I need advice on switching from lorazepam to ketazolam.

[[Ze...]]

Hello,

 

I mean that if I change one benzo for another from one day to another, that is, if I take orfidal in the morning and at night (and from there on successive days) I take ketazolam,  I suppose that the day of the change I have it covered by the morning dose of orfidal and when I would need the night dose of orfidal, if I take the ketazolam that covers the following 24h, I do not just visualize why I can have an increase in anxiety.

 

Thank you!

 

 

[[...]]

Zen00,

 

You are asking Pamster a very difficult question because everyone is different.

 

Even if we knew someone with the same mix of orfidal to ketazolam, I would be careful with the data.

 

I always talk about keeping a journal of your dose and symptoms.  The reason for this is, when you make a change, you can compare with your journal notes and learn what is happening for your body.

 

Since your doctor says to try this change, I think you can do it with some peace, but please record each change and learn how your body is responding.

 

Bob

[[Ze...]]

Thank you very much for the clarification, and I will keep in mind about noting my symptoms as I make changes to my medication.

I have received the scale, but I do not know if in the next few days I will be prescribed an antidepressant and I do not know for sure what will happen with the orfidal, because I understand that if the antidepressant works I can withdraw the orfidal without much problem (or so I understand, do you know if this is so?).

I will let you know when I know something.

 

Thank you very much

 

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[[Pa...]]

Antidepressants can be helpful but I've never known them to eliminate or greatly reduce symptoms.  They can sometimes help with anxiety and depression but most report symptoms still break through.  It can be a little tricky adding an A/D during benzo withdrawal because our central nervous system is so sensitized so if you do decide to add one, I'd start at the lower doses and maybe build up to a full dose if your doctor agrees.

[[Ze...]]

Hello,

 

Thank you very much for your reply. I am finally adding an antidepressant, little by little. The truth is that for now I don't know what my path will be with the benzo, it's all a bit confusing, I imagine I will have to move to a long acting benzo but I don't know anything yet.

When you talk about "symptoms" in your previous reply, do you mean general symptoms of anxiety, in the sense that you can't deal with anxiety by taking only an antidepressant and you need the benzo as well, or do you mean that benzo withdrawal symptoms  appear equally even if you take an antidepressant?

 

Thank you very much for your advice with the antidepressant, I feel like I learn more here than anywhere else.

 

 

[[Pa...]]

When I say symptoms I mean what we typically see during withdrawal which you can find listed here:  https://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzcha03.htm 

 

There doesn't seem to be a drug which can eliminate them except for taking more benzo's, you may experience some of them while making the cross so it's good to be familiar with them so you won't be afraid of what you're feeling.

 

Benzo tolerance and withdrawal sensitizes our central nervous system so we don't always react to other medications, supplements and even foods the way we normally would, I'm glad to hear you're doing this slowly, some members have reported unpleasant reactions to A/D's.

[[Ze...]]

Thank you for your clarification. The truth is that I did reduce the benzo a little bit and the truth is that these days I have had more tinnitus.  After reading your message I understood that maybe it was because I reduced the benzo while I was taking the antidepressant.

Right now I am on 0.5mg of Orfidal (0.25mg in the morning and 0.25mg at night) and I have not gone any lower after reading your message.

When I have to stop the benzo in the future , would you switch to a long acting one or directly go to reducing the Orfidal dose very slowly? I ask this because I understand that it is a low dose and switching to another benzo may also create uncomfortable symptoms for me.

 

 

[[Pa...]]

You're wise to only adjust one medication at a time, that way we know what to blame and can make appropriate adjustments, its difficult to know what is causing what when we make too many changes.

 

We have many members who have tapered or are tapering from the other name for Orfidal (Lorazepam), I don't see why you can't taper directly from it when you decide to, some will dose up to 3 times a day because of it's shorter half life but its can be manageable.

[[Ze...]]

Ok, thank you very much. I don't know if in this forum you close threads, I say this because as I don't know yet what will happen with the benzo issue maybe you want to close this thread.

 

Thank you very much for your advice