Tapering off Ativan Support Thread

[[Ca...]]

here is the question:  i dose 4 times daily , ativan , 3.30.  HOW ON EARTH does the ativan KNOW to go and march up my syringe in exactly .91  (dose i need). ??  how can i be assured i AM getting the .91 when i put my syringe in a pull up the plunger ??/  i mean, how does the ativan know it is supposed to go up there and give me .91  (no more, no less). does this question make sense. and please, could some kind soul please answer it for me.  as clear as you can, i am a cog fog and having hard timee, and old, 65.  alonee, too.  please please help me understand. so, i can gain trust in my taper method.  I NEED TO KNOW that when i draw for .74, i am getting .74, and no more or LESS ativan.  as that up and down can  be harrder on CNS.  help.  thankyou Kindly.

Hi Cathy, I am very sorry you are feeling desperate and alone in this process. I see you posted your message here twice and also on the Titration Board. Your message is very confusing for me, I don't understand how you are making your solution and I don't understand your questions either.  Maybe somebody on the Titration Board can help you figure it out. I know you have been trying to figure this out for a long time and still having a very difficult time. 

 

If somebody can't help you on the Titration Board, my honest opinion is to go back to doing a Direct Taper.  I would ask your doc. for 0.5mg tablets which you can break into four pieces (1/8 of a mg). I would remove 1/8 and hold at that dose until you feel stable. Then remove another 1/8mg. and hold again, etc. 

 

I imagine you will not like my suggestion out of concern the cuts will cause you difficult symptoms.  But it is the simplest solution if the liquid micro taper is too confusing. You will be less likely to make mistakes.

 

My other suggestion is somehow find a medical professional to help you in person.

 

Sorry I can't be of more help.  Listen to your body, hold and go as slowly as needed.

 

I do wish you the best.

 

Luey

 

 

Sir thanks for the response. i have no trouble making my solution, that is not the issue.  my point of conflict it the solution itself.  and, i need to trust my solution.  and, since i don't understand how the ativan disperses evenly in the water.  (btw...i use correct forumula, 10 pills, 3 vokda and 97 syringes of water )    my question is NOT about how to prepare it.  it this:  HOW do i know i am getting exactly .91 , say, or .74  up into my syringee?  do you see what i mean?  what is it about that solution that knows how to get my needed dose up my syringe?  how do i know that say, .91 mg of ativan are  going to be "marching" up my syringe.  how do i know i am not getting more water than ativan.  that is my question.  i just want to make sure i am getting the correct dose when  i go to take my dose.  this is almost like a liquid version of dry cutting.  can we be sure we are getting the dose we need.  and, see, i need to trust in my choice of taper and trust it with all my heart.  (i don't like dry cutting).  can you help, did this clear it up? thankyou.

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Dear Ativan Friends,

 

Thank you again for your support. I look forward to celebrating your milestones too, no matter how small.

 

I am wishing you a peaceful and stress-free Thanksgiving.

 

I am grateful for all of you!  May we all find our way and find freedom from suffering.

 

Luey

 

[[Ca...]]

Dear Ativan Friends,

 

Thank you again for your support. I look forward to celebrating your milestones too, no matter how small.

 

I am wishing you a peaceful and stress-free Thanksgiving.

 

I am grateful for all of you!  May we all find our way and find freedom from suffering.

 

Luey

 

 

 

are you still on ativan, sir?

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HOW do i know i am getting exactly .91 , say, or .74  up into my syringee?  do you see what i mean?  what is it about that solution that knows how to get my needed dose up my syringe?  how do i know that say, .91 mg of ativan are  going to be "marching" up my syringe.  how do i know i am not getting more water than ativan.  that is my question.  i just want to make sure i am getting the correct dose when  i go to take my dose.  this is almost like a liquid version of dry cutting.  can we be sure we are getting the dose we need.  and, see, i need to trust in my choice of taper and trust it with all my heart.  (i don't like dry cutting).  can you help, did this clear it up? thankyou.

