Morning Anxiety

[[...]]

Hello All

I just found this site, hoping for some guidance, in February I was prescribed Ativan .5 three times a day.  I didn’t want to take it because I knew it could be addictive but was in a difficult time in my life, so I would take it intermittently. Flash forward to now and I am seemingly addicted.  I was never really told I shouldn’t take more than one month. I’ve been trying to slowly taper now that I’ve figured it out.  But stopped cold turkey and went off the deep end. 

I experience racing heart, racing thoughts, body pain, sweating, loss of appropriate, Inability to sleep more than 2 hours at a time at night and debilitating morning anxiety. Also severe depression.  I’m currently suffering through with .25 once a day in the morning. Does anyone have any advice how long I should stay at this dose? 
 

Does the rebound anxiety get any better ? If so does anyone know how long ? I see a psychiatrist on 7/10 but don’t want to go on another Benzo to get rid of this.  
 

I desperately need advice on how to get this out of my system without causing me to completely loose my family and life. 

 

 

[[...]]

Hi, @[...], and welcome to BenzoBuddies!

Sincerely sorry for the state you're in but it's quite expectable and hardly actually dangerous despite the fact that  benzo withdrawal can feel really rough. The symptoms you listed are very common and all of them, including rebound anxiety, must subside over time but it's hard to say how long it will take you or anyone else. I did have lots of similar ones while tapering and afterwards. Most of them are gone.

I understand you need to taper off of ativan further. I'm not an expert in tapering or in exactly ativan but there are a lot of other members here, more knowledgeable and, as i hope, ready to give you advice. Good luck to you!)

 

[[Ct...]]

@[...] So sorry you are going through this after using Ativan for a short time. Possibly @[El...] can stop by to provide some information on tapering Ativan.

[[Cr...]]

Congrats on getting down to .25 mg once a day! What was your taper rate like?

If you tapered too fast you may benefit from going back up in dose until you are more stable.  Not necessary to go back to original dose, but usually the lowest that makes things tolerable.

If you want to stick this out without going back up in dose that is perfectly fine. Usually when people educate themselves about what to expect during the withdrawal process that decreases the fear factor and makes them cope with the symptoms a lot better.

[[El...]]

@[...] @[Ct...] suggested I might stop by to help you taper your Ativan.   I also am tapering Ativan.  And, I would be very happy to try to help if you would like.

How long have you been tapering and at what rate per day/per week/per month?  You stated you were taking 1.5 mg in February.  Did you cold turkey in February?  For now, I would strongly urge you to at least hold your present dose before considering any further reductions.  I am sure there is a way to make you feel more comfortable.

Hope to hear from you!

[[sh...]]

[[...]]

On 05/07/2024 at 18:47, [[s...] said:

Have you looked into the Ashton Taper Method or Maudsley deprescribing guidelines? Sounds like you are dependant, not addicted. You need to begin a slow taper off the Ativan but may need to cross over to a longer acting one to do so. Alot of times symptoms improve when you cross over to something like Valium and then you stabilise and start to wean off

 

[[...]]

Thank you for responding I eventually did come across the manual but and I tapered a bit down from .5 to .25 to .125 then I missed my dose today and it was a tough day - I wonder if I should go back to .125 or just ride it out.  Wow this is so hard.  Thank you for helping with your suggestion. 

[[...]]

On 05/07/2024 at 18:13, [[E...] said:

@[...] @[Ct...] suggested I might stop by to help you taper your Ativan.   I also am tapering Ativan.  And, I would be very happy to try to help if you would like.

How long have you been tapering and at what rate per day/per week/per month?  You stated you were taking 1.5 mg in February.  Did you cold turkey in February?  For now, I would strongly urge you to at least hold your present dose before considering any further reductions.  I am sure there is a way to make you feel more comfortable.

Hope to hear from you!

Thank you so much for helping me ! I was on a rollercoaster for a long time not knowing why I was feeling like I was and now I can see that I was feeling the effects of withdrawal during the day because I was taking it only at night for months.  I most recently went from .5 to .25 for a few days then yesterday .125 then today I didn’t take anything and my anxiety and feeling of absolute doom and sadness is terrible.  I wonder if you would suggest going back on the .125 for a week? I see a psychiatrist tomorrow but not willing to trade one drug for another at this point it all feels so scary.  Thank you again for taking the time to reply and being willing to help !

[[...]]

[[...]]

On 05/07/2024 at 13:14, [[C...] said:

Congrats on getting down to .25 mg once a day! What was your taper rate like?

If you tapered too fast you may benefit from going back up in dose until you are more stable.  Not necessary to go back to original dose, but usually the lowest that makes things tolerable.

If you want to stick this out without going back up in dose that is perfectly fine. Usually when people educate themselves about what to expect during the withdrawal process that decreases the fear factor and makes them cope with the symptoms a lot better.

 

[[...]]

[[...]]