Tapering off Ativan Support Thread

[[Sa...]]

Hi everyone. I c/t 8mg ativan starting in July 14. Got to week six before i finally found a new doctor. Now he wants me to start the ativan again at 6mg per day. 2mgx3. He also has diagnosed me with OCD and AAHD. He doesn't seem too keen on getting me off ativan but i am very keen to the idea. The acute phase of withdrawal was hell and i would never go through that again. I want the freedom to taper off ativan myself if he should stay hardline on me reinstating it.  So in essence if i have to go back on ativan at 6mg per day can someone please help me with a taper plan on this high of a dose.? I'm still battling not going on it at all but he feels i may have to become hospitalized if i don't because of the horrible panic disorder. Please give me your advise. Bless y'all, ~Terrain

 

Oh Native, I can't imagine the pain you must be going through right now...I'm so incredible sorry...I echo everything Kiddo has said...however, I have another suggestion and PLEASE message her.

 

Birdman is a extremely knowledgable member. In fact she is the person most qualified in my mind to help you. As I recall she went through this dilemma herself with Ativan. In addition she posted a response to someone in the c/t section I remember reading some time ago. I was struck learning she either has a dr who specializes with people accidentally undergoing a c/t due to natural disasters or has spoken with one. Her post was fascinating....anyway, this is far above my pay grade.

 

I'm sorry I can't post the link. Type her name in the PM system and please message her. She also can be found in the tinnitus support group.

 

Best of luck to you whatever you decide

 

Saga

 

 

[[Sa...]]

Hey Kiddo and Laser

 

Laser sorry i just saw you wrote me back in the blue part

 

what i was trying to figure out was an accurate dose i am converting to in my c/o to valium

 

Looks like i screwed up in thinking that the weight of the pill = the dosage inside the pill. ( i had not been to a Dr. in 25 years before last November because i was afraid of something like this happening)

 

It is a bit complicated but stick with me and i think you will get where i made my mistake

 

So the first Lorazepam's i had each weighed .099 ea. (from Pharmacy A)  and then the ones i have been taking now

(Pharmacy B Watson brand generic) weighed .118 -.119 ea so lets just say .119 ea.

 

I figured .119 equaled 1.19mg of Lorazepam in ea pill. ( that they put too much in each pill )

I was taking 1.5 mg's a day per Dr.s prescription.....so i figured based on the pills weight i was actually taking around 1.76 mg per day but i was probably actually taking the 1.5 mg prescribed dose.

 

When people at benzobuddies told me to cut the pills into 4 daily doses i tried cutting them to .0375 (actual weight- not actual mg.) 4x a day. It was not pleasant!

 

So i then cut them to 5x a day because i thought i was i/d w/d too much ( but it looks like now i might have just cut too much)

 

At 5 x a day i weighed the pills at .030 ea. (actual weight- not actual mg.) Still had a hard time with sxs. I endured it for 2 weeks or so and then cut to .027 (actual weight- not actual mg.)

 

And that is where i am now with my first c/o dose of Valium made two days ago.

 

I exchanged one of the .027 weight doses for a 2.5 mg dose of Valium.

 

Now in this process i discovered that i had made a mistake when i started weighing the Valium pills and they only weighed like .176....i then weighed an old BP med that was 20 mg and it only weighed .196.

It was "Oh S*^T" at that point.

 

That upset plus the first c/o dose has had me spinning and i am not feeling really sure what actual dose i am crossing over to.

 

The more recent calculations put the actual dose i was taking in real mg's as 1.134 mg or .226 mg's each dose.

 

This would explain the bad withdrawals i was experiencing when i first started weighing and cutting

 

So instead of c/o to 15 mg of Valium....i am thinking more like 12 mg of Valium since i already inadvertantly cut apx .30 mg of Ativan during the last month or so

 

Make Sense?

 

Hope i explained this properly and am open to any more questions, suggestions, advice etc

 

 

 

 

Hi Mark,

 

I will admit to being thoroughly confused by your posts on the math portion...I did not do any of my own math however...the gist of your post is you believe you  were actually cutting far more Ativan? That's what my takeaway is...and I couldn't understand your post the other day about the math either...if your scale is correct math is math,right? That's why you're measuring another pill to make sure the scale is correct?

