Tapering off Ativan Support Thread

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NYC4--I think compounded liquid is definitely the way to go--but I think you already know my opinion about that.  I would be soooo stressed trying to figure out the homemade liquid business.  I've only lowered my dose once (with the compound) so far, but I am glad I have it.

 

 

[[Sa...]]

NYC, take as much space as you need here, no limits!

 

I'm glad you have an appt. tommorrow. I think your brain is simply confused by all these med changes. That's why I believe you need some stability, either by holding where you are a long time with everything and let your brain recover, or if you go back up with the original Ativan same thing. Stay there for enough time for things to settle down. That could mean months, yes, but in the big picture does it really matter?

 

I wouldn't consider any changes to Valium right now. You've got enough going on at the moment. Plenty of time later if you decide to crossover in my opinion. For now, you need to feel stable if you can on the current meds. Good luck tommorrow.

 

In terms of various med changes, I see the doc tomorrow and wonder if in the long run it's better to be on the liquid prescription for Ativan. Any thoughts on that? Should I push for it?

 

And if I go back up to 1 mg from the 0.75 I've been at for 2-3 weeks, what will happen?

 

I guess it's obvious I'm running on depression and a bit manic (never diagnosed bipolar though) right here. Stumbling around for a solution and someone medical I can trust.

 

God, been indoors all day and done little but obsess and panic and worry. And write these notes. This life feels so weird and upsetting and I feel blocked from everyone and everything. Dizzy now.

 

If you're already stressed by the scale, there are so many people on the thread using liquid you're bound to have lots of advice helping with any questions you may have using the liquid.

 

This is my personal opinion...I would not updose yet. If it were me, I'd try to ride this out and keep everything the way it is right now and hope for some stability with a very long hold. Just my opinion. No idea if an updose would benefit you since you're not sure which med is causing the problem at this point. An updose could work or it could not work. Right now I think it's a risky move considering the mix of other meds. The only qualifier being if you felt better BEFORE you reduced the Ativan. So far you haven't been able to answer that question as I recall.

 

All these meds have side effects. Everything you're experiencing could be from a different med. Thats why it's so difficult when someone is on several meds and they've all been recent additions. I feel for you, and I'm sorry you're in this position NYC, I know how frustrating this can be from personal experience having been on many different meds for many years...

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June, it's not homemade liquid I'd be getting (which would stress me out no end), it's a prescription for a liquid that comes in 30 ml bottles at 2 mg/ml. All prepared and ready to go...

 

What do other people think of me returning to 1 mg where I was 3-4 weeks ago before dropping rapidly to 0.75 where I've been since September 5? Try to stick it out, or go back to that level to perhaps stabilize everything? No clue. Doc not much help but I'll ask him too (he's the one who recommends tapering by 0.5 mg/day in a hospital....).

 

Holding steady for the moment... very rough past couple days. Loud noises, people, too much.I didn't feel these other symptoms before reduing the ativan, but it's so screwy because the other meds were starting up around then too. I'd been on zoloft before and the doc thought we should fight the depression with new meds, using the lamictal to augment the prozac. So many meds been thrown at me, which I've accepted, but now I just feel very sick with them all. Trying to function.

 

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I agree with Saga--holding at current dose of ativan since it's unclear what is causing your current symptoms seems like the most prudent.

 

The only caveat being if you felt better, as Saga said, at 1 mg. ativan---I know, not really Better, but better than this yuck.

 

Oh, I understand now about the liquid--yes, prepared by the pharmacist is what I would do too.

 

You will get there......"just" time.

 

 

 

 

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Prescription liquid lorazepam: better in the long run than pills?? Apparently comes in 30 ml bottles at 2mg/ml. Any opinions?

 

Assuming I stay at 0.75 mg for a while now (a month?) before trying to taper again, if I do at all. I'm already dreading the holiday season.

 

I really hope someone can respond to this before I see doc at 7 PM today! Anxious as can be.

 

Feel like I'm treading water in this. Patience, right? Slow down. (Yet I feel that, even though the ativan has calmed me down at certain points, it's also served to tighten me up, make me less human. The panic attacks are scary though.)

