general advice request - adhd meds?

[[wi...]]

Hi,

I'm hoping I can get some advice and support here.

I have been prescribed lorazepam for nearly 20 years now. 2mg at night to sleep, 1mg prn for anxiety during the day. I have never abused it. I have struggled throughout this time with increased fatigue, migraine, nausea, jitters, insomnia, etc. I have been diagnosed with dysautonomia. My heart rate and blood pressure change unexpectedly without any cause (I've had full workups). I am starting to suspect that the lorazepam is at least contributing to my physical difficulties. I also often wake up with racing heart and panic which I originally thought was due to nightmares, but I suspect is the lorazepam wearing off in the middle of the night causing adrenaline rush which actually then causes the nightmares.

I am trying to get off of the lorazepam with support from my psych. We are doing the diazepam/titration method. Over the past year, I have managed to drop the 1mg prn entirely, and switch to 10mg diazepam and .5mg lorazepam at night. I take propranolol for tachycardia and migraine prevention. I sleep terribly, and I'm exhausted all day. It's really rough as I have a lot of responsibilities and often can't just nap or rest.

I would appreciate any general advice, plus I have a specific question:

- Do any of you have ADHD? I was on stimulant medication last year and it helped me enormously. I went off it because the one I was on was causing a lot of nausea and anxiety as a side effect. My doctor and I have explored non-stimulant and non-medication options for ADHD and we have come to the conclusion that I really need to try the other stimulants. My executive dysfunction is simply too debilitating, and nothing else seems to work. I'm worried that the stimulant effects of ADHD meds are going to make getting off the benzos even harder though, and as I mentioned, sleep is a huge issue for me. Does anyone have experience with being on ADHD stimulant meds while tapering off benzos? Any tips?

[[Co...]]

Hello @[wi...]. Welcome to BenzoBuddies.

I am about to log off, but if no one replies to you in the interim, I will when I return later.

[[Pa...]]

Hello @[wi...], I’m relieved to hear you figured out the source of your discomfort, everything you describe sounds like tolerance to the Lorazepam not to mention interdose withdrawal.  It’s wonderful you have a doctor helping you by crossing you over to diazepam, what is your taper rate thus far, how often are you reducing and by how much?

I’ve read about a few members who have used ADHD medication, you can probably do a search to find some threads on the subject but hopefully someone will see your subject title and drop by to share their experience. 

Pamster

[[wi...]]

1 hour ago, [[P...] said:

Hello @[wi...], I’m relieved to hear you figured out the source of your discomfort, everything you describe sounds like tolerance to the Lorazepam not to mention interdose withdrawal.  It’s wonderful you have a doctor helping you by crossing you over to diazepam, what is your taper rate thus far, how often are you reducing and by how much?

I’ve read about a few members who have used ADHD medication, you can probably do a search to find some threads on the subject but hopefully someone will see your subject title and drop by to share their experience. 

Pamster

Thanks! We don't have a strict schedule. I stopped using the 1mg prn on my own several months ago (I rarely used it so it was pretty easy to drop). I added 5mg of diazepam to the 2mg of lorazepam for a week, then have been cutting down by .25-.5mg of ativan every two weeks or so. I went up to 10mg of diazepam but my doctor doesn't want me to go higher than that I don't think. Soon I will try to drop the last .5mg of lorazepam or maybe cut it in half but the tiny pills tend to crumble. 

I have been using benadryl to ease the transitions; I know that's not ideal but it really helps. (My doctor knows and she's ok with it short term.)

[[Pa...]]

I’ve seen quite a few members make use of Benadryl, most can tolerate it so if it’s helping, I wouldn’t worry about it. 

Sleep is a huge issue for us, I’ve not seen many who aren’t plagued with insomnia but once off the drug and recovered from our use, most return to their natural sleep situations which for some of us was never good to begin with. But, its still much better than what the drug does to us.

If you don’t get responses to your ADHD question, you might want to start another thread in the Health Matters forum specifically mentioning the medication question, hopefully you’ll get some input.