 

So you're saying you switched brands and the weight is different or your first cut was too much...I'm rambling here...one of the reasons I favored a crossover was the fact you were actually at 2 mgs of Ativan and attempted to stabilize at 1.5, not sure how long you were there before you cut. Now you're saying you cut too much? Regardless, the Valium takes time to build up with a crossover. I understand it can be dicey the first few weeks. I wouldn't aim for lower, honestly...it's a wait and see as far as I'm concerned but you want to be at the equivalent if not a little higher based on what I've read...my opinion here...I'm sorry I'm not answering properly it's because I'm confused a bit...

[[Na...]]

Hi saga. I lost everything over this except the house and farm.  These doctors really put a hurting on me. I have to share it though cause i sure didn't research it. Never had trouble with trusting what docs said til now.  I just don't want anyone else going through this.

[[Sh...]]

Saga

 

Sorry for the confusion

 

Let me try another angle

 

I have weights that are 10 grams each to set the scale. Its a Gemini scale

 

I had never weighed anything on this scale other than the 10 gram weight to make sure the scale was accurate...and the Lorazepam.

I had two different lorazepam brands. when i weighed the first pill it weighed .099 for a 1 mg Lorazepam pill

So i made the wrong assumption that the pills themselves weighed the same as the mg inside the pills

 

when i weighed the second pill it came up as .119. I thought the pill company had made the pills with too much Lorazepam in them. I thought each pill had an actual amount of 1.19 mg in them and since i was taking one and one half pills of Lorazepam i did the math and figured i was really taking around 1.75 mg's of Lorazepam

ALL because i didnt realize that the pills dont weigh the same as what is inside of them. There is fillers and stuff in them and the actual weight of the pills has NOTHING to do with whats inside of them.

 

Because the first pill weighed .099 i wrongly assumed it = 1 mg..so all my caluculations were off

 

At this point i am trying to find out what the actual dose of Lorazepam i am taking now so i can make an accurate c/o to Valium.

 

Does that make a little more sense?

 

On another point you mentioned. I had taken 2.0 mgs of lorazepam a few times but not sure that made me @ 2 mg....but you are right that i was trying to stabilize at 1.5 mg divided by 5 x a day

 

In actuality i think i am now stabilized at 1.125 mg divided by 5 x a day

 

Which would then make my cross over 11.25 mg of Valium or i would round it up to 12 mg

[[Sa...]]

Hi saga. I lost everything over this except the house and farm.  These doctors really put a hurting on me. I have to share it though cause i sure didn't research it. Never had trouble with trusting what docs said til now.  I just don't want anyone else going through this.

 

I'm so sorry to hear this....the destruction of lives is incredibly sad...I know none of us want anyone else to experience this. I hear you about mistrust...I've spent the last 25 years searching for the answers to my health problems. It was always the Ativan...

 

The one silver lining is we now have a second chance. We know what's wrong. I am honestly quite relieved and ultimately that's how I try to frame all of this. Of course I have many conflicted feelings and the pain and devastation is heartbreaking.

 

I can't advise you how to proceed Native but PLEASE message Birdman....I don't know how well you're coping. I was a little surprised you felt acute was over for you. BenzoCruel is also a moderator who c/t a large dose of Ativan...she did not reinstate and I believe she's doing well now...Birdman was also on a high amount of Ativan...I wish you the best

[[Sa...]]

Saga

 

Sorry for the confusion

 

Let me try another angle

 

I have weights that are 10 grams each to set the scale. Its a Gemini scale

 

I had never weighed anything on this scale other than the 10 gram weight to make sure the scale was accurate...and the Lorazepam.

