Hello Help with Lorazepam withdrawal

[[Mu...]]

Hello to everyone, I am so glad to have found this site.

I have been taking Lorazepam 1-2mg over the last approximately 4 years.  I have been on 1mg for 1 year.  I now have a new GP who wants me to come off it and I also think it is time to give it a go but I am terrified after having a very bad experience with antidepressant withdrawal.  I am pleased she has some knowledge because she has mentioned that she thinks I will need to swithch Diazepam first but isn't sure.  This is what has brought me here!  I would like to go into my appointment with her in July with some kind of plan and as much informaton as possible. 

 

Can anyone please advise me or point me in the right direction of a plan.  What dose of Diazepam is equivalent to Lorazepam 1mg?  How much do you go down and in what time frame?

 

 

Thank you

 

[[ma...]]

Hi Mush69 Welcome to Benzobuddies!

 

We are very glad you found us, welcome to our community.  You are going to be okay, you can do this!. We can help you with support, encouragement and taper/withdrawal information.  Crossing over to diazepam sounds like a good plan, 1 mg Lorazepam is roughly 10 mgs Diazepam.    You could copy some pertinent pages from the, The Ashton Manual to take with you.  The ashton  is a great resource for understanding the effect benzo’s have on our body.  It provides tapering and withdrawal information

In general it’s advised to cut your daily dose by somewhere between 5% and 10% every 10 - 14 days.  The schedule can be altered, depending how you feel, whatever feels comfortable, the aim is to try to keep symptoms manageable.

 

You will find some very valuable support and information on the forum.  Our members are happy to share their personal experiences with you and support you.. Please feel free to browse the boards and post questions to any of the dedicated threads.

 

I'll leave you a few links:

 

General Taper Plans     

Withdrawal Support

Substitution Taper Plans 

 

You might want to post here, our members are very caring and supportive.

 

Ativan Tapering Support Thread 

 

Please take time to add a signature (history of meds/doses etc) it will help members give you relevant advice.  Go to the top of the page and select PROFILE then choose forum profile then insert drug history into the text box and remember to click change profile

 

 

Welcome aboard

Magrita

 

[[Fo...]]

Hi read the Ashton manual. It’s a must. (Google it)

1 mg Ativan about equivalent to 10 mg of diazepam.

Please fill in your signature in profiles so we know how to advise you. 

A switch to diazepam is not unreasonable but it takes about 4 days to stabilise so Ashton recommends changing over slowly.

Magrita has give you  a link.

Some might decide on liquid tapering your Ativan and there is a liquid taper advice area on here

You will be reducing at ten per cent every two weeks probably, but we are all different.

Best wishes

Dick

Posts crossed !,

[[...]]

Hi! I'm a living example of person who got out of lorazepam. From 3mg to zero, 3 months ago, It took 3 years exactly. I'm a survivor. 

I started changing 3 mg ok lorazepam to 2.5 lorazepam plus 3mg diazepam. It worked.. So continued with a gradual switch and at same time gradual reduction (Ashton manual dules).

But then I made a fatal error: I was in hurry to complete w/d. With diazepam I could sleep much better (only in the First leriod) so I thought: aaaa I feel much better I can go faster and faster! And this was my ruin. For this It took 3 years.

Please don't do my error! If you feel better with valium, go slower, and slower. The better you feel, the slower you go.

In the last period, liquid valium saved me.

Another thing, diet is crucial. Cut sugar and meditate about your diet.

[[Mu...]]

Thank you all for your very helpful replies.  I have added my signature.  I will get reading what you have advised.

Jaco what type of diet did you follow?  And why do you think it helps?  Good to know there is liquid valium available.

 

Thank you once again

 

 

[[...]]

Hi Mush 69, I'm not sure but maybe liquid valium is only available here in Italy.

It can be helpful but probably is soon to think about it, probably there are other options available.

 

I have been EXTREMELY helped by ketogenic diet. If you don't know it, there are lot of info on the web about it.