 

Thanks June, thanks Saga, and everyone else.

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(I would just clarify with doctor/pharmacist about the liquid.  Mine is 1ml of ativan liquid which translates to  .5 mg.)

 

Do you keep a med/mood log or calendar? Just to try to make some sense of symptoms?  Making sure the types of meds and their dosages are written down in each daily note.

 

Maybe you are already doing that.  I've been doing that with ativan now that I am decreasing the dose.  (And had to start doing it when I was on and off so may meds.)  Probably just makes me feel like I have some illusion of control.....but I'll take what I can get.

 

Just a  thought.

 

Have you written down all the points you want to hit with your doctor?

 

[[La...]]

June, it's not homemade liquid I'd be getting (which would stress me out no end), it's a prescription for a liquid that comes in 30 ml bottles at 2 mg/ml. All prepared and ready to go...

 

What do other people think of me returning to 1 mg where I was 3-4 weeks ago before dropping rapidly to 0.75 where I've been since September 5? Try to stick it out, or go back to that level to perhaps stabilize everything? No clue. Doc not much help but I'll ask him too (he's the one who recommends tapering by 0.5 mg/day in a hospital....).

 

Holding steady for the moment... very rough past couple days. Loud noises, people, too much.I didn't feel these other symptoms before reduing the ativan, but it's so screwy because the other meds were starting up around then too. I'd been on zoloft before and the doc thought we should fight the depression with new meds, using the lamictal to augment the prozac. So many meds been thrown at me, which I've accepted, but now I just feel very sick with them all. Trying to function.

 

DO NOT TAPER AT 0.5MG/DAY IN A HOSPITAL. If you think dropping from 1.0 mg to 0.75mg felt bad, you aint seen nothing. I am not trying to scare you, just trying to spare you from total hell. Youve been on 0.75mg for quite a while, I'm not sure holding much longer will help, unless youve been changing the dose of your other meds recently.

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Laser, I have no intention of doing what that doctor says he does. I'm just saying that's what he told me - he seems to be yet another of these docs I've heard about who have no clue what it's like to be on these meds. I can't imagine. Maybe some people can taper off quickly, but those of us here certainly cannot.

 

This is why I'm worried about seeing him today. I'm pretty sure he'll keep prescribing for me but I don't know whether to ask him for the liquid ativan or just to keep taking the pills for now. (http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=711b60a3-028d-41d4-aa17-8f976e6df23e&CFID=469576&CFTOKEN=c2be3c78006b0690-9E4958B6-920D-B473-0B3432D9FD015058).

 

 

 

[[Om...]]

I'm praying for you NYC and everyone else as well

 

Thanks Omni. I've heard it's harder to get off these things the second time around (I got off klonopin a few years ago, again a "small" dose that the doc thought was silly to worry about - but my body knew). My body/mind feels so strange now. Kind of sick, confused, random panics.

 

I know exactly what you mean. This is my 3rd tango with benzo's, as you can see in my sig. Never Again

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OK, before I switch to the liquid concentrate (held up by insurance at the pharmacy), I'm taking 0.125 mg six times a day. Last night I decided this was too many times to be doing this, so I made it into 5 times by doubling up the last dose before bed. Today my mind is kind of haywire (but it's been this way for a bit now). I assume it's better to do equal doses during the day but wonder if there's any experience out there in just taking more in one of the doses. I didn't sleep any better, in fact worse. But sleep has been totally screwed up.

 

Tremors, dizzy feeling, very unsettled brain feeling. Don't know what's going on (besides my life situation which has gone downhill last few months) and it continues to scare me. Lots of agoraphobia now, and continued strong sensitivity to noise and light.

[[ch...]]

Hello again,

I started new here several weeks ago, and then haven't posted since.  I got some bad news about my heart and have been in a very bad place.  It looks like I have Pulmonary Hypertension, which I had never heard of, but is not a good thing (diagnosis not definite yet).  I'm very scared, and of course this is multiplied by this ativan taper.  I am so close to the end of the taper, but doing so badly.

