Lorazepam and Clonazepam, and switching to stabilize, or...

[[Fl...]]

Hey guys. I know I posted last year sometime when I was first starting on this journey. I didn't pull out while I should have, because the Ativan was just too effective, and I couldn't STOP taking it or I started panicking again. The whole thing began with cold turkeying off Zoloft and then going back ON it when I couldn't take the withdrawal from Zoloft (the emotional rollercoaster) last May. So last May my doctor puts me on tiny amounts of Ativan as I'm panicking my face off, I gotta at least credit her with being willing to respond to phone calls and help on the spot if need be. I should emphasize that all the worst nervous symptoms (insane anxiety, pacing I was so terrified, 70 hours awake at one point) happened when this doctor put me back on Zoloft but also its best pal Wellbutrin, a combination so good that it's called Welloft. Welloft sent me into an anxiety spiral that lead to Lorazepam.

It didn't take long til I was up to 4mg Ativan a day, because nothing short of two at a time helped. I managed to usually restrict myself to 1mg at a time, 3 times a day. In October she added Clonazepam with the directive that I stop taking Ativan, and I did, and I immediately freaked out, called the nurse's helpline in Canada, was told that the doctor had not put me on an equivalent amount. I was on like, 3mg sometimes 4 a day of Ativan and this doctor says, stop taking the Ativan and, with an eventual taper in mind, take this .25mg of Clonazepam or if you must, .50. Well, it takes going all the way up to 1m Clonazepam twice a day before that stuff does much, and it never did as much as Ativan. The problem is I've kept taking Ativan. Her instructions were, take 1mg Clonazepam twice daily. Take 2mg Ativan twice daily as needed. I stuck to usually taking 3mg, 1 at a time, while also taking my morning and evening doses of Clonazepam. This was like...last October, that she tried a taper on Clonazepam that was so drastically small compared to Ativan. Since then I've just kept doing what I'm doing and it's worked, until she dropped me to "take two 1mg tablets once daily as needed) in June. It's obvious she was done letting me take Ativan and renew it so often. And I've been balancing out taking 2mg a day, I tried splitting it, I've tried taking 1mg earlier and another mg later, I was mostly ok, until...I woke up in terror last Monday, a heightened near-pacing anxiety almost as bad what Wellbutrin/Zoloft initially did to me, lasted nearly a week. It has all largely subsided but I am NOT great, and it takes until my second dose of Ativan later in the day, and my second dose of Clonazepam later in the day, before I feel calmed down and even then, I do not feel like myself anymore. Others have told me, you've hit tolerance, and the Ativan-Clonazepam together are a really bad combination, a quick acting quick ending and a long duration one.

I want to stabilize on like, 1.5mg Clonazepam twice a day and replace the Ativan that way, with an eye on an eventual taper at some point, hopefully on Valium someday not Clonazepam. But right now I just need to be stable. My mother's vascular dementia is worsening enormously, my father's physical problems (Parkinson's) are making him useless though its not his fault, and my sister has her hands full with her family and job, while my brother has the same AND lives 200km away. Sorry for the novel-length post but here is my big question:

Is it a viable way to stabilize, replacing the two Ativan I take with another mg of Clonazepam. Because right now I need my stability back, not a lengthy and painful taper. I know that's coming, and I know it will be bad, but I can't do it while I'm looking after two senior citizens. The only problem is EVERY TIME I try to stop taking Ativan to just use Clonazepam, the drop in dosage is too much and I can't do it.

 

Any thoughts?

Edited August 13 by [Fl...]

[[br...]]

when i cross tapered,i did like my reg ativan doses in the morning and night and 1 klonopin dose as my afternoon, than waited a bit then did 2 klonopin 1 ativan waited more than did full klonopin so it gave me time 

I will say this , i feel like klonopin doesnt work as well for me for my panic disorder as Ativan did, im not sure if its just me or its the meds specifically however my withdrawals from ativan were pretty bad when i was tapering , which is why i was given klonopin

do you take your meds at the same time everyday? it should be spaced out to stabilize in your system, it sounds like or reads like youre taking 1 and 1 klonopin morning/night, and ativan in between, 

what i would look into is doing 1 k AM 1 K afternoon 1 K evening (1 meaning your dose not 1mg ) at the same time everyday pretty much to the dot 
you will have to stablize and that takes a while 


are you also doing therapy? to assist with the panic sensations i know probably a redundant question
 

[[Fl...]]

27 minutes ago, [[b...] said:

when i cross tapered,i did like my reg ativan doses in the morning and night and 1 klonopin dose as my afternoon, than waited a bit then did 2 klonopin 1 ativan waited more than did full klonopin so it gave me time 

I will say this , i feel like klonopin doesnt work as well for me for my panic disorder as Ativan did, im not sure if its just me or its the meds specifically however my withdrawals from ativan were pretty bad when i was tapering , which is why i was given klonopin

do you take your meds at the same time everyday? it should be spaced out to stabilize in your system, it sounds like or reads like youre taking 1 and 1 klonopin morning/night, and ativan in between, 

what i would look into is doing 1 k AM 1 K afternoon 1 K evening (1 meaning your dose not 1mg ) at the same time everyday pretty much to the dot 
you will have to stablize and that takes a while 


are you also doing therapy? to assist with the panic sensations i know probably a redundant question
 

I take 1mg of Clonazepam around the same time every morning, 10, then again at 10pm. I spent a lot of time trying to space my 2mg of Ativan apart, breaking it into halves, taking it three times a day or four, I suspect that was really too messy and inconsistent a schedule for me, and now take 1mg ativan at 7pm, then again at like, 3am before I go to bed. I'm with you in that Klonopin has never felt like it worked as well. Panic wise, I'm not having full on panic attacks, just really huge anxiety attacks (or I was, I'm better now mostly).  And yeah I am thinking either 1 K in the morning and at night, or what you suggest sounds even better, if the doctor will do it. 1mg Klonopin morning, then afternoon, then night, to get a long effect or something.

 

No, not doing therapy. I need to talk to my family doctor (August 29th appointment), she has been urging me to find a psychologist, but I wante dto find a psychiatrist, because they can prescribe meds,a nd maybe help me better than she can. But yeah, after I see her and get new prescriptions or whatever, I think it's time to get therapy too.