Do I c/o from Ativan to Valium?

[[pe...]]

P doc is supposed to call me back this afternoon, and I'm deciding if I should ask her to switch.  I'm pretty sure I'm having interdose w/d with Ativan.  Am at .485 mg. now water titrating.  She wants to move me to K, and I haven't let her.

 

Thanks!

[[of...]]

Ativan can be a beast to get off of.  It is doable but lots of people opt for something longer acting.

 

Valium may smooth things out a bit and if you keep it slow and managed it may soften the landing.

 

If you do cross,  you need to take it slow,  valium and ativan are very different animals.  It takes sometime for the valium to build up in your system.

 

If you feel stuck with ativan than a cross may help things.  good luck  xo

[[...]]

She wants to move me to K, and I haven't let her.

 

Hi peaceofmind,

I gather from your signature that anxiety is an issue. K aka clonazepam doesn't seem to be the best choice in this case.

 

 

According to this source http://alamut.info/Lexikon/Indexe/Benzodiazepine.htm K is among the less effective benzos against anxiety. (See figure at the bottom of the page, the red bar is the antianxiety effect)

 

[[Be...]]

I actually found Klonopin to work very well for anxiety when I took it regularly rather than "as needed".  It is also much longer acting than Ativan so is often a choice for a substitution taper, especially in the US.  Of course, just like with Valium, not everyone reacts well to Klonopin either. 

 

If you are having interdose withdrawal, rathe than plain, old withdrawal from lowering your dose, have you tried spreading your dose out during the day?  When I was taking .5mg/day, it was divided up in .125mg pieces and taken every 6 hours.