hi im new here trying to get off 120mg temazepam a day...

[[kl...]]

so my doctor just put me on 6 mgs of ativan a day to taper me off of a 120mg a day temazepam habit. im getting 30 mgs in the morning and 30 mg at night the only issue is im have mad anxiety about four hours after my first dose what should i say to my doctor would it be advisable to add a small amount of valium to the regimen?

[Guest [Si...]]

klauts,

 

Welcoming you to BenzoBuddies.

 

You will find plenty of support here.

 

Sigma.

[[Be...]]

Hi and welcome to BenzoBuddies, klauts.

 

You sure were on a lot of temazepam.  I assume that was something that built up over time.  I am at a loss as to why your doctor switched you to Ativan.  The two benzos have virtually the same half-life and are very short acting.  Unfortunately, an equivalent amount of Valium would be 60mg, an amount that most doctors don't like to prescribe.  Maybe you could taper down a bit on the Ativan and ask your doctor to help you cross over to Valium a little at a time.  This is called the substitution method of tapering and is the method used by Prof Ashton of The Ashton Manual on Benzodiazepines.  How are you splitting up your 6mg Ativan during the day?  At the end of my time on Ativan, before I started my taper, I was splitting up my dose into 5x/day doses,  It helped for a while with the interdose withdrawals which it sounds like you have.

[[do...]]

I dont see why you were switched to atavan.  I was on 60 a night of tem and also trazadone and or ambien.  What worked for me was to get the temazapam down to 30 a night.  I did it in about three weeks, but it was not that hard as I was taking so many and so much that I was goofy most of the time.  Then I did the 10% drop every ten days.  I tried some valium at first but did not see the point in adding yet another drug.  Long story short you can do this, it is difficult but you can do it.    I have never in my life seen anyone taking 120 a day?  If your doctor was prescribing  that much, I would get a new doctor.  30 is the max typically prescribed, I took 60 as the 30 was not working to sleep.  Good luck to you, you can do it.