Tapering off Ativan Support Thread

[[da...]]

Satasha

Glad you are doing so well

What was it like for you towards the very end but before you got off?

I'm finding it difficult at the end.

 

TinaCa

Seems like we are in somewhat similar boats right now.

[[Ti...]]

Davis you are so close. I am not stable. In fact adding more Valium today. . I am now on 2 drugs because couldn't completely cross over. Ativan wd too tough. I am going in the wrong direction! What are your main symptoms?  Mine are insomnia, akathesia, anxiety and may recently, nausea. I have sOme bad sx that are keeping me from moving forward. Also rapid heartbeat and high BP. Losing hope I will ever get off!!

[[po...]]

hey Satashatasha

 

so pleased and happy for you to hear you've stepped off so lightly - yahoo!

 

xxpoppins

[[po...]]

... and hang in there David, you've been patient and determined

 

 

Tina I hope it starts coming right again soon for you hon

 

I'm doing pretty good at this dose, been a long time, still the tinnitus but the rest of the symptoms at present are okay.  Its like windows have become more the norm for me.

 

xx

poppins

[[da...]]

Tina

I too started hitting real hard "walls" once below .2mg and they have continued on down.  my primary sxs is the shakes-akathisia (feel like a dash-board bobble head  doll) and lately head in a vise pressure.  Very few people make it all the way off on ativan alone. Sounds like your wd sensitivity is like mine.  Because I had seizures 30 years ago I was put on low dose of phenobarbital during the wd- otherwise I could never have got this far (but it does have some trade-offs) I take it during the interdose crash time.

 

FYI if I can't hold a cut I go back up for one dose then back down maybe back up again several doses later, for one dose (I call it "bouncing") It seems to buy me some extra time for my brain to recover-but thats just me and we are all different.

 

How often do you dose per day? are you titrating?  The short time between some of of your cuts, no matter how small the cut could cumulatively be some of your problem, based on my experience this is suspect  Example: your jump to .09mg lasted only 3days and that might be what caught up with you when you just happened to be at .085- and  it was preceeded by a 5 day cut (a bare minimum time for me).  Just trying to help by sharing what I learned from my mistakes.  You know your own body best.

 

Poppins

Thanks for the support

[[Ti...]]

David I am currently at .105 Ativan and 1 mg. Valium. Have totally gone backwards as the wd were unmanageable. I was doing better but then cut Ativan by 15% again 2 weeks ago (was trying a crossover to Valium). Well a few days later slammed again with Ativan wd. They don't cover all the same receptors I guess. I am very symptomatic again and not sleepig well again. Last Friday I had a huge wibdow and felt nearly 100%. Then the Ativan wd caught up. I guess my system is too sensitive for a Valium crossover. So now I am stuck on equal amounts of two mess and feeling sick again!!  I just have to hold for awhile and am praying to strabilize once again. No way can I taper on this condition. . So glad you are getting close. What are your main sx now?

 

Poppins so happy you are getting so close!!  Still planning on that sailing trip?  When do you leave??

[[po...]]

David I am currently at .105 Ativan and 1 mg. Valium. Have totally gone backwards as the wd were unmanageable. I was doing better but then cut Ativan by 15% again 2 weeks ago (was trying a crossover to Valium). Well a few days later slammed again with Ativan wd. They don't cover all the same receptors I guess. I am very symptomatic again and not sleepig well again. Last Friday I had a huge wibdow and felt nearly 100%. Then the Ativan wd caught up. I guess my system is too sensitive for a Valium crossover. So now I am stuck on equal amounts of two mess and feeling sick again!!  I just have to hold for awhile and am praying to strabilize once again. No way can I taper on this condition. . So glad you are getting close. What are your main sx now?

 

Poppins so happy you are getting so close!!  Still planning on that sailing trip?  When do you leave??

 

Thanks Tina, it is lovely to get close after such a long time.  I have to not get impatient and try to speed up.

 

Yes, we head off in 5 weeks!  its like working two jobs at the moment, trying to get everything ready.  Very exciting times ahead

 

xx

[[Ti...]]

