Advice on taper

[[Kr...]]

Hi all ,

 

thank you to the welcome to the community . I’ve taken Ativan for sleep 0.5 mg for 2 years . Mid way through last year I had tapered it down and asked my GP to prescribe a smaller tablet . Little to my knowledge she prescribed in a Telehealth conference my mother’s drug Xanax . Fast forward to 5 weeks ago after many months of visits saying I have worsening anxiety she proscribed Zoloft and shifted me back to Ativan . I ended up in miserable withdrawals . Zoloft was making me incredibly ill and I was substituting with Ativan . Before I worked our what was going on I have had multiple trips to the ED , gastroscope and and ECG. All fine. 
 

* fast forward I am 7 days into starting ciprimil in the AM and 1 mg Ativan PM but I am experiencing inter dosing withdrawals . Jittery , muscle pain and some rebound anxiety . I am wondering if I should: 

A) split the 1 mg to 0.5 twice daily 

B) ask for a prescription for a longer acting benzo 

C) push through for a a few more days to a week 

Many thanks ! 

[[...]]

@[Kr...], hi and welcome to BenzoBuddies!) I'm not an expert in tapering and will just make your account valid for other members to answer your questions and give you advice.

Oh, and i had a similar bad experience with 1 month use of zoloft when trying to treat my poor condition of being in benzo tolerance.

I'm glad you've found this helpful community. Good luck to you

[[Br...]]

Hello @[Kr...] and welcome to BenzoBuddies!

It sounds like you are experiencing interdose withdrawal which is more likely to occur with short half-life benzos like Ativan and Xanax.  It may help to split the Ativan 1mg into a morning and nighttime dose - this would keep the blood levels of the drug more consistent and consistency is what the body craves.  

Are you currently taking Ativan and Zoloft?  We encourage tapering only one drug at a time.  It's harder on the central nervous system to taper more than one and can make it more difficult to know how to adjust a taper in response to symptoms.

Please keep asking questions and let us know how we can help!

 

[[Kr...]]

Hi buddies ,

 

I wanted to update you all to tell you that I am now off Ativan and have been for 4 days . After 2 weeks of reduction of no daily dose what I thought was inter dose withdrawal was actually paradoxical reaction. Apparently only 1% of people have this happen but my body feels so much better being off it . I’ve transferred to diazepam 9 mg at night to continue my taper. 
 

I know everyone’s experience is so different and just reaching out if anyone else had paradoxical symptoms . 
 

Krystina