Dear Cathy, I don't want to ignore you, but I am sorry, but I can't help you.  Again, I hope you will find someone who does understand to help you.  Good night,  Luey

[[po...]]

Good evening Cathymp, I am so sorry to hear about your fear and anxiety. You seem to say you have the correct dose prepared but you do not understand how, when you pull the syringe back, you get every little drop? Is that the case? You are mixing with vodka and that is one of the desirable mixtures for the Ativan. There are several Youtube videos that visually walk you through the process (to get every drop) and address what seems to be a "trust" that you are getting your full med. I take Ativan once each evening and I use a milligram scale that weighs to 0.000, so I have had no problem cutting at all and there is no issue for me getting my full dose. I agree with Luey that going to the Titration Board is the best advice here, but if words don't get it for you, you may need something visual. I do not see how we can talk you through what you say you cannot trust with your dosing. I hope you can work this out. Powerball.

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Cathymp, your Ativan is dissolved evenly in the solution and the right amount is going up into the syringe.  I did my taper with a water solution and it still worked even though Ativan isn't soluble in water. Your mixture will be much more accurate than mine was. If you got a gram scale and weighed each pill you'd find that each pill doesn't even weigh exactly the same so there was some variation even before you started tapering.  I hope that helps.

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Hi Friends,

 

How is everyone doing?  Sending out hugs to anyone in the group who is struggling. I remember last year at this time, I was just barely hanging on and it was rough. Holidays can be difficult for some of us even without benzo withdrawal. 

 

I'm ok, but did the classic thing and strayed from my disciplined no-inflammation diet by eating food with butter, sugar etc. Hoping it doesn't make me feel sick.

 

I went to a potluck with lots of people and am glad to be back in my quiet house. I did play my guitar in a little jam session and had some fun moments. It was my first time to play in many months. 

 

May peace be with you,

 

Luey

 

 

[[Ma...]]

Aurobindo / Aurolife lorazepam not working - anyone else?

 

I have never been in cold-turkey withdrawal, but I feel like it might feel like this. I have had strobe light effects, brain jolts, a tension that won't go away in my brain.

 

I had some leftover of the brand name and I took one for one of my doses and I felt like myself again.

 

But then it wore off. I only have a few of the brand name, and I take 1 mg 3x daily.

 

My pharmacy thinks nothing should be wrong with it as they have other customers taking it. But I swear this feels neurological, like withdrawal, rather than anxiety.

 

Anyone else on this brand?

[[po...]]

Good evening all:

Luey maybe you can lead me to more about the no-inflammation diet. My problem is that with my nausea, I often eat little food in the evening if it doesn't fill my food fix. The only positive side effect of my nausea I guess is weight control or a little loss of weight. My suits still fit.

 

I have been struggling with my low dose. I got as far as 0.22mg and tried to go lower and I could not, and then could not even return to .22. I have had to cheat the last couple of nights, but last night I kept my updose to just 0.004mg more and then I slept. I did get up twice to read. So I slept on 0.28 eventually. I am going to just try 0.28 at the start tonight and see if it works. I just hate going in reverse.

 

I wish there was someone else here who takes Ativan just for sleep. I know I went from 4mg to 0.22mg and still slept. Truly amazing. But going under .20 and then going lower and jumping and still sleeping seems impossible. But I will not sabotage my taper worrying about the future. Powerball.

[[Ph...]]

Hi all,

 

I forgot to update here like I said I would but I crossed over from t.i.d. pills to q.i.d. liquid suspension. Held that for a few days, which was a bit more rough of a transition than I expected. But once my body was getting used to that more even spread of dosages, I felt much better.

 

So I began my taper! I'm 10 days in now. I have good days and bad days. My doctor thinks I have GERD so sometimes when I eat my symptoms seem to get worse (headache, tension in face and head muscles, vertigo, lightheaded, changes in perception of the world, nausea). I'm on omeprazole for it but it only seems to help minimally. Some days I have very minimal symptoms. I'm sad that I'm not tolerating thanksgiving food very well but glad I get to have spiral ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, and sweet potatoes on my plate!

