Getting ready to crossover from Ativan to Valium:( Scared

[[Mi...]]

Hi all- I'm a newbie. I've been on Ativan for almost 6 months. My psyc wants to cross me over using Valium and I'm terrified. His plan right now is week 1- Ativan 3x a day and spaced out every 5 hrs. Then add the Valium (10mgs) before bed. Week 2- Valium at 630am, Ativan .5 at 430pm, then Valium before bed. That's all I I have so far. Any advice? Actually I've been interviewing psych's and it's amazing how they're all different in their methods. One psych told me because I haven't been on that long, she felt the Valium isn't needed. I take .5 every 5 hours. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks!

 

Michelle

[[Be...]]

Hi, Michelle K.

 

No need to be scared.    If you do cross over to Valium, you will be following a time-tested method for getting off benzos.  Are you familiar with Prof. Heather Ashton?  She wrote the "benzo bible" we refer to here.  You can see some sample crossover shedules in Chapter 2 of her manual:

 

http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm

 

I'm a little confused about how much Ativan you are taking. Taking .5mg every 5 hours would be about 2.5mg/day but you also said you were spacing it out 3x/day which would be just 1.5mg. Could you please clarify? 

[[Kl...]]

Welcome to BB Michelle. I was on about 3mg Ativan/day in February and March. I tapered through trial and error (ouch!) to 0.75 in late June. I found BB and the Ashton Manual in early July and crossed over to 7.5mgs valium in 2 weeks. And started to taper by 10% on the valium 4 days later. A little fast by Ashton standards and I think I paid for that a little but the symptoms were not as bad as trying to taper below 1mg on Ativan. Even with 4-6 doses/day I still had inter-dose withdrawal.

 

Shortly after I crossed over I started having great sleep time. Anyway, I am so glad I crossed over!

 

You can click on your name, Michelle, and the website will take you to your profile where you can click on a box in the upper left to add information about your history and dose rates. This will help others help you with more knowledgeable advice.

[[Mi...]]

Hi Beeper- thank you for the reply. Yes, I am on 2.5. What I mentioning was the schedule of crossing over was. Doc wants me to start Ativan at 6:30am, 11:30am and then at 4:30pm. Then Valium before bed. That's the first week of crossing over. Does that make more sense?

[[Mi...]]

Thanks Klondike! I'm so scared:( So glad I have this site and you all! I will take your advice and add some info on myself! Looking forward to getting to know you all and the support;)

[[Be...]]

Hi Beeper- thank you for the reply. Yes, I am on 2.5. What I mentioning was the schedule of crossing over was. Doc wants me to start Ativan at 6:30am, 11:30am and then at 4:30pm. Then Valium before bed. That's the first week of crossing over. Does that make more sense?

 

So the doctor wants you to drop 2 of your .5mg  Ativan doses and replace it with one, 10 mg Valium dose at night, is that right?  Going by Prof Asthon's schedules, we'd probably recommend replacing just one .5mg Ativan with one 5mg Valium every week or so until you are on 5mg Valium 5x/day. At least your doctor seems to know the correct Valium equivalency for Ativan: 1mg Ativan = 10mg Valium.