I had two different lorazepam brands. when i weighed the first pill it weighed .099 for a 1 mg Lorazepam pill

So i made the wrong assumption that the pills themselves weighed the same as the mg inside the pills

 

when i weighed the second pill it came up as .119. I thought the pill company had made the pills with too much Lorazepam in them. I thought each pill had an actual amount of 1.19 mg in them and since i was taking one and one half pills of Lorazepam i did the math and figured i was really taking around 1.75 mg's of Lorazepam

ALL because i didnt realize that the pills dont weigh the same as what is inside of them. There is fillers and stuff in them and the actual weight of the pills has NOTHING to do with whats inside of them.

 

Because the first pill weighed .099 i wrongly assumed it = 1 mg..so all my caluculations were off

 

At this point i am trying to find out what the actual dose of Lorazepam i am taking now so i can make an accurate c/o to Valium.

 

Does that make a little more sense?

 

On another point you mentioned. I had taken 2.0 mgs of lorazepam a few times but not sure that made me @ 2 mg....but you are right that i was trying to stabilize at 1.5 mg divided by 5 x a day

 

In actuality i think i am now stabilized at 1.125 mg divided by 5 x a day

 

Which would then make my cross over 11.25 mg of Valium or i would round it up to 12 mg

 

Ok Mark, I'm starting to get this a little...see I was working with a .5 and also a 1 mg pill so it was quite confusing when I began the scale...I had multiple meltdowns and had to get my husband to take over everything...so let me say this...if you have the actual pieces of Ativan you're taking you should be able to calculate the dosage you're actually taking...your pieces should be fairly large right now. If you are at 1.125 total and you're swapping each dose out eventually...oh I get it...listen Mark, this is my advice...you may not know exactly...go with where you are now...you may not like this answer...don't know what to tell you otherwise. Since you're moving to Valium it's going to be a a little rocky crossing anyway until the Valium builds into your system...you're not really going to know entirely for a few weeks anyhow as far as I can tell...it's almost impossible for you not to feel some panic thinking you've messed up your calculations...this is a panic filled process even under the best circumstances...maybe someone else will read this and come to a better conclusion than mine...hang in there Mark...you can do this 

 

Saga

[[Sh...]]

Thanks Saga!

 

Glad you are seeing it

 

Funny i never saw this or anyone else. I would do long posts trying to explain.

 

I think if i would have known this from the beginning i would have approached it differently and may have never decided to c/o.

I cut way too big and if i had smaller cuts i may have been able to ride Lorazepam all the way down.

 

The good news:

 

I am farther down the cut trail than i thought i was. I should have weeks less of tapering because of it.

 

Taking the Valium has smoothed out some of the Lorazepam sxs like DP/DR 

Sooo. i too and thinking that a lot of what i have been thinking was wrong with me was due to the Lorazepam and not multiple things wrong with me.

 

I feel really bad you had to go through 25 years of this crap to find this out. 9 months for me seems small in comparison.

 

Glad you are doing better and thanks for your input and caring

[[No...]]

Hi everyone. I c/t 8mg ativan starting in July 14. Got to week six before i finally found a new doctor. Now he wants me to start the ativan again at 6mg per day. 2mgx3. He also has diagnosed me with OCD and AAHD. He doesn't seem too keen on getting me off ativan but i am very keen to the idea. The acute phase of withdrawal was hell and i would never go through that again. I want the freedom to taper off ativan myself if he should stay hardline on me reinstating it.  So in essence if i have to go back on ativan at 6mg per day can someone please help me with a taper plan on this high of a dose.? I'm still battling not going on it at all but he feels i may have to become hospitalized if i don't because of the horrible panic disorder. Please give me your advise. Bless y'all, ~Terrain

 

Holly Hell, Cold Turkey 8mg/day of Ativan ? You are one tough tough guy… 

 

What Kiddo and Saga told you seems pretty wise. Trying to reinstate at a really "fairly low dose" (for you) of Ativan, like 3mg/day . spread evenly throughout the day and hold it 2 to 4 months until you "stabilize" and can do a proper tapering.

 

I'm curious of knowing what other solution Saga has in store ? She said she had one and will tell you.

 

[[No...]]