Poplins that's wonderful! I have a question when you cut too fast early on what were your symptoms and how long did you have to hold the dose before you stabilized?  You give me hope things can turn around!!

[[po...]]

Hey Tina

 

My symptoms from too big a cut were - immediate hearing distortion - echoes, tinnitus, crazy mood swings, and a kind of internal disorientation that was overwhelming.  I continued to cut for a while (driven by the false idea that it was simply a matter of getting the drug out of my body).  I was really struggling, I couldn't even mentally plan a route in the city I've lived in for over 20 years.  My concentration and intellect were severely impaired.

 

I eventually held around .85 milligrams for several months, and slowly but steadily started to feel better.  Once I was ready I started cutting again.  I was really scared of re-entering that awful state but I'm happy to say its never been that bad.

 

I don't really know about your situation Tina, given what a short time you've been taking Ativan. (I am over 10 years).  I don't know whether you are best to hold and lengthen what is clearly an ordeal or what.  I know that awful feeling of trying hard to find answers, and you get almost superstitious that something or other will help.  Best advice I can give is to listen to what is happening to your body, try and recognize its patterns.  If you hold and continue to improve, keep holding.  If you stop improving, its probably time to reduce.

 

i'm sorry you are doing it tough, its a lonely and hard place to be, I really hope it starts improving again for you

 

poppins

[[Ti...]]

Thank you Poppins.  I have had good days where I feel like myself but then get slammed again.  I am demoralized that I updosed on the Valium but given the severity of my symptoms, my doctor felt it was the only way to go.  Was not sleeping and losing lots of weight.  Anyways, feeling a bit better than yesterday, but then again I'm going in the wrong direction.  HOWEVER, as long as I stabilize, that is all I want.  Who cares how long I've been on these drugs, the point is to get off safely and with minimal suffering.  You have shown me that is possible.  I don't know if it's possible for me anymore, but I hope so.  You are so close Poppins and are so wise with what you've gone through.  I know you were on them 10 years, so I"m not gonna freak out that it's now been 5 months.  In the end, we will all get off and all heal.  It just takes time and patience--learning this the hard way...Think I'm just gonna hold at this .1 Ativan and 1 mg. Valium and see what happens.  Have no other choice really...

 

Take care,

Tina

[[po...]]

Thats the spirit Tina, its been tough seeing you go through these hard times, but you will get there.  The best part is as you heal you can stop focusing on withdrawal so much

 

xx

poppins

[[Ti...]]

Poppins--You are so right.  2 Fridays ago I felt so good I hardly thought about w/d at all.  I dressed cute, put on makeup, took my kids out, met my husband for lunch.  It's like I lived a year in that day, just holding onto it because I felt so good.  I appreciated EVERY second of that day.  Even drank some decaf coffee.  Well, then things went downhill again as the Ativan w/d hit and now I feel sick and nauseated and w/d is all I can think about...wanting to feel better...Looking forward to healing and better days ahead...

 

Tina

[[da...]]

Tina

Ouch,ouch,ouch so sorry you are hurting.  Our sensitivity sounds so similiar.  Don't be hard on yourself for backing off, its actually the path to success in the long run.  Praying for you.

 

FYI if I cut, hit a wall and then tried to tuff it out before retreating it frequently took longer for me to stabilize after I retreated, as though I had beat myself up.  Have you ever experienced this?

PTL David B

[[Ti...]]

Yes David if I wait too long before retreating it does take me a lot longer. The problem is that for me the cuts don't show up until 5 days later and then it's almost too late to go back even though I often do anyway. When do your cuts show up?

[[Kl...]]

Yes David if I wait too long before retreating it does take me a lot longer. The problem is that for me the cuts don't show up until 5 days later and then it's almost too late to go back even though I often do anyway. When do your cuts show up?

 

Tina, my valium cut usually showed up somewhere between day 4 and day 7 and lasted for 3 days.....I cut every week on Sunday regardless of how bad I felt (I am a little dumb). But toward the end I had 8 straight days of "feeling the cut". I suspect that my cut did not show until day 8....so it hit on Monday, the day after I cut again) and made it feel like I got hit right away.....and then lasted for 8 days because it went back to back with my second cut.

