Tapering off Ativan Support Thread

[[...]]

Hey there everyone!  Let 2015 be the year of success in the Ativan Tapering World

 

Taylor9015:  Just wanted to let you know that you can get your ativan compounded into a liquid and use a syringe to squirt the stuff into your mouth.  Maybe others here have already mentioned that?

 

I have done that starting at .5 mg of ativan at night.  1mg. ativan tablet=2ml liquid. (hope I got that right  ) 

 

I never tried the dry-cutting scale style b/c it overwhelmed me too much.  Just wanted to let you know the liquid form might be an alternative...your doctor can call that in to a compounding pharmacist if you try it at some point.

 

I agree with others about trying to stick with ativan and not crossing over to valium or klonopin--very strongly!

 

Good luck to you.  I have gone very slowly and it is going relatively OK so far.  I noticed a flare-up in anxiety and panicky feelings when I first switched to the liquid form (some others have mentioned that's natural) but it went away in a week and so far so "good" since then.  Have worked down to .6 ml which is .3 mg. tablet form.  Still able to take the whole "squirt" at night without dividing it through the day.....don't know how long that will last. 

 

Hope this new year brings us all peace (if just a teeny tiny bit for some of us, that would be something)

June

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[Ta...]]

June, that DOES sound easier...so that's how you do it, get your doctor to send the Rx to a compounding pharmacy? I can ask him next time I see him. He is willing to monitor me while I taper, but he didn't actually want to discuss the details until "After the Daylight Savings Time change..."

 

Now I have never been diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder, or depression during winter, but I guess he wants me to start at the best possible time when there is more sunlight. I wasn't really going to wait that long to tell the truth. I thought it was him just blowing me off again, like maybe I'll change my mind or something. Anyway, I can see him sooner if I really want to push the issue, but I was going to attempt small pill cuts on my own, then go see him and tell him I've already gotten started. With the even smaller cuts the further along you go, maybe liquid would be even better. Certainly sounds easier. He might be more likely to want to help me if he sees I'm already making progress (on my own).

 

So thanks for the information. I like the idea!

[[an...]]

Taylor

 

You could do a water titration.  Crush the pill using a small mortar and pestle.  For three doses a day you can add 150mL of water.  Shake very well and quickly measure out one dose--the pill will not be dissolved but shaking will suspend it in the water.  This would be 50 mL to start.  This works well and you can decrease by a very small amount each day--i would decrease by1mL a day until i got to lower dosages and then would decrease by about 0.5 mL.  You can work it out easily using a spreadsheet.

[[ve...]]

I've been gone for a while. Trying again. I'm now at 2.25 mg lorazepam. Trying to taper .25 every 2 weeks. Started at 3 mg this time around.

 

I feel tense, hyper vigilant, anxious...some trouble sleeping. Not terrible.

 

Thanks all.

[[Ro...]]

Good luck Veronica.

[[Ta...]]

Anne: Another good option. I will look into that also! I was reading your history in your signature. These meds are just awful! Ugh! Best of luck to you 

 

Veronica: Hi, best of luck to you too! 

[[an...]]

Hi Veronica.  Good luck with your taper

 

Taylor, yes these meds are terrible.  I can't wait to be Ativan free. 

[[no...]]

Hello everyone and a Happy New Year wish to all!

May 2015 bring us peace and ease as we continue on our paths to being benzo free!

 

Thanks to all of you who have posted info about the liquid Ativan compounds.  I may check into that as my dosage gets smaller and smaller. 

I have been holding for 3 weeks before I make another cut.  Just want to get back into my work routine again before I cut again.  I'm thinking about one more week and then trying another .25 cut.  I have been using Unisom for sleep and finding that I really need to play around with the dosage of Diphenhydramine which is the active ingredient in Unisom (50mg), Tyleno PM (25mg), and Benadryl (also 25mg). The Unisom really conks me out but the Tylenol PM wasn't working well anymore.  I hate to think I'm just switching addictions but I'm hoping getting off an antihistamine won't be as difficult as tapering off any of the benzos.  I'll just have to see how this next week goes.

 

Hugs to all!

NorthRiverWoman

 

[[no...]]