Hi everybody, i'm currently struggling with a lot of insomnia. having no more than 4h30mins of sleep during these last 6 days. today 3hours 50. Feels extremely tired, and weak, have difficulty breathing, chest pain. Teeths that hurts badly and joints , tendons pains among a lot of other symptoms.

 

I stabilise to 0,25mg of ATivan (one single dose at night one hour before bed). 3 days stable, and holding but the situation is getting worse or at least does not evolve in a positive way.

 

My question is what should I do? I was planning on coming off 1st october but if i could feel ok and sleep sth like 6 to 7 hours / night I would glady take more time tapering and do it properly.

 

Should I hold longer this dose ? Should I split the dose in multiple doses to help me with the sleep. Or 2 doses One at 9 pm and the other at 3/4am to get back to sleep? Should I up the dose by adding a mid-night dose (3 am) like 1st dose 25mg / 2nd dose 15mg . Or 20mg / 15mg. Or else ?

 

Does anybody had good result with only a single dose Ativan and slept well. or Bi-dose?

 

Any help would be more than welcome <3 !

[[Co...]]

Hi everybody, i'm currently struggling with a lot of insomnia. having no more than 4h30mins of sleep during these last 6 days. today 3hours 50. Feels extremely tired, and weak, have difficulty breathing, chest pain. Teeths that hurts badly and joints , tendons pains among a lot of other symptoms.

 

I stabilise to 0,25mg of ATivan (one single dose at night one hour before bed). 3 days stable, and holding but the situation is getting worse or at least does not evolve in a positive way.

 

My question is what should I do? I was planning on coming off 1st october but if i could feel ok and sleep sth like 6 to 7 hours / night I would glady take more time tapering and do it properly.

 

Should I hold longer this dose ? Should I split the dose in multiple doses to help me with the sleep. Or 2 doses One at 9 pm and the other at 3/4am to get back to sleep? Should I up the dose by adding a mid-night dose (3 am) like 1st dose 25mg / 2nd dose 15mg . Or 20mg / 15mg. Or else ?

 

Does anybody had good result with only a single dose Ativan and slept well. or Bi-dose?

 

Any help would be more than welcome <3 !

 

If you are dependent why are you dosing 1x a day? The drug is not therapeutic anymore. Your brain requires it to function. Split your doses throughout the day and you may save yourself a lot of suffering.

[[Ki...]]

Nolan - I don't think increasing your dose or dividing you dose will help at all....in fact, it would likely disrupt your sleep further. Have to ever though of trying a non-addictive sleep aid to help you through the last portion of your taper? I know many have had good success with Unisom or Doxy or Gravol or Benadryl. I would look to that first before fooling around with your taper, IMO. The rest of the stuff you are feeling is normal, crappy, withdrawal. It's probably more intense than normal because of the lack of sleep which can rev up your symptoms. There is a support thread for insomnia that you would probably benefit from reading/joining. You're doing really great. Keep it up 

 

Mark - I have no idea about your dilemma. I'm sorry I don't have any advice  I blame my benzo brain and the fact that I never weighed my pills because I can't be bothered. I just cut off chunks of a tablet until it weighs what I need...not very scientific 

[[Ki...]]

Cosmic - I think you are confused in your terminology. Being dependent means you need the drug in your system or you will struggle with withdrawal. There are many people who are dependant and only dose once a day. If you don't suffer interdose there is no reason to take multiple doses throughout the day.

[[Co...]]

Cosmic - I think you are confused in your terminology. Being dependent means you need the drug in your system or you will struggle with withdrawal. There are many people who are dependant and only dose once a day. If you don't suffer interdose there is no reason to take multiple doses throughout the day.

 

Some people can dose Ativan 1x a day and not experience I'd???

[[No...]]

