ATIVAN DOSE , WITHDRAWALS, DESPERATELY NEED OPINIONS, ADVICE TO IMPROVE MY SITUATION

[[...]]

 

Since July 2023 I take ativan once a day , at bedtime, initially i started this way with SSRI for anxiety and it was supposed to be temporary for insomnia till antidepressant starts working   It's a bad drug for me , gives me bad side effects and now bearly even helps with sleep. I am stuck with it now, cannot quit cold turkey,  when tried reducing dose few weeks ago for few days , it was bad , couldn't tolerate it and went back to previous dose but it's working very poorly, so I don't know how am I going to stop it .

I was wandering what happens when benzo stops working and dose is not increased, are withdrawals worse or any dangerous things can happen like seizures or heart issues 

I take ativan for insomnia , currently 1-1.5 mg but it's not as effective ,sometimes I get 2 hours from 1 mg which is terrible,  can't function on that . Problem for me is that ativan doesn't agree with me and I couldn't figure it out for a long time ,so increasing the dose would give me more unwanted effects I assume, I think that it decreases my appetite and adds to weight loss now,but don't know if can switch to a different one after so many months 

Currently I experience many symptoms, headache, sweats,  muscles and joints pain ,weakness , low mood , no tolerance for stress  poor appetite,  weight loss ,sensitivity to temp changes, crampy stomack,abdominal pains, memory issues. 

It is  a long story since July 2023 , I tried few SSRI’s and remeron, I suppose that meds  switches were too fast for me and my nervous system got oversensitized(??) and have poor response now(??) ,but still unstable , dealing with anxiety and depression which are made worse by ativan .

Last one was remeron , November 2023 for few weeks , normal dose 7.5 mg that people take for sleep made me groggy initially and allow slightly better sleep with less ativan , but upon increasing dose to 15mg got arrhythmia and heart rate 120-130, bad headache in the middle of the nigh and other side .At that point I decided to stop and take a break from meds, try to deal with anxiety, except ativan that I needed for sleep . Doctor wants me to try fjuoxetine for anxiety which I'm very apprehensive considering my experience with meds. 

I'm terrified,  homebound right now , before starting treatment I was functional,  had severe anxiety and insomnia , but normal weight and appetite,  and things got so much worse , never stabilized with anxiety and now stuck with ativan , insomnia,  underweight and cannot stabilize weight.  

Also have autoimmune condition,  hard to control thyroid and body reacting to many triggers now .

I feel hopeless and do know if this site is suitable for cases like mine,  but desperately look for solutions .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest [...]]

I want to be thorough in my reply @[...], so I’ll write tonight. Unfortunately I have a few things I have to do today. 

I’ve shared your case with one of the team and we are both on a similar page as to what may be happening.

Tonight I’ll explain what we think is happening and then go through your options. 

Until then, stay strong and know that we’ll help you work your way through this. 🫂❤️

[[...]]

@[Wi...]

OK,  I will try to hold on , so terrified that I don't have options left and will stay like that or have life threatening situation 

I tried to explain what happened as clearly as possible cause it's not just benzo withdrawal situation,  and makes me even more scared. 

With my weight loss ,insomnia and being frail right now cannot imagine pushing through severe symptoms, 😭 and If I do have overreacting system which looks like it to me  😭 

Yes I do need another perspective,  please because to me looks like hopeless situation,  no matter what I do will be bad or unbearable to me to do 

[[Re...]]

@[...] I was in a similar situation. I recommend gathering information here from Winters and also speaking with psych med consultant Angela Peacock and Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring if you are in the US. You can look them both up on YouTube and watch many videos describing people in similar situations. This is extremely common with benzos. Ativan and Xanax have a shorter half-life. I would listen to your instinct about taking another drug and potentially further complicating an already difficult situation. I understand the pain of intermittent withdrawal. Please take your time to make very informed decisions about what to do next to mitigate further harm.

Edited February 16 by [Re...]

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@[Re...] hi I didn't get any guidance from winter's yet .

My dr recommended fluoxetine for anxiety and depression, since ativan is a depresant so he thinks it might help , but I haven't started yet. Seems like I was pushed into withdrawals, since my sleep is very poor and have other symptoms too, so don't know what to do since I am reluctant to increase the dose and not coping well with current situation, not sleeping more and anxiety will not go well ,any suggestions?

[[...]]

@[Wi...] hi , did you get a chance to look into my situation and any ideas how I could help myself? My usual dose of Ativan seems to fail,sleep has been terrible recently, but I'm hesitant to up the dose . I take it at bedtime only. Doctor recommended fluoxetine since ativan is a depresant but I m not sure what happens if med causes increased anxiety like some SSRI’s do . Seems to me that I was pushed into ativan WD,and  s initial anxiety issues that I  started treatment for most likely adds up 

Need some guidance how to manage now and don't worsen my condition 

 

Edited February 16 by [...]