Hello, Veronica!

 

I am also trying to taper .25 every two weeks and have been doing alright since I started in August.  I've had to hold a few times but I'm determined to just take it as slow and small as I have to in order to be done with benzos for good!  We can do this!

 

Also, I love, love, love Andrew Soloman!  His books and lectures have taught me so much and given me a stronger sense of self-acceptance.  Thanks for the quote and the reminder to keep laughter in our hearts and minds through it all!

[[su...]]

Hey everyone! I am also tapering lorazepam!  Just made a. 125 cut today off morning dose.  Smallest cut I have made so far but thinking if I make it a week I will do the other. 125 which in turn will still equal. 25 / 2 weeks.  I  just want off so bad! I love this place, it sure makes a person not feel alone!  I hope to keep in touch with you all and continue our journeys together! 

[[an...]]

Hi Sunnydeigh,

 

Smaller cuts always work better for me.  I try not to cut more than 10% every two weeks.

 

I also love this forum.  There are so many supportive people here.  We are all in this together.

Anne

[[Ro...]]

Holding steady at 1 mg for now. I was up to 2 mg a month and a half ago.  I battled it down to 1.5, then did a cold turkey (foolishly) and ended up at 1.0 after some DT's. I tried cutting down to .75 mg after stabilizing, but 4 days of whacked out (during Xmas) indicated otherwise. Back to 1.0 Then last weekend I got incredibly fatigued, and was oversleeping- but not getting rest.  Now I'm getting interdose withdrawals at 1.0.

 

I FINALLY will be meeting with a medicating Psych next week- HOPEFULLY they will be amenable to an Ashton Taper. At least on Diazepam I won't (hopefully) be getting too much interdose withdrawals.  I know there will be the cut withdrawals, but I think I'll be able to handle them.

 

I am so bloody tired of Ativan and Benzos, and I've not been on them that long. :'(

 

And yes I work full time.

[[Rr...]]

Holding steady at 1 mg for now. I was up to 2 mg a month and a half ago.  I battled it down to 1.5, then did a cold turkey (foolishly) and ended up at 1.0 after some DT's. I tried cutting down to .75 mg after stabilizing, but 4 days of whacked out (during Xmas) indicated otherwise. Back to 1.0 Then last weekend I got incredibly fatigued, and was oversleeping- but not getting rest.  Now I'm getting interdose withdrawals at 1.0.

 

I FINALLY will be meeting with a medicating Psych next week- HOPEFULLY they will be amenable to an Ashton Taper. At least on Diazepam I won't (hopefully) be getting too much interdose withdrawals.  I know there will be the cut withdrawals, but I think I'll be able to handle them.

 

I am so bloody tired of Ativan and Benzos, and I've not been on them that long. :'(

 

And yes I work full time.

 

Hi Rockingchaircat,

 

Are you taking your dose all at once? If so, you might benefit from spreading out your dose into 3 or 4 smaller doses taken at regular intervals.

 

Best of luck!

 

Rriver 

[[Ro...]]

1 dose at night. Going in to talk to a Psych Doc soon.

[[an...]]

Hi Everyone,

 

Happy New Year to all.  I am starting to feel a bit better.  Most of the time I have been taking it easy, but still feeling better. The off balance and shakiness with BP spikes tend to happen when we go out shopping so I have stayed home for most of the week. I have also noticed the BP spikes if I do a lot of physical activity.  They usually start with me getting very warm and then I feel the inner shakiness.  It was very bad over the holidays, but I was preparing the house so that 15 family members could come for dinner on Xmas day.  This week has been much better.  I guess any kind of stress can bring on these symptoms.

 

I am a bit worried about Monday since I start back to work then.  I will let you know how it goes.  I have not cut yet since I reinstated to 1 mg, but I do plan on cutting a small amount each day starting next week. I hope all of you are doing well with the tapers.  It is wonderful having the support of others that are going through the same thing.

 

[[Mo...]]

Good luck getting back to work next week, anne. I went back this week after a long break...was a little rocky, but I got through, and I know you will too!!

 

Rocking, I feel the same with this crap. Part of me just wants to throw the pills away and whatever horribleness happens, just let it happen. But I won't do that...gotta do it right, right? Good luck with your psych doc meeting.