Nolan - I don't think increasing your dose or dividing you dose will help at all....in fact, it would likely disrupt your sleep further. Have to ever though of trying a non-addictive sleep aid to help you through the last portion of your taper? I know many have had good success with Unisom or Doxy or Gravol or Benadryl. I would look to that first before fooling around with your taper, IMO. The rest of the stuff you are feeling is normal, crappy, withdrawal. It's probably more intense than normal because of the lack of sleep which can rev up your symptoms. There is a support thread for insomnia that you would probably benefit from reading/joining. You're doing really great. Keep it up 

 

Mark - I have no idea about your dilemma. I'm sorry I don't have any advice  I blame my benzo brain and the fact that I never weighed my pills because I can't be bothered. I just cut off chunks of a tablet until it weighs what I need...not very scientific 

 

You're probably right I should not mess with my taper at this stage. I will hold until I'm more ore less ok.

Never consider using Unisom, or doxy or Benadril. Because I think that anything that help you sleep, will likely on the long run be addictive . But I will do my research on it Thank you Kiddo !

 

Cosmic I know when I reinstated I should have split the dose in at least 3 doses. But I thought, well I did not thought -_- I was really messed up and tired. (I can only blame myself for the lack or research though) !

[[Sa...]]

Hi everybody, i'm currently struggling with a lot of insomnia. having no more than 4h30mins of sleep during these last 6 days. today 3hours 50. Feels extremely tired, and weak, have difficulty breathing, chest pain. Teeths that hurts badly and joints , tendons pains among a lot of other symptoms.

 

I stabilise to 0,25mg of ATivan (one single dose at night one hour before bed). 3 days stable, and holding but the situation is getting worse or at least does not evolve in a positive way.

 

My question is what should I do? I was planning on coming off 1st october but if i could feel ok and sleep sth like 6 to 7 hours / night I would glady take more time tapering and do it properly.

 

Should I hold longer this dose ? Should I split the dose in multiple doses to help me with the sleep. Or 2 doses One at 9 pm and the other at 3/4am to get back to sleep? Should I up the dose by adding a mid-night dose (3 am) like 1st dose 25mg / 2nd dose 15mg . Or 20mg / 15mg. Or else ?

 

Does anybody had good result with only a single dose Ativan and slept well. or Bi-dose?

 

Any help would be more than welcome <3 !

 

Hi Nolan, sorry you're struggling a bit here..oh my advice to Native was about contacting Birdman. Frankly I can't think of anyone more qualified to give advice than her...I hope he does contact her.

 

I would keep the single dose if that's how you always used it in my opinion there no reason to change. I hear you about the sleep...boy have my opinions changed once insomnia hit me post jump! I was in a bad way once that hit and I was willing to try anything to get sleep. I've used melatonin, Benadryl and Unisom to get sleep. I try rotating them and I'm not concerned about dependence right now. I understand your concerns...

 

My advice would be to hold...hope the sxs straighten out...you could always slow up the taper and see if it resolves if it's too much to handle. You've done a fairly aggressive taper given your history. Everything you're describing are w/d sxs...lack of sleep made it far worse I thought and contributed to how bad I felt. I really want you to have success this time...take your time with the taper 

[[Sh...]]

Hey Kiddo

 

Mark - I have no idea about your dilemma. I'm sorry I don't have any advice  I blame my benzo brain and the fact that I never weighed my pills because I can't be bothered. I just cut off chunks of a tablet until it weighs what I need...not very scientific 

 

well Kiddo.....that is my dilemma :-)  I had no idea how or what to cut the chunks of tablets to weigh

 

How the heck do you determine what weight to cut the tablets to to get your proper dose?

 

I thought i knew...and was wrong....so now i am trying to figure out the correct weight i should be taking

But i also want to know where the heck i am for dose size...i am still not 100% sure.

 

Left Brain stuff becomes a maze with these drugs 

[[Ki...]]

Mark - I don't know what I'm cutting....lmao!!!  I just "hope" it's the right amount. I know it's not, because I really should weigh the pill and take off the correlating % but I don't. I'm lazy. And tired. I wish I could be more help.

 

Cosmic - absolutely. I know quite a few people that dose Xanax or Ativan only once a day. I'd be a mess, but it's definitely possible. 

[[Sh...]]

Kiddo  Yikes!!!

 

Is there a way i can help you get to weighing your pills?