[Guest [...]]

Hi @[...]

I’m sorry you’ve been waiting so long for a reply.

Unfortunately I’ve had rough night and am in quite a heightened fragile state after my housemate came home and went into a drunken rage attack for no reason. I’ve been trying to calm down and plan how to get out of here and find somewhere else to go. Sorry if I’m struggling with putting words and sentences together. 

I have sent a PM to @[Pa...] asking if she could jump in and help you out in my place.

Since I’m here, I’ll just try to explain the best I can what we think your issues may be, and potential options. 

Has your doctor discussed the potential problems with dosing short half life benzo’s?

We think you have now become more dependant on the medication, and possibly experiencing tolerance, but I think it’s possible that your issue of less therapeutic effect when you dose could very well be linked to your blood serum level dropping so low through the next day, that when you dose again, that dose isn’t enough to undo the lingering effects (symptoms) of your blood serum levels dropping so low throughout the day. 

We think you may need to dose more than once per day so your blood serum levels don’t drop so low that the next dose isn’t having to lift you out of a hole caused by such a long period without dosing. We think you could possibly updose by 0.5mg and split the total into 2 x 1mg doses. So you would be dosing 1mg before bed and then 1mg 12hrs later. This would stop your blood serum levels from dropping so very low between doses. 

This is not an overnight fix (there is no overnight fix), it will probably take some time for your system to stabilise. 

Many members will have had to dose Ativan 3 to 4 times per day to avoid interdose withdrawals, so you can see the problem with only dosing once per day, especially once you’ve developed dependancy and the dose is no longer enough to lift you up again from such low blood serum levels. 

You also have the option of doing a slow crossover from Ativan to Diazepam (long half life) which means you would quite likely only need to dose once per day as the long half life would keep your blood serum level up between doses. You could follow The Ashton Manual to make that crossover and then once you’re crossed completely and are stable on the diazepam alone, you could taper quite comfortably since diazepam is the easiest benzo with which to make reductions. 

Not everyone crosses easily. Some do, but s there are those who don’t and prefer to go back to the original benzo. It is a process, but since you seem to believe the Ativan doesn’t really agree with you, crossing to diazepam may be a good option. Just have a good think about each of these options.

Hopefully someone will follow up and maybe explain things more thoroughly than I can right now. I just wanted to at least offer you something while you wait. 🫂
 

 

 

 

[[...]]

@[Wi...]

Hi thanks for trying to help while dealing with own matters. 

I heard about ashton manual and that some people don't tolerate since it's a different med,  so I don't know yet ,since I suspect sensitivity to medications after the switches that happened last year July-November, I m not sure how new med will react.  

Doc recommended prozac ( reluctant to take) first before taper since I don't have stability  

This whole situation scared me so  much ,have symptoms all over my  body and don't feel capacity to fight it ,especially weight loss , super skinny now and not stopping  😭 l always took ativan for sleep , was supposed to be temporary only

Since the whole process causes  weight loss, I can't see taking more loss,  so desperate 

Doc also said that ativan acts as depresant and works against antidepressants, and l believe that it negatively affects my appetite,he also mentioned anxiolytic buspar potentially, but I don't even know if adding anything could be beneficial 

My concern probably and  lack of understanding is , increasing the dose of Ativan will give me more side effects? So confusing 

When I figured things out with these meds , which is doing what , it was too late already,  everything went so fast and I wanted to get better,  so missed looking more into ativan and how affects my body . And I do believe that initial anxiety I started treatment for still here ,since I was never fully stabilized on any of these meds. Trying hard to follow my instincs but everything seems chaotic and blurry to me 

Thank you again @[Wi...]for checking in with me , i'm miserable and feel like no matter what i choose my body will not cooperate , that's from recent experiences I guess. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 16 by [...]

[[...]]

@[Re...]

.similar meaning Ativan for insomnia and other meds for anxiety  ?

[[...]]

I agree with wintersun 

[[Pa...]]

Hello @[...], I agree with @[Wi...], it would probably help if you dosed the Ativan more than once a day, many Ativan users will dose 3 times a day.  Raising your dose sounds like a good idea too, you're in bad shape and need to stabilize so you can take some time to contemplate your next moves after this disastrous journey into these medications.  Will your doctor support a dose increase?

Crossing to Valium is good idea to keep around if dosing more times a day doesn't relieve some of your issues.  

[[...]]

