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

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@[Pa...]

Thank you for opinion. 

Last night was very revealing to me because my usual doses didn't work,  as I suspected before , I guess some people can stay with same dose for longer time, I didn't.  

I appreciate your suggestions and encouragement @[Pa...]but what I also realized last night ( barely slept with typical dose)that I cannot function like that,  I'm frail, underweight and reduction process would be  too much for my body , I already started experiencing WD between doses and it ruins my body even more leading to more weight loss and forcefeeding myself.  Dr never warned me , quite opposite,  assured me that it takes much longer to get tolerance etc 

I already took smaller dose last PM to transition to 2TD but as I said made no impact on night at all 

I was desperate to get better and considered med from dr , but unfortunately learned from the past that ativan always worked against new med , as I said it was bad choice for me and I can't do nothing about it now 

Your encouragement is greatly appreciated, from my perspective it looks pretty gloomy , not trying to be dramatic here , but looking at my functional status, weight,  pain,  appetite etc realistically looking it's questionable.  I understand people are resilient ,I'm not convinced that I have it ,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[Pa...]]

It looks as if you've come to the conclusion that breaking up your doses won't be enough to stabilize you enough to taper.  If this is the case, then its probably time to find another doctor, PA or Nurse Practitioner to take over your care.  

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@[Pa...]

I'm limited who I can see because of insurance,  I will see and I know that practitio ers aren't willing to prescribe usually.  Like my doc refused to increase and will taper when anxiety is stable .

Is there an option to switch from ativan to xanax at all , since urgent care dr gave me xanax initially and I tolerated it much better but 2 weeks later started with family dr with different meds . Would it be even safe at this point to make a switch so my symptoms are not as bad , I don't tol ativan and it interferes with meds I tried , don't know a lot about these meds , just can tell my experience 

Psych doc said himself that ativan is a depresant and will work against many meds ,but he has no other option to try not,  I guess hoping for partial response,  no idea 

 

Edited February 17 by [...]

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@[Pa...]

Thank you for encouragement 

1. Yes , doc said clearly that dose stays same , although he knows about sleep issues, but relates everything to anxiety only and pushes meds all the time 

2. I was considering new med ,but I know from experience that Ativan works against antidepressants, anti-anxiety meds and he knows it,  because he said it himself during this visit and it happened to me during drugs trials. As a matter of fact with EVERY new drug introduced,  side effects were worse , appetite and weight loss worsened,  energy , function went down. Ativan plays a big part here I think

3. Yes emotions are crucial here, I had new hope every time new med was tried and truly believed that it would be my way to recovery, but every single time reality checked and med ended up not working barely covering anxiety and giving more debilitating symptoms.  At some point I started to connect the dots .

4. Then made a decision to stop trying new meds and let things settle, and at this point I started really looking at Ativan and learned about interactions with antidepressants anti-anxiety meds and my reactions to Ativan since I always blamed other meds for bad symptoms 

5. Taking only Ativan ,already failing to work, experience many symptoms, am practically homebound now . 

I do understand positive outlook ,hope etc, taking above things into account,  please tell me what is realistic solution for me, because I gathered information trying to help myself,  get rid of Ativan to remove it from my system ,but my overall condition is frail ,chronic lack of sleep, underweight, indigestion, pain, no energy,headaches,memory issues. Question is,do I stand the chance , and it's not ignorance or trying to be difficult, considering everything here from my history and reactions , multiple times, am I going to achieve any kind of progress?(asking humbly)

@[Pa...]

Also, is it possible to switch to xanax first , since when I tried it alone for anxiety,  prior to my GP combo, didn't have negative effects,  so was thinking if switches like that are safe and possible,  to ease my body from some side effects,  never saw information about it 

P.S. lost a lot of muscle and fat tissue 

 

 

Edited February 17 by [...]

[[Pa...]]

Xanax is not a good choice, its half life is so short, many have to dose up to 4 times a day.  If your doctor is amendable, you can certainly try it, it sounds like you had a good experience with it but I'm not sure if that will be the case this time since your body is now dependent on benzodiazepines. 

I'm not familiar with the medication interference you mention, this seems to be of some concern to you, could you expound on that and perhaps provide some citations to back up your claims?

[Guest [...]]

@[...]

Clonazepam (Klonopin) is also a long half life benzo you could think about switching to. 

[Guest [...]]

@[...]

I’m not sure your doctor is understanding of the issues that arise from limited dosing of short half life benzo’s. 