 

Hope everyone is muddling through...happy weekend!

 

xo

Mookie

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Good luck getting back to work Anne!!  I sometimes wish I had a job to take my mind off this journey!!

 

Rockingchaircat, did you talk to the doc?  Come up with something amazing I hope!!  

 

Mookie, what did you dose originally and how did you come up with 5 doses a day?  I am still at 2 doses a day and not doing too bad but a little worried with some panic I am having in the night, but it comes within two hours of taking my nighttime dose which is just confusing to me!!

 

Anyways, happy Saturday!!

 

 

[[Me...]]

Hi there, I posted this in the general introduction thread as well. I'm new here and looking for some advice. Thanks!

 

I am wondering if it's possible to have withdrawal symptoms from such a small dose of Ativan.

I first started taking Ativan (.5 mg) about once a week seven months ago for insomnia. I stopped for a month because although it worked, I thought it increased my insomnia a few days after taking it. A month later, my anxiety increased and I felt desperate for sleep so started taking it once a week again....next month twice a week and then sometimes three times a week (same dose).

I still felt like it made my anxiety and insomnia worse when not taking it, but really liked getting some sleep! About two months ago , the .5 mg dose was no longer enough to help me sleep so I would increase the dose to .75 mg about once a week. Other times I would only take .25 mg.

I stayed with this pattern until the week before Christmas. At that time anxiety increased and I started taking it every night--for two weeks. Sometimes .5 mgand sometimes .75mg. It got me sleep, but I didn't want to be on it every night, so I started taking about 3/4 of a pill which I guess would be about .37 mg. I'm having horrible anxiety and getting no sleep!

I thought this small dosage and relatively short history would make withdrawal ok....but maybe I'm extra sensitive??

My only history with benzos was that I took klonopin for a month (maybe five weeks) four years ago. The doc actually prescribed it in my last month of pregnancy because I was having horrible anxiety and insomnia. She told me to come off it as soon as I was due or went into labor but gave me no warning that there could be withdrawal. She told me there would be no problem I just had to be off of it 24 hours before nursing. She didn't even have me schedule a post partum follow up! I had no idea why I had incredible anxiety after giving birth? It sounds stupid now, but I was completely unaware that I would have withdrawal symptoms. I thought I was just losing it. It was a sad time that should have been so happy. This was my second birth and I had no problem with post partum depression after my first so I'm positive that it was withdrawal.

2 years later I tried using my leftover klonopin intermittently for a few weeks and had so much trouble with it that I started doing research.

My only other psych drug history is with ambien.

I'd appreciate any guidance and advice on how to proceed presently and if you think I'm actually experiencing withdrawal now.

Thanks so much!

 

Update: After reading some on here, I'm thinking I should do the milk titration? I might need to go up from .37 to a higher dose because I'm not sleeping and feeling miserable many times throughout the day and skin crawling, heart racing horrible at bed time (even after the dose). 

Thank you!

 

[[Mo...]]

Sunny, I was originally dosing .5mg/3x daily. What I've been doing is trying to keep all my doses evenly spread throughout the day, so for the amount I was taking, I split it up evenly, so I take the same mg at each dose. Right now, I have the .5 mg tablets, and they are each cut into quarters and that's what I use for each dose. I'm calling my doctor to go in, though, because now I think the percentage for each cut is too high. This last cut, which was the same .125 mgs as the previous one, was a 25% cut of my total dose. TOO BIG! I'm pushing through the effects of that, and hoping my doctor has some ideas of what to do next. This is very convoluted when I read it....hope it makes sense!!

 

Hi and welcome, Metta!! Maybe spreading the dose out in smaller pieces would help...you might be having some interdose withdrawal if you are only taking it once a day. Keep us posted!

 

xo

Mookie

[[Ki...]]

Metta  - I'm glad you found yor way over here....welcome to the thread  I always recommend going back and reading this thread in its entirety when you have time, there is a lot of collective wisdom on here.

 

The first recommendation is to split your dose evenly throughout the day, this will keep the drug even in your bloodstream and prevent you from having too many ups and downs during the day. This has helped the majority of us tremendously.