 

The worst of it is that I can't sleep.  Last night I got the first sleep in weeks, from 10 pm to 1 am, and that was it.  It is so hard to function at all with no sleep.  I am so tired, and it's hard to believe that I can't sleep being this tired.  I do fall asleep, but then wake up after a short time, sometimes 10 minutes, with a start, and then such anxiety. 

 

That's the other part, the anxiety that just sits in my body, then triggered by almost anything.  And of course none of this is good for my heart.

 

I am ready to stop ativan completely, I'm just taking a tiny fraction of a .5 mg., just scared to take that last step.  But how could it be any worse than it is now?  Sleep was the reason I started taking ativan....

[[Sa...]]

Charlotte I'm so sorry about your bad news. I hope the diagnosis is wrong. Of course the stress of this news is going to affect you deeply. Anything stressful at all good or bad has an effect on me.

 

Sleep issues are rampant during w/d and recovery for many of us. I've read so many times our initial reasons for being prescribed benzos don't go away, they are still there even once we are finished.

 

You're asking if this will get worse, I don't know the answer to this. I made it through my taper with few sleep issues but my post taper started all kinds of sleep problems. I now rotate a number of OTC sleep meds to help with the insomnia. I'm sorry I don't have more to offer in the way of advice. Take care 

[[La...]]

 

 

Tremors, dizzy feeling, very unsettled brain feeling. Don't know what's going on (besides my life situation which has gone downhill last few months) and it continues to scare me. Lots of agoraphobia now, and continued strong sensitivity to noise and light.

 

Classic benzo wd I'd say. This is exactly how I felt while tapering. We just have to try to not let the fear get the best of us. It will be gnawing away almost constantly in our minds; just don't feed it. Tell yourself it's just the drugs, and move on to the next thought. Dosing 6 times a day seems like a lot, though if it is necessary stick with it, otherwise dosing fewer times per day will be easier on your schedule though the switch may feel like a cut; it will smoothe out, just hold on and give it a bit of time.

[[Om...]]

I had to updose last night, and I'm starting to get more than a little scared. Things have been going "decent" until I had that seizure about a week ago and now it seems that everything is going to fall apart. Can anyone tell me if updosing is a bad thing? Is it the same as kindling? I don't want to make this process any harder, I'm just looking for some relief, so I think Im going to hold.

 

 

Saga my sleep is starting to get pretty bad, can you tell me what supplements/OTC meds youre rotating and how often? Thanks guys. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

[[Om...]]

Also, can anyone clarify what the "acute" "acute stage" or "acute withdrawal" is? I had it in my head that if you remained at a constant slow taper rate, got down to your final dose day without a lot of trouble, and jumped, that you were home free? Ive been reading and it seems that tons of people still have trouble after they jump. Why is this? How long does it last? Does every single person that jumps hit this "acute" phase?

 

Sorry, I'm starting to be negative. Im just hoping and praying for this best. I just want this to be over ASAP. Encouraging words are needed.  :'(

[[Ki...]]

Im wondering if anyone else out there is tapering ativan using gummy pills from a compounding pharmacist. Im at .5 using gummies and am about to make my first 10 percent drop down to 4.5, dropping 10 percent every 10 days. Right now Im off work to finish this taper. My days are very up and down with windows here and there. Thoughts?

[[Sa...]]

I had to updose last night, and I'm starting to get more than a little scared. Things have been going "decent" until I had that seizure about a week ago and now it seems that everything is going to fall apart. Can anyone tell me if updosing is a bad thing? Is it the same as kindling? I don't want to make this process any harder, I'm just looking for some relief, so I think Im going to hold.

 

 

Saga my sleep is starting to get pretty bad, can you tell me what supplements/OTC meds youre rotating and how often? Thanks guys. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

 

Omni I'm sorry, there is also a mind game going on at the same time as physical of course. Holding is fine. In most cases I believe slower is better. I did not do slow, so I'm not sure exactly how slow to go. It's such a personal choice. No matter how how slow sometimes there are simply uncomfortable sxs. That's the nature of tapering if you ask my opinion.

 

For sleep I've rotated Benadryl and Unisom tablets. I have a script for Vistaril but I've only used it once. Didn't like how I felt the next day.

