Tapering off Ativan Support Thread

[[Co...]]

Thank you for the article Luey. I love your snow angel.    Congratulations on hitting your 75% mark!!!

 

Haimona - I am so sorry to hear you are struggling with sleep. I hope you find some relief soon.

 

Hi Bozobertie! Thanks for stopping by!

 

Hearts - I hope things are going well for you and liquid taper is working for you.

 

AF1 - I can turn yarn into things, we have the same superpower!  (saw that on a journal cover and thought it was too cute)

 

[[...]]

Committed, that's cute about the superpower. 

[[El...]]

Hi,

 

How did everyone calculate the lorazepam milligram weight when tapering? Through a mg scale? Water titration? I am working with the 0.5 mg pill, and tapering down a quarter of a week has been difficult to calculate without a scale.  Thank you!

[[...]]

Hi Friends! 

 

I liked reading your msgs. Good to hear you liked the NYT article. I feel like sending it to my psych n.p.. AF1, I think that's right about opioids.

 

Committed, Thanks for the support and noticing my snow angel. (-: 

 

Hi Elizabeth, Welcome!  I and a few others are doing liquid (alcohol and water) titration, aka Daily Liquid Micro Tapering (DLMT). At least one buddy on here is cutting and weighing. Here's a place to get more info. about both methods. Go to ReadMeFirst. http://benzo.alwaysdata.net Let us know if you want more info. and what you decide.

 

Good Night All,

 

Luey

[[Ha...]]

Thanks Committed, I am really hoping the trazadone will help.  From what my dr said and what I have read, it is really good for sleep and without being addictive.  My hope is I can take it to get my sleep back on track and hopefully make the rest of the A taper easier too, and then get off all of it after not too long.

 

Lisa, I'm so sorry you are struggling with sleep too.  It really does affect everything, I believe there is not a single thing that is not affected by lack of sleep at this point.  I hope you get some relief soon.

 

I will let you all know how it goes with the trazadone. 

 

Haimona

[[El...]]

Thank you Luey! I appreciate the information and link.  Will read about both options.  I've been cutting my pills, and am down to the last bits of it. While I thought I could cut and hold at 0.25 mg, that has proven to be more difficult than I imagined.  The pills are tiny to begin with!

[[...]]

Haimona, just be aware that even drugs that aren't considered addictive can require tapering and have symptoms getting off of them. I'm not specifically familiar with Trazadone, though. 

 

Luey, I think you should send the article. Maybe your doc will get curious and do some research.

[[Ha...]]

Thanks, AF1.  I hear you and I know that's true, although trazadone is considered to be relatively easy to get off of but with a taper.  I think I am just desperate enough for sleep, and determined enough not to updose on A, that I am going to do it anyway.  My plan is to stay on the trazadone no more than a few months. 

[[fr...]]

Hi Halmona,

Hope its ok to jump in here on the trazodone question. I am thinking of taking it regularly too......do you happen to know (anyone chime in please) if it takes time to work fully or if sleep comes at first dose? Not sure if I take it how long to try it out before giving up on it.

Thanks .

[[sa...]]

Sleep meds in general:

I stopped taking that stuff.

Every medication has its side effects. I don't need even more symptoms.

 

Trazadon is not designed for sleep but is an antidepressant.

Many people get nasty side effects, so consider this wisely.

 

Hugs, Satasha

[[Os...]]

Hi everyone, just wanted to wish you well and thank you for the support in 2019.  I've been off for about two months now, jumped on 11/15/19.

 

I'm fine, and some days it is hard to imagine how bad it really was.  The mind has a blessed ability to forget, and some of the worst memories of rebound panic & anxiety are fading away.  I do know there were some days that were really, really bad.  I remember a Sunday in particular when my heart was racing, my blood pressure was elevated, and I really worried that Ativan had done something terrible to me. 

 

You can do it. Stick to your taper, whatever length it is. It is soooooo good once you're finally free.  I still have some ringing in my ears, but the heart racing, the sheer panic attacks, the apathy, that's all gone and I'm back to my old self.  Even better than before this all started, because I am more aware of what matters most in my life.

 

My hope and love to all of you.

[[Ha...]]

Thank you to everyone who commented and weighed in an trazadone for sleep.  Fridaygirl, my understanding is it doesn't work fully on the first night and can take a week or two to be fully effective, but how helpful it may be on night one I'm not sure.  I am taking everyone's advice to heart and will start at half the recommended dose.  Maybe that will do the trick and when the time is right, it will be easier to get off.  Meanwhile, I am still holding the A at .375 mg. 

 

Haimona

[[he...]]

Hi friends -- it's good to catch up with everyone. Osprey777, thanks for stopping by with a positive and encouraging message!