 

Anyway, I have 90 more days of this taper to go (not including any hold days I throw in). I can't wait to defeat Ativan. After that I will go on to slay Gabapentin.

 

Wishing the best for all of us! And I hope everyone had at the very least a tolerable Thanksgiving!

[[Ph...]]

Luey maybe you can lead me to more about the no-inflammation diet. My problem is that with my nausea, I often eat little food in the evening if it doesn't fill my food fix. The only positive side effect of my nausea I guess is weight control or a little loss of weight. My suits still fit.

 

I would love to know too! So far I find that low sugar, low bad fats foods work pretty well. If I eat poorly then I end up paying for it with hours of nausea, headaches, and head tension. I can tolerate Soylent pretty well despite its sugar content.

[[te...]]

Watch the documentary Game changer .

Eat a plant based diet and you will not have inflammation.

Lisa

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I will not sabotage my taper worrying about the future.

Hi Powerball,

 

I love your above quote!!!  Since you asked, I'll tell you about my low-inflammation eating with a few of my favorite menu ideas, recommended by my wonderful holistic MD to increase my overall health/nutrition and ease my taper.  (I know nausea makes eating challenging!) I have felt better, less withdrawal symptoms since adjusting my diet. An added benefit is my elevated cholesterol, cortisol and liver enzyme returned to good levels in 10 wks. 

 

Food to Eat (all organic):

Complex Carbohydrates and Healthy Fats

Vegetables: Lots!!! All kinds and colors: fresh, steamed, fermented and roasted. (I don't eat starchy white potatoes and limit nightshades).

Fruit: Two or three portions daily.  Blueberries, Apples, Pears, Bananas(slightly green), pomegranates and other fruit when in season.

Healthy Fat/Protein: Salmon, Sardines, Avocados, Eggs, Nuts, Seeds, Olive Oil (my only oil, extra virgin, add unheated to food), Tempeh, Tofu, Almond Milk, Soy Milk and non-fat plain Yogurt.

 

Food to eliminate or limit: Sugar/Simple Carbs, Saturated Fats, Grains, Coffee, Alcohol.

 

Lunch/Dinner Menu Ideas:

1) Big Vegi Salad with Avocados and/or Salmon

I fill a big container from The Good Food Store salad bar with arugula, shredded beets, carrots, red bell pepper, quinoa black bean salad, sunflower seeds etc. Serve on a bed of romaine lettuce tossed with lemon, olive oil, sea salt; top with fermented vegi, wild red salmon (canned) and/or avocados.

2. Baked Salmon, Sweet Potatoes, Steamed Broccoli and Kale, fresh Sauerkraut

3. Roasted Root Veggies and Tofu Marinate the tofu in miso before baking, to serve top the veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper.

4.Burritos: Coconut flour tortillas, Sautéed tempeh seasoned with tamari, hummus, avocados, greens, salsa and plain yogurt.

 

Breakfast Ideas:

1) Omelette: Egg, Spinach, Shitaki Mushroom

2) Porridge w/ Fruit:  steel cut oats, quinoa, amaranth, millet, chia seeds, hemp seeds, sesame seeds. Cook a small amount of the grains/seeds with a cinnamon stick, banana, apple. Top with blueberries, walnuts, ground flax seed, warm nut milk, cinnamon.

3)Blueberry Smoothie: Almond Milk, Yogurt, Banana, Blueberries

4) Nut Butter Smoothie: Almond Milk, Yogurt, Banana, Almond or Sunflower seed butter, fresh turmeric and a little bit of fresh ginger.

 

Snacks: Almonds (handful), Fruit, Carrots/Celery Sticks with Hummus (2 TBS), Sardines.

 

Drinks: Matcha Green Tea with a little bit of honey, nut or soy milk.

                      Holy Basil (Tulsi Tea)

                      Fresh Lemon Ginger Tea

                      Water (Filtered, Lots!!!)

