Need help with tapering

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Hello I’m new here not sure if I’m in the right area I’ve been of lorazepam for about 47 days total the first 15 days I was taking .5mg of lorazepam after the 15 days I’ve been on 1 1/2 mg of lorazepam for 32 days I feel the need to taper off now but terrified of withdrawal I’m clueless of how to even taper can someone help me thank you

[[Cr...]]

Hello @[...]. Welcome to BenzoBuddies.

We can definitely assist you in finding a taper plan suitable to your needs. Generally we use the Ashton Manual as a guideline for tapering. It is generally recommended that people do cuts around 10% (based on current dose) about every 2 weeks. Those guidelines are flexible as you could go faster or slower depending on what is tolerable.

While you have been on lorazepam long enough to reach physical dependence (generally 2 to 4 weeks), luckily you have still only been on for less than 2 months. There is a good chance that you may have a quick recovery.

I will move this thread into to Benzodiazepines Taper Strategies forum for you.

What does your current daily dosing look like? Do you take 1.5 mg all at once or spread throughout the day?

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Thank you and I take 1mg in the morning and .5 at night

 

[[Cr...]]

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Thanks for the reply and only think I start to feel like more anxiety and panicky if I go to long without it in the morning same at night not sure if it’s my brain saying I need it because after I take it I feel better 

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And as far as coming off I feel I need to come off before I get addicted I’ve heard a lot of bad things about benzos around 2011 or 2012 I was like this I was on here under cargon I couldn’t remember my login so I created this account not sure if you can find those old post but I wasn’t on lorazepam for long and got off and I was better up until this year 

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Hi I’m a little confused on the cutting of my dose I have 1mg pills which I take the 1mg pill in the morning and cut the 1mg pill and take half at night so do I cut the 1mg pill in 4pieces and remove one piece and take 3pices of the 1mg for my morning? Or do I cut the 1mg in half and cut the half into 4 pieces and remove one piece of the half?

[[Cr...]]

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You can also try spreading out the doses and taking 0.5 in the morning, 0.5 in the afternoon and 0.5 in the evening, since lorazepam is a shorter acting benzo. This will also make it easier to reduce doses in the future. For example, you take 3/4 of the 0.5 dose in the afternoon for 2 weeks, then you take 3/4 in the morning and 3/4 in the afternoon for 2 weeks, then 3/4 of every dose throughout the day for 2 weeks. 

Then you move on to 3/4 morning, 1/2 afternoon, 3/4 evening (of the 0.5 dose, so you make the calculations for 1mg pill that you are splitting) and so on.

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I’d like to try the cuts taper so I cut the 1mg pill Into 4pieces and then cut one of those pieces correct? And for the night does still take the half?

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Ok got it and if I was to take three doses morning afternoon and night what would each dose be

[[Cr...]]

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18 minutes ago, [[C...] said:

.375 am, .5 noon, .5 pm

All 3 pills would be half of a 1 mg pill (.5 mg) but your first dose would be missing 1/4 of that dose.

You hold the above doses for about 2 weeks, then you make a cut to your noon dose so your daily usage looks like this:

.375 am, .375 noon, .5 pm.

After two more weeks you cut from your pm dose, then after another 2 weeks you are back to cutting the am dose.

Keep in mind that as you get lower and lower those .125 mg cuts are going to become bigger percentages of your overall dose. You may still be able to handle it though since you have not been on long. But if you want to do smaller cuts accurately, you will have to weight the pills or use liquid.

I suggest at some point you switch to .5 mg pills. That way you only have to cut the whole pill into 1/4ths to do .125 mg cuts instead of 1/8ths like you need to do for 1mg pills.

 

18 minutes ago, [[C...] said:

.375 am, .5 noon, .5 pm

All 3 pills would be half of a 1 mg pill (.5 mg) but your first dose would be missing 1/4 of that dose.

You hold the above doses for about 2 weeks, then you make a cut to your noon dose so your daily usage looks like this:

.375 am, .375 noon, .5 pm.

After two more weeks you cut from your pm dose, then after another 2 weeks you are back to cutting the am dose.

Keep in mind that as you get lower and lower those .125 mg cuts are going to become bigger percentages of your overall dose. You may still be able to handle it though since you have not been on long. But if you want to do smaller cuts accurately, you will have to weight the pills or use liquid.

I suggest at some point you switch to .5 mg pills. That way you only have to cut the whole pill into 1/4ths to do .125 mg cuts instead of 1/8ths like you need to do for 1mg pills.

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Got it thank you very much you all are life savers seriously I’m lost without your guys help I’ll start tomorrow 

 

[[El...]]

@[...] I hope it is OK if I just add a small note of caution.  It might be wise to only make one change at a time.  Some prople have reported that they experience what feels like withdrawal when splitting doses.  So, perhaps it would be wise to first split your dose (0.5, 0.5, 0.5).  Then, once you are feel stable dosing 3 times per day, begin your reduction of dose.  If your attempt both splitting doses and reducing your dose together and subsequently experience uncomfortable symptoms, you will not know if your symptoms are a result of the splitting of doses or if the size of your reduction was to great for your central nervous system to handle.

Wishing your well.

Edited July 28 by [El...]
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Thank you Ellie M, 

 

 

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Update on my taper been doing the .375 in the am and .5 in the afternoon and .5 in the pm today is day 5 the first day was hard felt the need to want more then .375 but I stuck with it I have been noticing a little bit of blurred vision tired and fatigued and anxious and anxiety but I’m still trying to hang in there