@[Pa...] hi 

No, my doctor wouldn't support dose increase,  he said to stay where I am, he thinks that root of my insomnia is anxiety that I started treatment for last July,  but because of few, rapid meds changes for anxiety (SSRI and remeron) and ativan for insomnia that was supposed to be temporary only , last till today 

Doctor pushing for anxiety meds,to him it's the root of the problem and suggested prozac or buspar, wants to control Original anxiety,  then taper Ativan and sounds strict about it. More doses yes, he is ok,but no more mg. Nothing for sleep except some hypnotic melatonin  modulator med( RAMELTEON) November last year mirtazapine helped a bit , but got arrhythmia and high HR at 15 mg, but lower dose 7.5 was ok

It was much later that I realized that Ativan is not helping in this process , actually making it harder and has side effects,decreases my appetite, I am very skinny right now, not sure if doses more frequent and higher will worsen it. 

Also not sure that body will accept new med as dr is prescribing 

As I suspected,  not many options for me

@[Pa...]any other med than Valium, I could switch with Ativan,or this is the only one, any danger switching after many months to more tolerable ones? Seems like ativan worked against every single med I tried 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[Pa...]]

There is no danger to switching, there can be some discomfort while you're getting used to the new medication with different properties and getting the equivalent dose can be challenging but no danger I know of.  

Clonazepam is a longer acting drug than Ativan, your doctor may be amenable to that but most Clonazepam users will dose a couple of times a day.  The number of times a day you dose plays a huge role in this process, even Valium users will dose more than once a day because as @[Wi...] stressed, keeping your blood serum levels as even as possible can help us avoid a whiplash effect of symptoms. 

It boggles my mind how many doctors will prescribe a benzodiazepine to get their patients over the hump while starting an antidepressant with the result ending up just like yours.  They're worse off because benzo's aren't a benign drug. 

 

[[...]]

@[Pa...] since my ativan doses  once a day (very rarely took one during the day) have been causing between doses withdrawals, do these withdrawal symptoms improve with more doses, or once WDs  settled,  they stay now indefinitely?(like protracted withdrawal?)

And if tolerance develops, and doses aren't raised enough, do I face similar risks as with tapering drug too fast? Any reactions with failre to raise dose high enough? I don't know much about these drugs but few doctors warned me about serious side effects that might happen if taper is too fast, or stopped CT . As I said he was against raising dose , only splitting, I am also apprehensive because of Ativan side effects 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 16 by [...]

[[Pa...]]

I don't have tapering experience but I'm told there should be less peaks and valleys with taking the medication more often, in my mind, this would equate to less intense symptoms. 

Since your doctor is against raising your dose, we don't need to worry about any other scenarios.  I believe the only thing you'll feel by not raising it is more of the same, I don't believe you'll be facing any new scary symptoms by beginning your taper at this dose.  

As for tolerance, I don't see that happening as long as you're tapering. 

[[...]]

@[Pa...] know I'm asking lots of questions, I wasn't aware of many things , doctor claimed I was going to improve and I know people who tried many meds without bigger issues.  I didn't know I would be unlucky one,my history is not very long, but my condition is worsening fast and I am scared and want to know my options or hear from others with similar issues. 

I also have thyroid condition that feel plays part in it since Ativan and other meds interfere with many systems of the body .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[Pa...]]

@[...], its important you understand what stress and anxiety can do to us while we're going through this, it can make it a lot worse.  I know you're doing your best to get a handle on what's happening to you and I applaud your efforts to educate yourself but there will come a time when you'll need to stop, make a decision on your path forward and settle in for the long haul of tapering and recovery.  

The problem with educating yourself about this is how overwhelming it all is and the lack of answers from our medical professionals makes it that much scarier.  And speaking of scary, seeing all of the misery here is scary so you might need to quit reading other members stories for now until you can find your own path.

As for your thyroid, I don't know if Ativan is affecting your thyroid condition (not knowing what it is) but withdrawal is known to cause issues with our endocrine system.  From what I've read here, these issues are just symptoms, I'm not sure if anyone has actually had to have medical intervention other than raising or lowering their hormone dose.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that worrying about so many things will guarantee you'll feel worse.  

[[...]]

@[Pa...]

Yes, definitely I experience symptoms being stronger, a lot stronger, lost quite a bit of function, weight and barely sleep on same dose of mg , so basically everything with much bigger intensity that's why I thought I developed tolerance and if dose will not be increased I will not manage to sleep or eat, that's scary part 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[...]]

@[Pa...]you are right,  I also agree with my doctor that anxiety that was never really stabilized is going to affect everything until under control, but since few meds trials kind of derailed,  at that point I started questioning and looking for answers since I know people taking these meds and they are ok and functional. 

I will not look in people's struggles, but I reached out for help and guidance once I noticed my symptoms and function worsened while still taking about the same amount of med and 2 doctors assured me that it is ok , people take meds for years, which wasn't a lie.

Thank you for encouragement, appreciated a lot,only people familiar with these struggles can understand.

