Overwhelmed Right Now - New 1.5mg Ativan Taper Help Needed plus misc questions

[[Ap...]]

You are really doing well with describing and detailing your journey.  My story is so very similar.  I also need the same advice on how to get off Ativan.  I just bought a mg scale so I’m hoping it will work when I start doing my cuts. I will be following your post because, like I said, my situation is similar.  I’m only on Ativan through.  Thank you!

 

 

tbnatural

 

Sent you a PM tbnatural.

[[tb...]]

Hey - just checking on your taper and how it is going?  Ours are similar.  Hope you are doing well!

 

 

tbnatural 

[[Ap...]]

Hey - just checking on your taper and how it is going?  Ours are similar.  Hope you are doing well!

 

 

tbnatural

 

tbnatural - Thanks for checking in. I actually had a REALLY nice 2 day window the last two days. It was glorious. I've determined my sweet spot for taper is about 15-17% every 7-10 days. Recently I have started 'stepping in' to the cuts to ease into the cut. So for example today I am at .361mg A and I have a scheduled cut starting tomorrow that will bring me down to .300mg. Instead of going straight to .300 tomorrow I will do .340 tomorrow, .320 wednesday, and the get to .300 thursday. The biggest benefit so far has been psychological because cut days aren't nearly as scary because I'm not doing the full cut that day.

 

How are you holding up? Where are you at?

[[RS...]]

Glad to hear you are doing well April...keep pushing forward.  You can do it.

[[Ap...]]

PSA for any newbies on this site. When people are feeling good, they post MUCH less than when they are feeling bad. I am living proof of that. When I have bad days, I'm on the site posting. On good days/stretches I don't really post at all. Please remember this when looking through all of the threads.

 

So with that said, I've been doing pretty good lately. Had a patch of benzo belly for a week about a week ago. Tinnitus is still present, mostly morning and night but any time I lay down I can hear it. Its been a very long time since I had any wavy/boaty feelings which is awesome. I've learned that if I have too much stimulation in any given day I get this jittery feeling that I don't like. The good news however is that I've been able to handle more and more stimulation in the day as I go through the taper. Most days are OK, once a week I might have a really awesome day which is really great. I can't remember if I posted about it or not but I went through a month or so of these darker/existential thoughts but those have seemed to be gone now (thankfully). I still have a bit of what I would call the benzo brain fog and that has been getting real old. I think that one awesome day I have per week is actually when that fog lifts and I feel like me.

 

Well thats about it. Relatively uneventful for a few weeks. Very excited to be at .2mg as of yesterday. Plan to cut to .15 end of this week. Getting closer....

[[RS...]]

Thanks for the update April.  Actually, I post more when I am feeling good. 

[[Pa...]]

I'm happy to hear you've been feeling okay, thanks so much for letting us know how you're doing. 

[[Ap...]]

Its like clock work, I write something about doing great, then bam, hit a wall. Had a stressful work situation yesterday which happened to be the first day that I was trying to drop my mid day dose. Not a good couple. Rest of day and night were not great. Still not the best today. Sure felt good to have a couple weeks nearly symptom free. Frustrating because I'm so close, I was feeling like the rest of the way was going to get easier and easier. Ugh. I know its temporary but it never feels like it during it.

 

I was easing down my mid day dose over the last couple weeks. My plan right now is to reinstate the mid day dose just to keep everything the same. Its just getting hard to be accurate with the little slivers. Makes me wonder if I should finish the taper on via liquid.

 

 

 

[[Ti...]]

Its like clock work, I write something about doing great, then bam, hit a wall. Had a stressful work situation yesterday which happened to be the first day that I was trying to drop my mid day dose. Not a good couple. Rest of day and night were not great. Still not the best today. Sure felt good to have a couple weeks nearly symptom free. Frustrating because I'm so close, I was feeling like the rest of the way was going to get easier and easier. Ugh. I know its temporary but it never feels like it during it.

 

I was easing down my mid day dose over the last couple weeks. My plan right now is to reinstate the mid day dose just to keep everything the same. Its just getting hard to be accurate with the little slivers. Makes me wonder if I should finish the taper on via liquid.

 

Thanks for detailing your taper - I'm wondering how many times a day you dose, and how you are taking such small amounts off at each jump now with a dry taper?  When you jump do you take from one dose or equally from each? Did you worry about going down by .25mg in the beginning....  You may have answered some of this already and I haven't had a chance to read each post - sorry!  I'm glad you have had some good windows and are feeling positive - you're so close!  I appreciate you're story, it gives me hope!

[[RS...]]

April:

 

You are getting a preview of the windows and waves that you get after jumping.  It sounds like you are making good progress.  Try to prepare for jumping.  Schedule it for a lower stress time if possible.  Make sure you have been practicing good sleep habits and good thought processes. 

