2nd attempt at Ativan taper

[[Gl...]]

Hey guys, my insomnia has gotten a lot better since I posted last on my first taper attempt.  I consider myself stabilized because I've been sleeping 10-14 hours a night..lol.  I got a new guitar and I've been practicing a lot, playing the metal music I love and some acoustic downtempo stuff too which I love just the same..getting back into playing guitar is giving me a renewed energy and lately I've been happier than usual.

 

This time, I'm trying to go for a taper from 2 to 1.5mg again.  I'm hoping it works out this time and I can make it enough days to where I can get used to the dose reduction.  I took 1.5 mg last night and felt no different than usual except a little less of the Ativan 'high'.  I have a lot of healthy energy lately and I figured it would be a good time to take advantage of the situation and try to quit again.  I'll keep you guys posted on what happens.

[[St...]]

Good luck although I think a .5 mg reduction might be too steep a start. If things get too tough consider cutting a pill in half and go with a .25 mg reduction from your 2 mg.

[[Gl...]]

Update: this will be my 3rd day of 1.5mg and Ive been doing great.  I seem to handle withdrawals really well as long as I can sleep and this time Im sleeping well.  I think Im going to stay with 1.5mg this time and hopefully it will take me on the road to quitting 

[[Be...]]

All the best 

[[Mi...]]

Glad to hear the insomnia is much better.

 

Please keep us posted on how you are doing.

[[wh...]]

yes, keep us posted and good luck. If you can hold at 1.5 then do it!

[[da...]]

Glyn

.5mg drop was an agressive move. Before I knew better I did an ativan cut from 2mg to 1.5 ok (had been on it 3mos) but then when I tried to repeat it again to 1.0mg  I hit a solid brick wall which is where I am now.  generally speaking withdrawal seems to be a percentage game.  According to a medical article I recently read the lower the amount we are taking the greater the risk of messing up our taper because (as I believe you know) the absolute amount we are taking has to get smaller to hold a relatively constant %

 

Really happy to hear you are feeling better!

[[Gl...]]

Unfortunately, I stopped sleeping on about the 4th or 5th day which was really discouraging and I had to up my dosage again to 2mg.  The good news though is that I convinced my doctor to finally prescribe me Valium in an attempt to ween myself off. I'm going to make a new thread asking some questions about the Valium taper.

[[Sc...]]

GlynG...good for you for trying!  The sleep can be a really tough s/x for a lot of people.  I haven't had TOO many issues w/ it...although as I type this it's 1am and I can't sleep. lol  But that doesn't happen often. 

 

I did a crossover to Diazepam from Clonazepam.  The crossover was tough...but I stuck w/ it and am happy I did.  I like that w/ Diazepam it's easier to make smaller cuts. 

 

Hope all goes well...keep us posted!!!

 

Take care,

Schatje

[[wh...]]

GlynG, hows the crossover to valium going? im having a difficult time with it.

[[Gl...]]

With all things considered, it's going really well though I am still having some pretty difficult times.  The trend so far has been that I'll have insomnia for 1-2 days and then finally sleep.  I made it to 15mg by cutting by 2.5mg every 7 days.  I was doing great with barely any insomnia for the first cut and then the second cut I got insomnia right away and haven't gotten any sleep yet.  I'm just hoping that I can get some sleep sometime soon.  I'm trying to stay positive but the no sleep thing is a real bitch...lol.  I had a couple of times during the first cut where I couldn't sleep for a day or two also, maybe 3 days, but then it leveled out..so I'm hoping the same thing happens with this cut.  What kind of problems are you running into with your Valium cross over?

[[wh...]]

Mainly sleep, but I found that 250 mg of magnesium has increased that a bit. Then theres anxiety, this is my 3rd time trying to quit and this stuff feels like its part of my dna.(ugh) . And ive found that im going too fast, I havent updated my profile yet but ive had to backtrack a fair bit because I couldnt sustain the rate I was going.    Get the magnesium.

good luck bro