I can’t say for sure that this is your only issue, but that short half life of Ativan will have your blood seru level peaking and then dipping dramatically. The issue arises as you become dependant that the peak after dosing will be less effective after dosing because it’s unable to lift you up (calm and stabilise you) from such a low dip in blood serum level over that long period between dosing. Before dependancy, this would not have been so much of a problem. Blood serum levels need to kept as even as possible throughout the day, which cannot happen if you are only dosing Ativan once a day. You need to dose that short half life benzo more now (find an understanding benzo wise doctor) or see if the doctor you already have will switch you to a longer half life benzo. If Valium is unacceptable to you, clonazepam is another relatively long half life benzo. 

I agree with @[Pa...]

Switching to Xanax may or may not help, but you would also be in that same situation of having to dose multiple times daily with a similar half life to Ativan.

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@[Pa...] i mentioned it because I have better tolerance to it .tried 2 weeks before lexapro,ativan combo , regret not asking GP about it but was very anxious , didn't think much about it 

Talked to pharmacist and psychiatrist also said that ativan is a depressant and worked against antidepressants. 

I did find few sites that advise against using Ativan with antidepressants, could be tol possibly with wellbutrin and prozac maybe , rest are better tol with xanax . So yes I found this info 

So you're saying that dependency on ativan will not let me switch to xanax , right . Is valium and clonazepam different case other than half life 

 

 

 

 

[[or...]]

@[...] where do you live? In the US, the UK, where? I had a problem similar to yours when I was not doing well on Ativan, and my GP was very reluctant to have me switch to a longer-acting benzo (valium). I called around (I lived at the time in a 1,800 person town) and eventually managed to get a NP to prescribe valium for me. That made all the difference. I do not feel that you are being well served by your medical team, and if I were you, I would start the search for a new drug prescriber asap. It may take awhile, but you have to advocate for yourself. I do not see that your present team or your present drug situation is doing you much good. What about your insurance? Are you sure it won't let you switch to a new provider? I am very concerned about you . . . a switch in drug prescribers and a switch in benzos seems to be something you need. Switching from one short-acting benzo to another will not help, I'm sorry to say, judging by my own experience with xanax prior to Ativan. It's only when I got onto valium, and began a proper taper, that I saw light at the end of the tunnel. Anxiety? So what? We're all anxious when we're in the benzo woods, but what I DID learn is that anxiety can't be fixed by a pill. (I have a talk therapist for this). Sorry if this all sounds a bit prescriptive, but it seems to me that your situation could be so easily ameliorated! Wishing you the best.

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@[Wi...]

If xanax has better tolerability for me , i guess i would consider 

question is if you can swap these two xanax and ativan because it sounds like swapping to Valium or clonazepam is less problematic because of half life or other reasons? 

Yes Valium could be a problem for me bc of sedating I think and similar issues I have with ativan , don't know about clonazepam 

So what are possible side effects from swapping benzos,  because Winters mentioned that some people go back to their original med . Also for me increasing dose may have  negative effect on app,weight,   more memory issues, constipation, things like. And reduction process and WD mean more weight loss ,anxiety, insomnia that considering im frail may not go well for me 

@[Pa...]said if I keep same dose that stopped working , I will have more , stronger symptoms to what I have now,

My doc vision is to start prozac or anxiolytic, and then taper Ativan,  he doesn't think it makes more sense tapering now, his idea is that appropriate dose of prozac will outweigh antidepressants property of lorazepam , I don't know if it's his theory or something common.  He was also concerned about weight loss . 

When I go back in time and think about med trials , it did felt like ativan is in the way, making side effects worse and interference with sleep and appetite 

It a difficult choice for me , 

You're right @[Wi...] I think there's more to it , I have thyroid issue hashimoto s but checked, thyroid levels and supposedly ok, also I don't know how much of Original anxiety still exist because I was tried few meds but never fully stabilized bc of side effects,  weight loss . But Original plan for me was to stabilize anxiety to improve sleep and benzo was supposed to be temporary only ,turned into disaster 

 

 

 

 

 

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@[or...]

 Hi , I'm also concerned , a lot actually , loosing function, weight, insomnia , still anxiety ,

I live in US , changing providers is expensive and as I said my psychiatrist is set on fixing anxiety firts then taper Ativan 

Sounds like u did switch xanax ativan , but @[Pa...] or @[Wi...]mentioned once dependency develops may not work , was your switch earlier into treatment? 

I don't know about valium is very sedating I suppose,  but ativan is not good for me and supposedly works against thyroid, don't know about valium or clonazepam 

Because of my history with bad side effects andd drug trials actually I ended up worse than I started 

 

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@[or...]