 

Also, you mentioned feeling pretty bad right now....I would be inclined to agree with you and updose back to .50mg and hold that dose until you stabilize. Or you could just stay at your dose and wait to stabilize....it's a personal choice.

 

There will be lots of people from this thread to welcome you and offer suggestions to you and then you'll be able to come up with a game plan.

 

Keep asking questions if you need anything 

 

Mookie - good job getting through the work week....how are you feeling overall?

 

Rockingchair - how'd it go with the pdoc on Friday?

 

Anne - try not to anticipate Monday being too bad (easier said then done)...we are our own worst enemies with "what if" thinking. I see you said you will be doing small daily cuts...are you doing that with the scale or liquid?

 

Sunny, North, Taylor, Rriver - how are you guys doing?

 

http://i.imgur.com/ST109Q6l.jpg

 

 

[[Me...]]

thanks Kiddo--

I do have a few questions on how to start tapering. Before I knew anything about this I just split my .5mg tab in half and then in half again-- so had a rough estimate of 3/4 of a pill roughly equalling .37mg of ativan.

To taper correctly it seems I'll have to use another method! I saw that there's a video for making a liquid titration... do people recommend that? I also saw that some use gram sensitive scales? I guess I'd have to order a kitchen scale....?

I'm wondering what the recommended method is for achieving small tapering amounts correctly....

 

Thanks everyone---

[[Ki...]]

Metta - well, keep in mind that if what you are doing is working you don't have to change anything. I was a complete mess when I got here so I took the advice of everyone and split my doses throughout the day (which was a tremendous help), then I ordered a scale. The one the majority of people from the forum use is the Gemini Pro 20 Milligram Scale which can be purchased on Amazon for $20-$25.

 

The other route, which I wish I had started from in the beginning, is liquid titration. It's very easy to make at home. I preferred the method without alcohol being used to dissolve the pills. That's just a personal preference. If you look up Rriver in the members section or SophiasNana you can find simple instructions on how to do this. There is also a link in my signature, if you click on it it will link you to how I made mine.

 

At your dose you could likely start at a .004mg taper per day, perhaps taper Monday through Friday and hold on weekends. Everybody does it a little different.

 

If you have any more questions, just ask 

[[Ma...]]

Metta,

 

At the lowest doses of my taper I dissolved my Ativan in water, and cut a tiny amount each day.  That worked pretty well for me, with not too many obnoxious symptoms.

[[an...]]

Sunny, Mookie, and Kiddo,

 

Thanks for the encouragement.  I think it will be okay tomorrow at work. Have felt much better this weekend.  I mistakenly said that I reinstated to 1 mg, but it is 0.5 mg.  The other week I thought that I would need to go back to 1 mg, but luckily that has not been the case.

 

Mookie, I am glad that things went well at work for you.  Good luck this week.  I am using a water titration. 

 

Metta, you will get through this.  I remember my first time coming off of this stuff.  I was so scared, but I did take advice and split my daily dose into three doses.  I noticed the improvement right away.  After stabilizing for 3 weeks, I then started cutting.  Right now, I am on 0.5 mg/day.  I crush the pill and then put it into 150 mg of water.  The pills do not dissolve in the water, so you have to shake very well (the powder will be suspended in the water) and then quickly remove my dose.  Right now that would be three 50 mL doses a day.  I will cut by 0.003 mg a day (take out a mL/day) for a while until I get to a lower dose.  I need to keep it at no more than 10% every two weeks. This worked very well for me in the past--I had very little to no symptoms. The only time I would experience symptoms is if I would measure my doses incorrectly.

Good luck with your taper.  No matter how you do it, the advice to spread out your dose over the day is a good one.

[[Sa...]]

I'm sorry I've been AWOL for awhile. Reading back I see a lot of good posts and a lot of encouragement being given to everyone as well as good advice. I'm hopelessly behind and I won't even attempt a large post or specific call outs.

 

I will simply throw out some encouragement to everyone no matter where you are in the process of getting off these drugs. Know that it isn't easy but it is well worth the effort it takes to be free of these drugs. Believe in yourself and your ability to navigate through the days.

 

You can all do this