtle.

[[si...]]

The horrifying Gerd/acid reflux issue is kind of improving now that I eat a hell lot less and more frequent (healthy food every 2 hours, just a fistful or less...). Calorie wise I am losing weight fast but that can only be good when I start on obese level. Gastro-doctor advised a weight loss but so fast its weird. I try to support myself with multivitamin and probiotics and melatonin and lemonbalm pills (and fish oil when I can down that). Although an allergic reaction to a substance in the new pills (diazepam) that tried to substitute my old pills (lorazepam) is the reason why I ended up having horrible reflux and GI pains, after some urine/blood tests we know now I have a GI infection (bacterial it seems) and doctors have been trying to help me on this.... Also inflammed tonsils which explains my innability to eat or drink well (Or breathe in the first days of the allergy crisis).

 

I have these GI issues to work on with doctors and hope one they are resolved I can continue to taper. Im already taking 2/3 of the usual dose. This causes interdose tremors and mini panic attacks during the day but I slowly learn to cope with focusing on pleasant documentaries in youtube, hot showers, but exercise is out of the question (my favorite natural drug) because of the GI pains get worse when I try to exercise.

 

I just have to admit im sick and will be sick until I dont know how long, but maybe my body is trying to tell me something...  Just learning to relax with self help audiobooks produces hope for me emotionally.