 

I do get the tired bit annd not wanting to do the left brained stuff

 

[[Ki...]]

Mark - well....you could hit me in the head with a hammer....good luck getting through the cement tho  The problem isn't that I don't know how to do it....the problem is I don't give enough of shit to bother    Ive been doing this for 8 months and I'm just sick of it. It's boring. I'm bored of w/d. I'm bored of weighing, cutting, percentages, waves, anxiety, depression, buzzing, headaches, heartbreak, mixing, tapers, benzo's. I'd like to whip my scale into a ceiling fan most days so the less amount of time I spend monkeying around with cuts the better. For my scale anyway 

 

Thank you though 

[[Co...]]

Hammers and scales. When we all finish our tapers,  well meet up at set location, and have a Gemini 20 smashing party.

[[Ki...]]

[[ju...]]

Mark - well....you could hit me in the head with a hammer....good luck getting through the cement tho  The problem isn't that I don't know how to do it....the problem is I don't give enough of shit to bother    Ive been doing this for 8 months and I'm just sick of it. It's boring. I'm bored of w/d. I'm bored of weighing, cutting, percentages, waves, anxiety, depression, buzzing, headaches, heartbreak, mixing, tapers, benzo's. I'd like to whip my scale into a ceiling fan most days so the less amount of time I spend monkeying around with cuts the better. For my scale anyway 

 

Thank you though 

 

Hi Kiddo, Even though I'm a newbie with starting my taper, I've been using the scale for  a number of months now and I share your  frustrations . I was very frustrated with the inconsistency of the scale , the pill weights, not knowing with the fillers in the the tabs if the "chunks " contained active ingredient or filler.  I haven't had time to update my signiture line yet , but I started the compounded liquid 3 days ago and so far it seems to be so much more precise than shaving,cutting and weighing pills ( I feel like the burden has been lifted off me for embarking on my taper. I had fear of transitioning to liquid as well but as GIT and Laser have said , I too feel it was a great decision. You know the saying " The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results"! I couldn't see cutting and weighing pills for the longer term, and constantly worrying about how potential insconsistant doses from the "chunks" would be having my CNS going up and down like a roller coaster!, So I took a leap of faith. I know you have considered trying the liquid as well. Hope you will reconsider, it to assess if it may be more prescise for you. Sending you healing thoughts and prayers my friend. Have a great day.

[[Rr...]]

Hi!

 

Just wondering, has anyone gone through an acute phase when they got to a low dose? 

 

I've been feeling GREAT for 5 months and I was stable for most of this taper since last November.

 

Last month, when I got to .05, I slowed down. I held for a week. Then tapered down to .04 over 1 week, then held for a week, etc. Then 5 days after a reached .03 mg, all hell broke loose. This is the worst I've felt since at the beginning of my taper when I dropped .25 mg all at once (not knowing any better).

 

Anyway, just wondering what's up. Hoping to hear from people who've taped off or at least reached a low dose (below .10 mg) and what your experiences have been.

 

Thanks!!!

 

Rriver 

 

 

 

 

[[wa...]]

Judy I'm so glad your doing well on the  liquid.  Keep on Keeping on !

 

Blessing, Warrior

[[La...]]

Hi!

 

Just wondering, has anyone gone through an acute phase when they got to a low dose? 

 

I've been feeling GREAT for 5 months and I was stable for most of this taper since last November.

 

Last month, when I got to .05, I slowed down. I held for a week. Then tapered down to .04 over 1 week, then held for a week, etc. Then 5 days after a reached .03 mg, all hell broke loose. This is the worst I've felt since at the beginning of my taper when I dropped .25 mg all at once (not knowing any better).

 

Anyway, just wondering what's up. Hoping to hear from people who've taped off or at least reached a low dose (below .10 mg) and what your experiences have been.

 

Thanks!!!

 

Rriver 

 

Rriver:

 

Like you, when I was in the home stretch at a very low ativan dose and I thought I was home free, I got hit really hard and didnt think I would make it. For me, this happened at 0.07mg ativan. But it was just a temporary bump in the road.