 

I've had a difficult few weeks -- the sudden death of dear friend 12/28 kind of derailed me. It was a whirlwind of shock and grief and going through the motions of her funeral last weekend. Now I am back at work for a few long nights. I updosed only twice during that stressful week, and ultimately continued with my taper. I'm now at .5 mg, which is HALF of where I was when I started!! I'm finding that I feel better with less Ativan. My sleep cycles are short (though better since I added back the amitriptyline). I agree with you Haimona -- I'd try anything before going up on Ativan or taking a drug like Ambien. I have not tried Trazodone but I see it used frequently for sleep. Oh -- during this time I found out the results of my first round of tests were mostly normal; only one abnormality on the autoimmune panel so that rules out a lot of scary things. I'm having a second set of labs done this week.

 

Mysteriously, the daily nausea I had around .75 mg has gone away -- got better as I slid through .7, .65. and .6 mg. Other than insomnia/broken sleep and bouts of paralyzing grief (unrelated to drugs, I'm glad I can still feel things) I've been feeling OK. Learning to be more patient with myself and ride the waves. I'm a little worried about going down from .5 mg, but I try not to look too far ahead. I'm going stay at this dose for a couple more weeks.

 

I will get off this drug in 2020. We all can!!

Peace and hugs to you all

[[...]]

Heartsonfire, I'm so sorry about your friend. How shocking and sad that is.    Sounds like you're doing well in spite of that, though.

[[Ha...]]

Heartsonfire, I'm so sorry to hear about your loss.  I can understand, though, what you mean about being glad you can still feel.  I did find the taper got harder below .5, but I have a feeling I went too fast.  My next reduction I am going to try a liquid microtaper, which I don't fully understand yet but I know there's a lot of good info on here.  I know going slow is important, especially at the lower doses.

 

I took a very small dose of trazadone last night and slept just as poorly as ever, but woke hung over.  I am tempted to hold off taking more and try going back to my old exercise program first, although that may just be wishful thinking, but I feel like maybe it's worth a try to see if that can help my sleep before committing to a new medication that I'll also need to taper off of.  For an occasional night here and there, just to break the logjam of sleep deprivation, I may try a benadryl.  I know it brings its own problems, but once in a while, for a short period of time, I think it would be okay.  So that's where I am today.  Very thankful for this forum and the support.

 

Haimona

[[...]]

Heartsonfire,

 

I am so very sorry to hear of the loss of your friend.  I can imagine how difficult it must be.  I admire your being tuned into your body and emotions to be able to distinguish between grief and withdrawal symptoms.  Please keep being kind to yourself.  I am amazed you have tapered to .5mg in the middle of all this and are feeling better at a lower dose. Good news about your tests!

 

Haimona and FridayGirl,  I understand your difficult decision about whether to take medication for on-going insomnia. You've probably already tried or considered this, but have any of you struggling with sleep tried a low dose melatonin?  It has helped me. It's just a thought.  For me, weekly outdoor hikes are the best natural medicine to minimize symptoms including sleep.

 

After four solid months tapering with minimal symptoms down to 1.5mg, in the past week or so I have been feeling some malaise again.  Rather than push it, I've decided to join those of you who have tried holding as a way to feel better. It has helped to hear your experiences about holding and slowing down.  It's hard for me to accept slowing down and this will take however long it takes in order to try to stay well in the journey.  1.5mg is a convenient place to hold as I can take a break from liquid tapering for a while. 

 

Osprey, thanks for stopping by with your good news and support.

 

Warm hugs to all,

 

Luey

[[po...]]

Good evening pals,

 

Sorry I haven't been here since last Friday. I was feeling pretty ok Friday night  when I wrote my "return from Peru post,", and the next day I had the BIG JUNGLE D which had never really gone way completely. I was sick as a dog Saturday and I had all kinds of symptoms. I am not a hypochondriac, but when I have symptoms I head off to the Dr. At 58 I take no chance. Anyway, I recovered a lot Sunday and was still determined to call one of my specialists Monday, and then changed my mind, but called in sick Monday just to rest up.

 

I began to have a good week and then yesterday I can say I am back to 100%. For some odd reason, I slept perfectly fine in Peru on .22mg. But I could not sleep during my acute illness and had to up dose to .25 I tried for three nights to go back to 0.22, but I could not. I spent to two days .25 and then last night I began my taper to 0.24 and it went fine. As I said, my strategy is to get to 0.20 mg and then hold, and try and taper some of the Xanax back which is 1 mg, because these two drugs are working so synergistically to make me sleep.

 

Haimona, I took two doses of Trazadone and quit. It did nothing for me and I needed my sleep. It my world, I am not going to risk loss of sleep to wait until some drug decides to work or not. I tried about 5 different things until we went to Ativan. As I have said here, I do not blame my psych. He really did not want to go Benzo, but I was desperate. Would I do it again? That is a difficult question. Probably, as horrible as that may sound.

 

I began my taper around March 31 at 4 mg (Luey remembers), and I was able to stay steady enough in my life throughout the year while tapering. But I do have anger at my psych and others doctors who did not know how to help me taper down and hopefully off. But this GROUP DID! Since I write late at night before I go to bed, I will try and get back to usual dose of friendship and support. The last four days have been very good. Very good. It is crazy how we can feel like S and then recover. I am an RN, the body is one amazing thing. Good night, Powerball.