 

Dessert/Sweet Treat: Chocolate Nut Butter: 2tsp. cacao, 1tsp cane sugar, drop of vanilla, tiny bit of almond milk, stir into a paste, add tsp of almond butter or add chopped walnuts and use to dip pear slices. (-:

 

Also feed your soul, add moderate exercise, laugh, love, rest, sun, breathe, mind/body practices, and limit stress.  Individualize as needed.

 

As you can see, kind of like PB's sleep hygiene rituals, I am very enthusiastic to share what is working for me.

 

Happy Eating, Healing and May You All Sleep with the Angels,

 

Luey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[Co...]]

Great info!! Thank you for sharing!

[[Ha...]]

Luey,

 

Thank you for sharing in such detail the diet that is working for you! It sounds like a very healthy way of eating and way of life. I am working on making these changes too, was actually doing very well until about a week ago when I got so disheartened about all my symptoms that I kind of slid hard off the wagon.  And now Thanksgiving has me doing the usual unhealthy things, but, I am determined to go back to healthy eating and exercise after I get back from visiting family for the holiday.  If only I could get good sleep, I feel like so many things would be better, but I guess the main thing is to do what we can and hope that things will eventually fall into place.

 

Happy Thanksgiving and sending positive thoughts and wishes to all here.

 

Haimona

[[po...]]

Luey,

It was so NICE of you to write all that for us all! We will all benefit. Thanks again. My A1c is 6.6 so that indicates my diet is pretty good. I still have bloating and gas and recently reduced my lactose and dairy and I have had marked results. I would like of course to reduce my inflammation. With my nausea, however, I often have to gravitate to food fixes, so I do not lose weight.

 

I did sleep last night on 0.28mg and that was nice. I searched all over YouTube (avoiding the Ativan taper horror stories of course), and finally found a reasonable guy taking it just for sleep. While he was not descriptive about "his jump," it sounded like he took larger cuts (I will have to re watch a couple of time). He said near the end he just lived with the loss of sleep still trying to taper. But AMAZINGLY when he was off the Ativan, he still had sleep issues but he didn't have the next day benzo after effects agony. His brain seemed to accept the loss of sleep and he did too. The loss of sleep now came with no benzo after effects, and how much better that was. He did say he was slowly but progressively getting more sleep. I have read some about adding melatonin as the Ativan decreases, but I am just afraid of supplements. My doc doesn't advocate or them at all, he says they can interact with your drug. The other night I took some tart cherry juice (supposed to help reduce insomnia) before bed and the next day thought it has been a bad idea.

 

My book is nearly done. I should be done tomorrow if I work all day. I did tell myself I would return to the gym when it is done. My publisher deadline was Dec 1 and with my co-authors we will come in near deadline. This project has been stressful for me, occupied most of my weekends, and I signed the contract way before I went on Ativan. Those were the good old Ambien days. That must be one hell of a drug to get off too. I probably never could have done it.

 

I have pretty much accepted I will not be off Ativan before my trip to Peru on the 21st. But that is ok. Tapering on vacay could be disastrous. At the first of year I will regain traction. If I can jump before the end of March I can have done this on just under a year. But this has been one hard year at 58. Very hard. Sometimes just holding on. Sometimes just coming up for breath. Peace. Powerball. 

 

[[Ph...]]

Thanks Luey! I really appreciate hearing from others on what works for them diet wise.

[[he...]]

Luey thanks for the diet info — it all sounds so good.

 

I have a question for you all. Months before starting Ativan taper, I tapered off a low dose of amitriptyline, which I had taken for 5 years. I had been blaming this for my brain fog, apathy, increased anxiety and balance problems. Now I think I did it backwards and it maybe would have been better to taper from Ativan first (and am thinking those problems were Ativan, as I still have them!) . I’m thinking about going back on it for short term (I’ve been off it for several months.) Maybe it would help stabilize me for this seemingly more difficult taper. I’m really struggling, and I haven’t made much progress yet. 

 

Wondering if this would be going backwards, or giving myself a break. Does anyone have insights here? Or maybe there is a different place for this post?

 

Thanks all

 

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Hearts have you tried searching BB for amitryptiline and also Elavil?  There are quite a few posts on Elavil.