This kind of diet gave a lot of strenght and health and mental clarity when I was totally burnt.

If you are interested I only suggest you to speak with an expert nutritionist and be followed: doing it alone I had a lot of digestive issues, and other collateral effects (but this was a cheap ticket to pay, in my case).

 

Another crucial thing for me has been removing gluten. Ketogenic diet is already a diet without gluten, so now I am speaking about eating "normally" but without gluten (for eating normally I mean: healthy real food, lot of greens, fresh fruit, moderate carbs, moderate proteines, moderate fats; getting so enough vitamins and minerals from real food; absolutely no junk food, sweet, sugar, preservatives and things like that).

In this forum once a buddy, expert on scientific things, wrote that benzo imbalance make us inable to handle gluten, because of so much glutammate we have in our unbalanced system (gluten converts to glutammate). So I tried to remove gluten, and this worked for me. Less sympthoms!

 

Cheers 

[[Mu...]]

Thanks Jaco that makes sense

 

 

[[ma...]]

Hello Mush,

 

I tapered off 1mg Lorazepam, after taking it for two decades. I chose not to switch to valium because no benzo is a walk in the park, many people have problems with diazepam too, switching can be an issue in itself, and no doctor can foresee how you'll react. Besides, switching makes us loose precious time.

 

It took me one year. I was functional the whole time with a few exceptions, most notably two weeks I got bed ridden, around the 50% of the initial dose, which I call my acute phase. After that I got better and better as I tapered. I was totally OK and felt nothing when I jumped. You can read my story in my previous posts. I'm now eight months benzo free.

 

My advice:

 

(1) reduce your dose slowly - 5% to 10% of current dose every 10 to 14 days is a good start;

 

(2) listen to how you feel, i.e., don't follow a rigid schedule - reduce your taper rate or stop cutting completly when you don't feel well, and wait until you get better; wait for whatever long it takes, there's no rule, we are all different; don't panic, don't reinstate, just wait;

 

(3) accept that even so you'll have some withdrawal symptoms as your brain relearns to function without the benzo - don't think too much about them, they'll go away;

 

(4) don't take other drugs;

 

(5) take control of your taper - this is your health and life, not your doctor's.

 

(6) E...X...E...R...C...I...S...E

 

And feel free to ask when you have doubts!

[[Mu...]]

Thanks Magnesi.  Your post is very encouraging.  How did you manage to taper the Lorazepam, by cutting bits off?  Noticed you are also tapering off Effexor!  That will be my next challenge but not going to think about that at the moment.

 

 

Thank you

 

[[ma...]]

Thanks Magnesi.  Your post is very encouraging.  How did you manage to taper the Lorazepam, by cutting bits off?  Noticed you are also tapering off Effexor!  That will be my next challenge but not going to think about that at the moment.

 

 

Thank you

 

Hello Mush,

 

I did a daily micro taper. First I used a liquid compound suspension but then I realized that it would be much simpler to grind the pills and weight the powder. So, I bought a Gemini gram scale and never looked back. There is a lot of talk about liquid here at BB but the grind-and-weight method is much better. I used to store the powder in a plastic container and each day I would take the amount I needed. Try it, the scale costs only around 20 dolars online.

 

Effexor seems to be easier to taper off than Ativan. But I'm still in the first half of the taper, and I'm not sure it'll be like this until the end.

 

Best luck

 

 

[[Mu...]]

Thanks again to everyone.

 

I don't see my GP till 1st July so am going to cut down a tiny little bit on the Lorazepam till then.  I am nervous but all so hoping i might start to feel better in time.  My main concern is sleep.  I am a chronic insomniac that's how i ended up like this in the first place but I am not sleeping that well on tablets either!  I am just grateful that I didn't up them anymore.

 

 

 

[[...]]

Hi, if you decided to switch gradually to valium,

this should improve your sleep a lot for some time, as valium has more hypnotic effects.

This happened to me.

Good luck