tolerance vs interdose withdrawals

[[va...]]

how do i tell the difference between tolerance and interdose withdrawals? and does it even matter? when i started ativan i was taking it twice a day now im trying to take it 5 times a day. but it seems to only last 3 hours in my body. if its tolerance issue i think i just want to put my head down and try push through it. if its inter dose withdrawal i want to BEG my doctor for a longer acting drug so i wont suffer as much.

[[am...]]

Vardenafil,

I can totally relate with what you are feeling. I have been tapering since February.  And as I am going lower (down to less than .5 mg of Ativan), I am defineately feeling it at about the 3 hours mark. Now that I changed from 3 doses to 4 - it is only two hours, so I'm going back to three. Just listening to my body. So IMO I think it is a combination of lower dose, plus having a smaller amount in my system each time.  But honestly, to go to a longer acting I would never do. Mainly because I've educated myself on all benzos.  The longer acting is also more powerful. From what I understand, it is twice as powerful as Ativan - you can check with a moderator on that to be sure. If you switch to longer acting, you have to also w/d from that and have some of the same issues such as i/d withdrawals.  Plus some of the people w/d off of something like Klonopin seem to really get slammed (just my observation - and I feel so bad for them).  Really research this and ask advice before begging your doctor.  The medical community really isn't informed about the problems with this drug. For example, I was told by every doctor, including ER and a teaching hospital that it was impossible for me to feel w/d after being off a benzo for 4 months (I had never experienced such hell in my life-only after reinstating did I experience any relief).  I have said over and over again, I wish someone would have told me about these drugs before I just accepted them from my doc as truth (even though she was trying to help me- this has been a learning experience for both my doc and I).  So really just wanted to encourage you to research the hell out of these by reading some of the books, like Benzo_Wise, Worse Than Heroin and also read the posts here.

Good luck to you!

amb

[[Ni...]]

Vardenafil,

I can totally relate with what you are feeling. I have been tapering since February.  And as I am going lower (down to less than .5 mg of Ativan), I am defineately feeling it at about the 3 hours mark. Now that I changed from 3 doses to 4 - it is only two hours, so I'm going back to three. Just listening to my body. So IMO I think it is a combination of lower dose, plus having a smaller amount in my system each time.  But honestly, to go to a longer acting I would never do. Mainly because I've educated myself on all benzos.  The longer acting is also more powerful. From what I understand, it is twice as powerful as Ativan - you can check with a moderator on that to be sure. If you switch to longer acting, you have to also w/d from that and have some of the same issues such as i/d withdrawals.  Plus some of the people w/d off of something like Klonopin seem to really get slammed (just my observation - and I feel so bad for them).  Really research this and ask advice before begging your doctor.  The medical community really isn't informed about the problems with this drug. For example, I was told by every doctor, including ER and a teaching hospital that it was impossible for me to feel w/d after being off a benzo for 4 months (I had never experienced such hell in my life-only after reinstating did I experience any relief).  I have said over and over again, I wish someone would have told me about these drugs before I just accepted them from my doc as truth (even though she was trying to help me- this has been a learning experience for both my doc and I).  So really just wanted to encourage you to research the hell out of these by reading some of the books, like Benzo_Wise, Worse Than Heroin and also read the posts here.

Good luck to you!

amb

 

Hi amb56,

 

Klonopin has twice the potency of Ativan and is a longer-acting benzo.

 

Ativan has ten times the potency of Valium. Valium is much longer acting than Ativan.

 

Here's a benzo converter so you can compare the strengths of the different benzos:

 

http://www.benzodocs.com/converter.php

 

The Ashton Manual covers the different benzo's duration of action (how long they work in your system) very well:

 

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

 

I think it's best if the patient becomes as educated as they can on how benzos work so they can make informed decisions when they discuss tapering or crossing to another benzo with their doctor. I also think it's important for the patient to have much of the control on how fast the taper down.

 

Hope you find that information helpful.

[[Ni...]]

how do i tell the difference between tolerance and interdose withdrawals? and does it even matter? when i started ativan i was taking it twice a day now im trying to take it 5 times a day. but it seems to only last 3 hours in my body. if its tolerance issue i think i just want to put my head down and try push through it. if its inter dose withdrawal i want to BEG my doctor for a longer acting drug so i wont suffer as much.

 

Hi vardenafil,

 

I think it's kind of tricky to tell the difference between inter-dose withdrawals (w/d) and tolerance when on a short-acting benzo. Mostly it seems that when you reach a point when the benzo isn't working for you anymore or you have upped your dose to get the same effects that would be tolerance.

 

Inter-dose w/d happens when you feel better shortlyafter you've taken a dose of your benzo. I may be wrong but I mostly just here about inter-dose w/d from Ativan and Xanax.

 

I'm not sure it matters if it's inter-dose w/d or tolerance when you decide to taper down because you will feel usually feel w/d effects either way.

 

The important thing is to make an informed decision, go slowly, listen to your body and hopefully find a doctor who will work with you on this. We all have different body chemistries and what might work well for one may not work as well for another.

 

I wish you well on whatever you decide to do.

[[am...]]

Thanks Nicolette. You are awesome!

[[Ni...]]

Your welcome amb56!

[[sw...]]

It's sort of six of one and a half dozen of the other.

[[Go...]]

Nicolette,

 

Isn't Xanex the same potency by weight as Klonopin plus Xanex has the shortest half life of them all.

 

I know I'm not in your shoes or on the same drug but you seem to be doing great.

 

[[Ni...]]

Nicolette,

 

Isn't Xanex the same potency by weight as Klonopin plus Xanex has the shortest half life of them all.

 

I know I'm not in your shoes or on the same drug but you seem to be doing great.

 

 

Hi Godsgrace,

 

Yes, Xanax has the same potency by weight as Klonopin and has the shortest half-life. For the most part I'm tolerating my taper.

 

Before I became benzo-wise I would vary my dosing so much that my inter-dose w/d was off the map and I didn't know what was causing it. Another reason I'm doing okay is that for some reason I get a lot of fatigue (that's why I'm on the computer alot  ) and not a lot of anxiety.

I'm going to titrate soon and go very slow too.

 

Cheers

[[Go...]]

It's great that you can gonthrough that and help others.

[[Ni...]]

It's great that you can gonthrough that and help others.

 

Thanks Godsgrace, BB is a refuge for me, plus I welcome the distraction!

[[Go...]]

It saved me Sunday when I was having a hard time.

[[Ni...]]

It saved me Sunday when I was having a hard time.

 

That's great Godsgrace.