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Congratulations on your book Powerball!  It's truly remarkable all you've been accomplishing while tapering! I hope you'll soon be able to relax a little bit. 

 

Heartsonfire, Such a good question you are asking and so highly individual.  I can't remember, do you have a trusted pdoc helping you?  I am taking a med. for depression, likely for the long-term, but am determined to get off the A.  Sorry you haven't been feeling well, I know it can be quite the journey figuring this all out but I know you will.

 

Thanks for all your responses to my low-inflammation diet essay, haha... as you can see I am quite passionate about the topic.  If it helps someone even a little bit that's awesome. I know diet like tapering is very individual.

 

Ever since over-indulging on sweet desserts on Thursday, I've been craving more sugar and experiencing sugar highs and lows.  It's truly like a drug!  I'm determined to "just say no" to any future chocolate-filled shortbread cookies dipped in ice cream!!

 

Onward.... and take care everyone,  Luey

 

[[he...]]

AF1 — thanks I’ll search for those Elavil posts tonight.

 

Luey — you know, I have a pdoc who I have seen for a long time. She is the one who first prescribed the “harmless low-dose Ativan” and doesn’t think I should have any problems going off of it. So, I don’t know. I am seeing her soon and will ask about the amitriptyline during Ativan taper. Tonight I’m going down on my Ativan dose again. Baby steps!

 

Goodnight to all (and back to work for me)

[[po...]]

To my swell Ativan Haters

I finally finished my book about an hour ago. Spent Thanksgiving until tonight to get it done. I mostly lost my long holiday weekend. I head to SC on Thursday night to see my mom and dad (I haven't seen him in two years - I look so forward to it). I should be a better son to him and at 58 I am lucky to have them both and healthy. I slept great last night so I am dropping to 0.27mg tonight. l think I will be ok. My new tick to take  to take the 1 mg of Xanax 45 minutes before the Ativan. And then instead of taking my Ativan 45 minutes later, I extended to an hour. But now I wait until I start yawning (after the set hour) and that is the real sign I am ready for sleep. I think I might go back to the very beginning of this Ativan blog and surely there are folks who took it just for sleep. I just took my third yawn so audios. Powerball.

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Luey — you know, I have a pdoc who I have seen for a long time. She is the one who first prescribed the “harmless low-dose Ativan” and doesn’t think I should have any problems going off of it. So, I don’t know.

Heartsonfire, My psych np prescribed me the "harmless" 6mg per day of Ativan. I voiced my concerns several times but she got defensive, basically telling me she is the one with the scientific knowledge and didn't want to discuss it further. Currently there is not a better pdoc where I live but I keep hoping one will move here. When I started having major withdrawal symptoms, I knew I was basically on my own to taper.  I tell her a few details in a matter of fact way, but avoid conflict. She tries to blame my symptoms on something else. Hopefully someday she will become educated about benzos!  Unfortunately I do need her to prescribe and need to be under the care of a pdoc. Fortunately, I am also consulting with a wonderful holistic MD who is very caring and helpful.

Positive Update: I saw my psych np today.  She was MUCH MORE acknowledging, accepting and supportive of what I am going through!  She had an intern observing so it was also a great opportunity to educate the new generation.  I could see the intern reflecting and she said about her main psych internship placement: "Wow seeing you go off so slowly, I think we are taking people off too quickly, in just a few weeks."  I said it needs to be highly individualized depending on how a person feels. I was finally able to talk in depth about my experience and felt validated. I didn't tell them about BBs or about Daily Liquid Micro Tapering.  I felt like I was educating them but at least they were listening.

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Just for fun---if you want to put a picture in a post, click on a picture online, then right click on it and click on "copy image address" then click on the "insert image icon" under the bold type icon and past the image address where the cursor is. 

[[Co...]]

Powerball - CONGRATULATIONS on finishing your book! What an amazing accomplishment!! You must be so relieved to have it complete.

    I think Sierra took Ativan just for sleep.  I hope you have a wonderful time with your parents.

 

AF1 - Such a cute picture!