Nothing wrong with some anxiety you can control , problem was that mine was bad with insomnia that why I sought treatment initially , maybe I should have given ir more try on xanax before messing with both benzo and SSRI’s,  but now with weight loss, insomnia , poor function = big mess 

[Guest [...]]

@[...]

I do understand your doctor wants to fix the anxiety first, but if dosing only once a day is contributing to the anxiety now that you’re dependant on the medication, the anxiety may not abate at all… no matter what drugs he/she throws at it. 

[Guest [...]]

Until you keep blood serum levels even

[Guest [...]]

Just let me clarify what I’m trying to say, @[...]

It seems to me that your doctor is assuming that the anxiety is solely an underlying condition, and wants to treat that first. However, now that you are dependent on the Ativan, those peaks and such low dips in blood serum levels may be now exacerbating the anxiety and insomnia as well as creating or exacerbating other symptoms such as the ones you mentioned… memory issues, weight loss, lower functioning, constipation, etc…

My concern is that if your doctor doesn’t understand the necessity of dosing to maintain even blood serum levels to avoid inter-dose withdrawals, then, you could end up being poly-drugged with little to no symptom relief at all.… not until the short half life dosing issue is sorted out. 

Edited February 18 by Guest

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@[Wi...]

He said ok splitting the dose,  but not increasing

And here is also a problem because ativan works against these meds, I found literature on it  and he confirmed it ,too 

That's why it's like chasing own tail , I take anxiety meds that will not work or have intolerable side effects ,causing more weakness ,just like it did few times before . That's how Ativan works in my body and most of the time dosing has to change because new drugs were always causing imbalance , exaggerated symptoms and most likely weigh loss . The different one was mirtazapne which is tetracyclic antidepressants when initially allowed me to use less ativan for sleep but had strong  side effects( could be reactions to cutting benzo too)and eventually this effect wore off and had to go back to previous dose . One of members actually used mirtazapine with benzo withdrawals and insomnia ,but it never gave me decent sleep alone 

And now he doesn't want to start taper benzo because of anxiety and he doesn't see me handling taper. So the circle closes and I m stuck 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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@[Wi...]

If I add anti-anxiety med , it's already polydrugged to me. I understand what your point is and that's why I feel trapped because no matter what I do it's going to bite me , you know what I mean? 

I keep feeding ativan more doses getting even more dependent,  start anti-anxiety which is always a gamble ,may turn a complete disaster, useless or intolerable because ativan works against them . I don't know if I m clear here , trying to explain how it worked for me. so I assume nothing will bd changed and will only repeat the past ,antidepressant will be dropped and Im still stuck with ativan on bigger doses . 

I wish I could switch to xanax because it had much better tolerability and sleep but you guys brought a point that once dependent on one benzo i can't switch .

Does it refer to all benzos or just xanax, because it is possible to switch from ativan to clonazepam and valium . 

So that change would be only for tolerability sake not half life and getting rid of Ativan because of its effect on thyroid 

@[Wi...] does it make sense what I said or I'm missing something 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 18 by [...]

[Guest [...]]

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@[Wi...]

 Hi ,I don't know about klonazepam or valium ,but from brief read they would be even more sedating and possibly similar side-effects to ativan , the most I'm concerned about is weight loss, low mood, memory impairments etc  

So you couldn't taper straight from ativan ? I came across a method of Ativan taper using small amount,  would this work ? And again I was told that weight loss , insomnia are always part of the process, is that so ? And I already have weakness,  so are all these things part of the taper?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 18 by [...]

[[...]]

You could but its best to stabilize first before taper to give your system a chance to readjust without additional stressors 

[[...]]

@[...] you mean staying on this current dose for a while before cutting doses? How long,  because longer time also means longer exposure and dose increase right?

[[...]]

@[Wi...] did you try tapering from ativan before? 

Do you know what doses are usually cut? 

Edited February 18 by [...]

[[...]]

Your current dose may not be enough to stabilize your condition so as wintersun suggested it might be necessary to increase your dose to prevent your blood serum levels from dropping too low 

[Guest [...]]

[[...]]

@[Wi...] hi winter i believe i have a better understanding of the situation now. She mentioned that before all of this she took xanax for 2 weeks and then abdruptly stopped it. Afterward she started taking the ativan and anti anxiety pills so i think her current experience is likely due to xaxan withdrawal from stopping CT rather sensitivity to ativan itself. What do you think ?