 

But I think we can get really confused because the "feel the cut" days do not always follow a predictable pattern. And you are right about it being too late to up dose by the time we feel the cut on Valium.

 

I was cutting every week by 0.5mg/week.......I can't tell what your cut and hold pattern is .......I am thinking you may want to cut a smaller amount and hold longer....instead of up dosing when you really feel a "cut".  It hurts just thinking about the stage you  are at and remembering how uncertain I was back then about everything. You are healing. God bless.

[[Ti...]]

Klondike--when did the nausea let up for you?  Did you get the benzo belly/bloating too?  These are my most concerning sx right now.  Nausea even keeps me up during the night.  I'm concerned I have damaged the vagus nerve and developed Gastroparesis--as I have all the sx--and everything I read says it a life-long condition!  Anyways, I digress...

[[sa...]]

Dear friends

Just a short note to let you know I'm feeling great again! Yeeeeeessss!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All the best for you.

[[be...]]

That's awesome to hear Satasha! I am 1 month into my taper from 2-3mg, now I'm at at .75mg

My symptoms have only gotten better as I have gone on. I've had about 2 weeks now with only very mild interdose wd. Mostly it's unnoticeable.

Hopefully this trend continues.

Good luck to everyone!

 

a

[[Kl...]]

Klondike--when did the nausea let up for you?  Did you get the benzo belly/bloating too?  These are my most concerning sx right now.  Nausea even keeps me up during the night.  I'm concerned I have damaged the vagus nerve and developed Gastroparesis--as I have all the sx--and everything I read says it a life-long condition!  Anyways, I digress...

 

Hi Tina.Uhggg...the nausea is no fun and it tries to shade everything else we feel in grey...almost as bad as depression - so don't let it define your outlook on the future.

 

My worst nausea left in early June, instantly after some folks at one of the Healing Rooms prayed for me one day. What a relief!! Prior to that I had been tossing up breakfast 5 times a week and rapidly loosing weight. I never vomited again like that until months later...and then only once or twice....maybe with the flu. The extreme nausea I had prior to June was probably form cutting too fast on Ativan and not dosing regularly. The Doctor put me on Ativan for extreme tinnitus in February 2011 and told me to take it as needed. In April I started tapering from 3mgs/day and I got to 0.75mg/day by the end of June. Thats when I found BB and Ashton and started a reasonable c/o to Valium and a planned taper.

 

I had moderate to mild nausea every morning and some afternoons all through my Valium taper and for the first couple of months after benzo freedom. For the past several months now the nausea has been mostly mild and only for a few hours in the morning....maybe 4 days a week. I did not get the bloating or the benzo belly that some people get.

 

Tina, have you tried Phenergan...you need a script for it but it is the same anti-nausea med they give pregnant women.......it has been a huge help to me although it did not stop the vomiting I had while on Ativan. I also used ginger and pepermint tea but they were no match for Phenergan.

 

Please keep me posted.

 

 

 

 

[[gr...]]

I don't know how or where to write. I need help tappering off of Ativan. I am on 2 mg's 3 times a day. The doc gave me Valium 10mg's 4x a day and that won't work looking at the Ashton record. What do i do? Can anyone help me. I want off these crazy thing's. How do i get off them safely. My Doctor is not going to  up the dose.. Can you help me???

[[da...]]

Yes David if I wait too long before retreating it does take me a lot longer. The problem is that for me the cuts don't show up until 5 days later and then it's almost too late to go back even though I often do anyway. When do your cuts show up?

 

Tina

(to answer your question, when I do hit a wall its about one-two days after but I'm on one short H L benzo so our situations are different ie your two benzos)

 

But your situation does remind me of something.  As you know you are on both a short and long half life benzo at the same time.  It reminds me of an engineering systems damping problem (read damping problem to equal two benzo's different half-lives).  For example, research showed you could make a bicycle UNrideable by putting a delay between when you turned the handle bars and when the wheel turned.  That delay is damping and it may be contributing to what you are experiencing .  The vallium may be delaying the time before you hit the ativan wd wall (if you are going to) but then it may also be delaying the time before you can retreat from the wall. (But I'm not blaming vallium).  Does any of this sound a little like you?