 

You can do it.  Just take your time and be ready for the jump.

[[Ap...]]

I'd say I'm 80% back on track. It was that damn intradose withdrawal again. Once I went back to 3 doses per day it solved my problem. So essentially what happened was I spent the last 2 weeks or so weaning away from my mid day dose. I started to feel slight sxs return (light headed etc) but they aren't bad so I kept weaning. At the end of last week I got to the point where I totally weaned off the mid day dose. That was the day hell broke loose. Was a rough couple days but back on track now. Lessened learned, I need at least 3 doses per day even at a .175mg level to maintain proper drug levels in my blood.

[[Pa...]]

It sounds like you had to learn this lesson the hard way, but I'm glad you figured out what was happening and have adjusted your taper accordingly.  I've seen so many members try to no avail to force their taper to conform to their plan when listening and learning from your body is the way to go.  Good for you for being flexible.

[[RS...]]

Thanks for the update April.  You listened to your body and adjusted accordingly.  Great job!  You can do it!

[[Ap...]]

Its like clock work, I write something about doing great, then bam, hit a wall. Had a stressful work situation yesterday which happened to be the first day that I was trying to drop my mid day dose. Not a good couple. Rest of day and night were not great. Still not the best today. Sure felt good to have a couple weeks nearly symptom free. Frustrating because I'm so close, I was feeling like the rest of the way was going to get easier and easier. Ugh. I know its temporary but it never feels like it during it.

 

I was easing down my mid day dose over the last couple weeks. My plan right now is to reinstate the mid day dose just to keep everything the same. Its just getting hard to be accurate with the little slivers. Makes me wonder if I should finish the taper on via liquid.

 

Thanks for detailing your taper - I'm wondering how many times a day you dose, and how you are taking such small amounts off at each jump now with a dry taper?  When you jump do you take from one dose or equally from each? Did you worry about going down by .25mg in the beginning....  You may have answered some of this already and I haven't had a chance to read each post - sorry!  I'm glad you have had some good windows and are feeling positive - you're so close!  I appreciate you're story, it gives me hope!

 

I dose 3 times per day. I recently tried going down to 2 doses a day but that was a mistake so went back to 3. When I cut I do it evenly across all doses. In the beginning I wasn't worried about .25 but when I hit a rough patch going from .75>.50mg I know I could no longer do it so I stopped.

 

 

Pamster and RShack - THANK YOU for the continued support during this whole journey for me. It's reassuring knowing you are there.

[[RS...]]

April:

 

Start thinking about what happens after you jump.  Are you practicing good sleep hygiene?  Can you take time off work if needed? Can you use other sleep aids to help you through the early weeks,etc.

 

It’s good you are feeling some inter dose withdrawal.  Use it to help prepare you for what to expect after jumping.  Soaking in the tub was a good way for me to relax and helped with the burning skin.

 

All the best to you, you are doing a great job tapering.

[[Ap...]]

Still stuck in this wave. Blah. Been a week now. Tinnitus is still going really strong but my mental capacity to handle it is improving. This process is really hard. Ok, I'm done whining. Hopefully this wave ends soon so I can get back to a settled CNS and carry on with my next cut. Sitting at .175 while I wait this out.

 

Going back and forth whether I switch to liquid or not. This scale bs is really adding a ton of anxiety to the situation. I don't have confidence in it any more at this level and I've learned in this taper that having confidence in the system is paramount.

 

 

[[Wa...]]

So looking out a little but need to have a plan in my head to focus on , even if it changes, and need some help. Currently have 1 mg tablets.

 

Scenario 1- taper from .75 to .50 next Friday. 3 doses. What would each pill weigh?

Scenario 2-taper 15% off .75 next Friday. 3 doses. What would each pill weigh?

As always, thanks for everyone who helps here. It is much appreciated.

[[Ap...]]

So looking out a little but need to have a plan in my head to focus on , even if it changes, and need some help. Currently have 1 mg tablets.

 

Scenario 1- taper from .75 to .50 next Friday. 3 doses. What would each pill weigh?

Scenario 2-taper 15% off .75 next Friday. 3 doses. What would each pill weigh?

As always, thanks for everyone who helps here. It is much appreciated.

 

I've seen users do both scenarios so its really up to you. 15% would be more inline with what the majority do. To find the weight of each dose, this is the math for the 15% off scenario.

 

1mg pill = 117mg weight

117mgx.85 = 99mg daily weight dosage

99/3 doses per day = 33mg individual dosage weight

 

.85 comes from taking 15% off (100%-15%=85%)

 

[[Wa...]]

This makes sense. Thanks April. Appreciate it