 

Concerning acute, everyone is different. I saw very  little difference from .19 to off. I had an uptick for about 2 months but I was fully prepared, I suspect it's a different story for everyone.

 

I can't tell how much you've reduced Omni by your signature. My advice would be to take your time since this isn't your first experience tapering. I really want you to succeed and stay off for good this time. Don't get discouraged. Take your time getting there...you can do this 

[[Sa...]]

Im wondering if anyone else out there is tapering ativan using gummy pills from a compounding pharmacist. Im at .5 using gummies and am about to make my first 10 percent drop down to 4.5, dropping 10 percent every 10 days. Right now Im off work to finish this taper. My days are very up and down with windows here and there. Thoughts?

 

Hi Kick! That's pretty cool to have the doses compounded in gummy bears! Days up and down is very very normal. Tapering is very hard work. I think before you get the next set compounded I'd wait to see how the drop goes at the 10% rate, so you're able to adjust it down if necessary, down to 5% if needed and maybe a slower rate of 10 days if needed. That's my only advice about determining the rate of drop before you've don't it. I hope being off work helps take some of the additional stress of tapering and recovering. You can so this Kick 

[[Ki...]]

Thanks for the feedback. I wish they were bears, because that would add a little lightness to the process. They are gummy squares, but at least they are chocolate!

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Tremors, dizzy feeling, very unsettled brain feeling. Don't know what's going on (besides my life situation which has gone downhill last few months) and it continues to scare me. Lots of agoraphobia now, and continued strong sensitivity to noise and light.

 

Classic benzo wd I'd say. This is exactly how I felt while tapering. We just have to try to not let the fear get the best of us. It will be gnawing away almost constantly in our minds; just don't feed it. Tell yourself it's just the drugs, and move on to the next thought. Dosing 6 times a day seems like a lot, though if it is necessary stick with it, otherwise dosing fewer times per day will be easier on your schedule though the switch may feel like a cut; it will smoothe out, just hold on and give it a bit of time.

 

God, another wave of panic hits me this afternoon. I feel like such an impostor. I'm supposed to meet someone a little later to interview to possibly do some tutoring and wonder how anyone can do it. The fear. (False evidence appearing real, as they say). Still it grips me and hollows out my gut. Earlier in the day I felt internally more or less normal. Then the panic hit. Late afternoons seem to be the time for this.

 

I'm still at 0.75 mg and for now have to just cut the pills up and estimate a little, as the hoped-for liquid concentrate is being held up by insurance. Maybe I should fork over the $50 and just buy it instead. Earlier today I thought it was time to cut up one of my 0.125 doses in half to reduce again. I realize keeping the doses even is probably better, but it may not be feasible at the moment for me, without a scale or liquid. I know some people seem to have been able to estimate their slow reductions as they tapered down and not used a scale.

 

It's like I get tricked every other day... moments of feeling sort of OK and then moments of utter dread. (again, tho, my life situation is compounding this with the biological).

[[Om...]]

NYC I know what youre saying about feeling worse in the evenings. That's starting to become the toughest time of the day. Im not sure why, maybe theres something biological to it. Try to hang in there friend. Let us know when your insurance clears. God be with you.

[[Gr...]]

NYC4 I really think you need to put the tapering on the back burner for a little while and try to stabilize. Once you're stable you'll feel much better and have a clearer mind. Then you can proceed with your taper. You seem to be beating yourself up about cutting. Try to keep your dosing even and as precise as possible. You can do this. You will do this.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[[pe...]]

So i have been on suspension for two weeks -the speedy effect have gone. A lot of my OCD has come back- so its seems to be a rise in anxiety going on also I'm having mad dreams. Because of this I'm obsessing whether or not the suspension is the 2mg's.

 

 

[[Om...]]

So i have been on suspension for two weeks -the speedy effect have gone. A lot of my OCD has come back- so its seems to be a rise in anxiety going on also I'm having mad dreams. Because of this I'm obsessing whether or not the suspension is the 2mg's.

 

Were you stable before you went on the suspension? Have you made any cuts yet?

[[pe...]]

Never been stable, the depression is brutal. I have not made any cuts as of yet.