 

A somewhat similar situation happened with my wife after she had her para-thyroid out.  She needed alot of calcium when her fingers tingled but no matter how much calcium we gave her at the time it did nothing until half a day later, at which time we had used up most of her alottment of calcium for the whole  day. The following day was a repeat until I shared this concept with the doc, he agreed to a constant higher calcium dose after she was stabilized and it worked.  She had been ossilating between too much and not enough calcium.

How often do you you dose ativan/day? 

 

Praying you feel better

 

 

     

[[sa...]]

Hi Granny!

Well, could you find some other doc who listens better? Can you taper off some of the Ativan directly without crossing over?

 

[[Kl...]]

I don't know how or where to write. I need help tappering off of Ativan. I am on 2 mg's 3 times a day. The doc gave me Valium 10mg's 4x a day and that won't work looking at the Ashton record. What do i do? Can anyone help me. I want off these crazy thing's. How do i get off them safely. My Doctor is not going to  up the dose.. Can you help me???

 

Hi Granny, for more help with tapering you could start a new thread in the main forum section of BB ....under General Taper Plans or Substitution Taper plans. Title it something like "I need help getting off of 6mgs/day Ativan".

 

If I read your post correctly, you are at 6mgs/day Ativan. So Ashton would cross you over to 60 mgs/day Valium....but your doctor is only willing to cross you over to 40mgs/day of Valium.

 

I don't have experience at the higher doses....I never took more than 3.5mgs/day ativan...but a bunch of us feel that Ashton's 10:1 ratio for Valium to Ativan is a little conservative....it might be more like 9:1 or 8:1.  So you should not be too far off crossing from 6mg/day Ativan to 48mgs/day valium (8X6).....but that is still a higher valium dose than what you doc. is willing to script.

 

Some people have a problem with Valium and depression....especially at higher doses. So you may want to taper directly on Ativan for a while.....But it gets very hard to taper on Ativan below 1mg/day so you may want to cross over to valium before that.

 

You can start your taper by cutting 10% of your current dose every 1-2 weeks (Ashton). If you are dry cutting you may want a supply of the 0.5mg tablets and the liquid ATivan for making up fractions. With Ativan it is usually more important for the doses to be even and on time ....than it is with Valium. At lower doses of Ativan, I was having interdose wd and had to dose 4-6 times/day. If you start having interdose wd on Ativan consider going to at least 4 doses/day....every 6 hours. Later on...if you cross over to Valium....you can probably just dose twice/day and not worry if you miss by several hours.

 

Don't feel like you need to rush your taper.....it takes time to heal and rushing does not shorten that time period. I hope this helps. God bless

 

 

[[Ne...]]

Was on 1.5 mg of Ativan for 7 weeks...C/T 4 days  w/d hit  Reinstated and I am doing a 10-12 day CROSSOVER using REG PERT'S schedule. www.regpert.com . His WEBSITE has it. I just realized he suggests staying on 15 mg. {5mg 3x's daily} of Valium for 30 days to reach a STEADY SATE.

 

He does say it can be 2-3 weeks if you feel fine...any way the reduction {Tapering} of 15 mg of Valium according to the ASHTON PROTOCOL look to to be 15 weeks plus my cross over is 17 total weeks. MY GOD....IS THAT CORRECT?

That called good and addicted to get very slowly un addicted....

Everyone's thoughts are welcome.

[[mi...]]

Hi  Need some help in tapering off ativan.  I am on 1 mi at nt time and have started to cross over to valium .  Did .75 ativan and 2.5 valium for 10 nts. and last nt I did .50 ativan and mg. valium and felt like shit today.  Maybe I need to do .75 and 2.5 for a few more days? and then go to .50 and 5 mg. but do each one for a couple of weeks? Would like to reduce ativan by 1/4 cross over to 2.5 more valium till I am 100 % valium stay on that for a couple of weeks then start dropping 0.5 mi of valium every two or should I do every three weeks.  Figure it will take me 40 weeks to get off once I get on valium 100%.  Should I use the liquid once I get down to 1 mi? and how will I sleep once I am off of it.  Was taking 1 mi for about 7 years so I want to go really slow Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!