I'm scared because it's been continuing non stop for many months and didn't see stability and rest for many months, quite opposite, so is difficult to find peace and path forward 

Doctor is pushing antidepressants,  anti-anxiety meds I understand but my tolerance is questionable for whatever reason, 

Also Q can I try different benzo or it's not good to mix them, was thinking if another one will work better when anxious

Thank you ♡♡♡

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest [...]]

Thank you so much @[Pa...] for explaining everything to @[...] so much better than I can right now. I just can’t think or find words properly.

I don’t really like airing my dirty laundry here (as I did), but we’re all human and we often have to overcome many unforeseen challenges through this process, and I think it helps if others here understand when we’re not doing too well.

To those who PM me at times, please understand that I may not be able to reply as timely as I normally would, as I have to move all my belongings and find somewhere safe to stay. In the meantime, I will be sleeping in my car or shelters if there are any beds available. Housing is in crisis here, but I need to remove myself from any potential violence before something serious occurs. This may mean I have limited opportunity to help out here for the time being, although I will try to touch base and help out if I feel I can. ❤️

 

[[Pi...]]

EdaB:  all through my taper I took Benadryl or valerian etc., or even CBD gummies with my new lower dose of Ativan in the evening.  Have you tried simply adding something like Benadryl to your nighttime dose to be taken with Ativan.

[[...]]

@[Pa...] hi 

No, my doctor wouldn't support dose increase,  he said to stay where I am, he thinks that root of my insomnia is anxiety that I started treatment for last July,  but because of few, rapid meds changes for anxiety (SSRI and remeron) and ativan for insomnia that was supposed to be temporary only , last till today 

Doctor pushing for anxiety meds,to him it's the root of the problem and suggested prozac or buspar, wants to control Original anxiety,  then taper Ativan and sounds strict about it. More doses yes, he is ok,but no more mg. Nothing for sleep except some hypnotic melatonin  modulator med( RAMELTEON) November last year mirtazapine helped a bit , but got arrhythmia and high HR at 15 mg, but lower dose 7.5 was ok

It was much later that I realized that Ativan is not helping in this process , actually making it harder and has side effects,decreases my appetite, I am very skinny right now, not sure if doses more frequent and higher will worsen it. 

Also not sure that body will accept new med as dr is prescribing 

As I suspected,  not many options for me

@[Pa...]any other med than Valium, I could switch with Ativan,or this is the only one, any danger switching after many months to more tolerable ones? Seems like ativan worked against every single med I tried 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[...]]

@[Pi...]hi , I didn't try benadryl, but dr prescribed hydroxyzine which acts a bit like antihistamine. It helped some, I did try CBD but didn't work for me , for some reason caused less appetite but did decrease anxiety which was good , and sleep was affected,  wish it had worked but not worth it if cannot eat  . And appetite part is very important because I lost lot of weight in the process Difficulty for me is that I have sensitivity to many meds and many side effects with meds , and before this whole mess started, I wasn't even taking pain meds if pain was manageable,  

That's why  it's so problematic for me right now,  I didn't check into meds enough and somehow got stuck with arivan that I don't tol that well and it's not even helping with insomnia that much., but it was supposed to be only temporarily till ssri starts working.  It's been hellish journey for me , never experienced anything like this  in my life. Dr wants me to try antidepressants/ anti-anxiety meds , but again,  ativan works kinda against them and after months of talking it , I can't stop fast now . So lots of tossing, turning and guilt for not checking more carefully meds combo. And there is a possibility I still have oversensitized nerves after med switches.  Not easy to pull out of this one . 

Thank you for suggesting ♡♡♡ I did try some , and herbs were OK before but when started  taking psych meds doesn't agree ,strange 

What method did you use and after how long IF willing to share 

 

Edited February 17 by [...]

[[...]]

@[Wi...] Thank you for reaching out in spite of your situation ,sorry,  hope will work out ♡♡♡

[[Pa...]]

@[...], it appears if you stay with this doctor that your options are limited so lets talk about that.  If you decide to find another doctor then we can work on that scenario later but for now, we need to work with what we have.

• Your doctor will NOT raise your dose so the next step is to divide the medication in an attempt to correct interdose withdrawal.
• Your doctor is suggesting other medications, you can either accept or reject this recommendation, but I suggest you make this decision sooner rather than later as indecision can be stressful and that won't help you.
• Your posts indicate to me that you're spending a lot of time and energy focusing on things you can't control, this will not help you.  Our emotions play a big part in our symptoms and the more we work ourselves up, the worse we feel.  At some point, it will be important for you to accept what's happened and what will be your life for the foreseeable future.  I'm sorry, I know this seems like an impossible feat right now but its essential you work towards this for your own peace of mind. 

You have power in this situation, you can decide right now that you're going to take your life back and you can.