lorazepam tolerance, sudden withdrawals and med batch issues?

[[ge...]]

Hello everyone,

I am feeling really stressed and confused about my situation and how to proceed.

Basically I’ve been maintaining my lorazepam sublingual dose (3x per day) for 12+ months after beginning too rapid of a taper. I also had another rapid reduction in the winter that set me back. Trying to find my path forward, I ran into some issues along the way…discovered that sublinguals aren’t the best to use for tapering because you can’t get small, accurate cuts. The plan with my doctor has been to slowly switch from the sublinguals to oral tablets so I can slowly cut the dose down….but I have been too afraid to begin it yet.

I am definitely in tolerance, I have little windows and lots of waves, I know my general symptomology and struggles. I’ve been taking the medication for 5 years.

2 weeks ago I refilled both strengths of my medication, and over the last week I started experiencing bouts at night that felt like withdrawal, that intensified each night. The pills felt a little odd (like harder, stale maybe) but the pharm said the expiry was in 2 years. I had my doctor request that I return that supply to the pharm and have them dispense a different lot number (he said that maybe the potency is off). I begun them on Friday and I still feel very affected and not sure if it's related to the pills specifically, or intense tolerance withdrawal, or what.

I am wondering if anyone has experienced sensitivities to their medication like these, had batch issues, or anything?

I already know that being in tolerance to the medication can cause a type of withdrawal, and that holding this dose for a prolonged time is not helping my situation. But this week’s symptoms were more like when I did a rapid decrease and got very very sick, rather than my usual- I’ve just been so backwards and unwell this week.

I also feel very nervous to proceed with my doctor’s plan to switch the formula, because of all the issues I’ve got going on I’m scared to add more, but I also know that remaining the same will not help. Is it a good idea to give this a few days to hopefully stabilize and then start the switch?

Also curious if anyone has been through the sublingual to regular switch recently and how the experience was?

Thank you.

[[PG...]]

Sorry to hear you're struggling, lorazepam is tough.

My experience with lorazepam was that it was very easy to get into tolerance, much faster than any doctor has ever validated. Because of it's short half life, it kicks in fast but in my experience it also makes the withdrawal kick in faster. I felt like I was starting to experience withdrawal symptoms before I even started to taper, which was how I decided I needed to start tapering (aka I realized there was no dosage that was ever going to work forever). While it's possible that there's a batch issue, it's much more likely that you're just adjusting to the dosage and starting to experience symptoms. I do not have experience with sublingual vs tablets but I'd continue with whichever you're most comfortable with.

Deciding to taper is something you have to do when you're ready, so there's no harm in giving it a few more days, you have to start when you're ready to tackle it head on. That said, there's no perfect time to start, you'll probably never be 100% ready. But there's lots of great resources on here to help you through it, you're not alone.

 

[[Pa...]]

10 hours ago, [[P...] said:

Sorry to hear you're struggling, lorazepam is tough.

My experience with lorazepam was that it was very easy to get into tolerance, much faster than any doctor has ever validated. Because of it's short half life, it kicks in fast but in my experience it also makes the withdrawal kick in faster. I felt like I was starting to experience withdrawal symptoms before I even started to taper, which was how I decided I needed to start tapering (aka I realized there was no dosage that was ever going to work forever). While it's possible that there's a batch issue, it's much more likely that you're just adjusting to the dosage and starting to experience symptoms. I do not have experience with sublingual vs tablets but I'd continue with whichever you're most comfortable with.

Deciding to taper is something you have to do when you're ready, so there's no harm in giving it a few more days, you have to start when you're ready to tackle it head on. That said, there's no perfect time to start, you'll probably never be 100% ready. But there's lots of great resources on here to help you through it, you're not alone.

Hi PG1750, welcome to BenzoBuddies,

Wow, you've hit the ground running, I see you've offered support to many members already, thank you.  We'd love to hear more of your story, so feel free to start a thread of your own but in the meantime, we're very glad to have you aboard.

Pamster

[[st...]]

I second the post above. I started going through withdrawls before I even got off lorazepam. That's how I knew I needed to get off it. If you have a doctor that's aware of benzo withdrawls you can try to switch to Valium for the taper. Lorazepam is terrible to get off but honestly if you are already having withdrawls you have really already started. I'm 1 year out and I'm in such a better place. You can do it and you will get through it. Just remember that fear is also a symptom of withdrawl.