 

.

[[Do...]]

Hey all!

 

Apologies if I have asked this question of you already. Does anyone have this symptom... it’s like a high-pitched “feeling” in my diaphragm area and behind my eyes. I don’t know how to describe it. it’s not that “I need to pace” feeling I had with my klonopin withdrawal. Well maybe it is a milder form of it. I just can’t put my finger on WHAT it is but it’s always lurking just below the surface. it’s just a weird feeling that I can’t shake unless I am very focused on something at work or sometimes when doing yoga or exercise.

 

Would love any feedback from anyone here who has experienced something similar and has suggestions for how I could alleviate it.

 

Happy weekend!

[[he...]]

AF1, Haimona and Luey -- thank you for your condolences; I appreciate your kind words. It's been interesting to experience grief on this level again while continuing to taper. What you said, Luey, about distinguishing grief from withdrawal symptoms struck me. They are so similar. Immediately upon learning my friend had died (ruptured aneurysm at 48) I felt dizzy, nauseous, clammy, heart racing -- same symptoms!

 

Luey I hope that you find holding for a while eases your malaise. I'm right there with you. There is no rush. When I think about my life circumstances that me to long-term use of Ativan, that did not happen overnight.

 

I hope everyone is having a good Sunday, wherever you are! Thanks all for your support and friendship.

Heartsonfire

[[Ha...]]

Powerball, you said this so well.  "It my world, I am not going to risk loss of sleep to wait until some drug decides to work or not." Pretty much exactly how I felt.  I need every drop of sleep I can get.  I have to get up every day and function at a stressful job, which would be stressful enough without insomnia, anxiety, and all the other symptoms of withdrawal.  Last night I took Benadryl and slept about eight hours, if you put all the pieces of sleep together.  I would love to have a night of full, uninterrupted sleep, but I'll take what I can get and eight hours in pieces is a lot better than the two or three hours I had, complete with bad dreams, the one night I took the trazadone.

 

Can somebody please point me again to a good source for how to start the micro taper? I think I might be feeling ready to get my ducks in a row to start tapering again, but I want to go very very slowly.  Last time I went straight from .5 to .375, and I think that was too fast.  (I also went straight from .75 to .5, and I think that was too fast too).

 

Thanks and love to everyone here.

 

Haimona

[[Co...]]

Heartsonfire. - So sorry to hear about the loss of your friend.

 

Luey - I am sorry to hear you aren’t feeling very well. Hopefully this hold will get you back on track!

 

Haimona - Glad to hear you were able to get some sleep! Lack of sleep makes everything so challenging. I have tried Trazadone and had to quit using it as I had a bad reaction.

 

Powerball - Glad you are feeling better!!

 

Lisa - Hope things are going welll.

 

Hope everyone is able to find moments of peace and serenity today.

[[te...]]

Glad to hear from most everyone ,heartsonfire sorry to hear of your loss

Comitted your so sweet thanks for thinking of me ,

Luey  sorry you are feeling low energy , it will come back .

Haimonna  hope sleep returns for both of us some day

 

Working and still cutting with hopes of better days soon

Love to all lisa

[[...]]

Hi Friends,  Thanks for the support and sharing everyone.  What a great group!  Committed, How are you feeling? Welcome back Powerball. Last night I went to a friend's going away party and ate all food not part of my low-inflammation diet.  When I eat that way, I have go spend at least a day recovering )-:  Next to moderate exercise, what I eat and avoiding stress make the most difference for how I feel.

 

Haimona,  I'll share Jim Hawk's computer application and description for doing micro-tapering:  http://benzo.alwaysdata.net

I especially like his ReadMeFirst sections to get an overview for both liquid or dry tapering.  You can play around with the computer application to generate a plan.  Or if you want to do your own calculations, I could explain a way to calculate using liquid which is the only method I've used.  If you decide to try dry cutting w/ a scale, maybe someone here or the Titration board could share their calculation method.  By the way, good you got some sleep last night.  I wonder if there's any harm with Benadryl if you just use it occasionally?

 

Warm hugs,

 

Luey

 

 

[[po...]]

Glad to see my homies are holding on. One night we will post that we all had a good day! It's coming!! I woke up pretty miserable with my back and just could not go to my Sunday service. I just could not sit for a 2 hr meditation. I was very disappointed in myself. But today all the Advil has kicked in and I feel much better. Yesterday my husband bought some new sheets that and were less expensive than our usual brand. I swear to God they disrupted my sleep last night. (I told him to throw them away-he wasn't very happy about that and accused me of being the princess and the pea). I got up and cheated but that was so stupid. I should have just gotten up to read. TONIGHT I will be strong. It was nice having a weekend to myself. No book writing. Class doesn't go into full gear until the end of the month, so administrators can get caught up. Off to bed. Does anyone use a heated blanket? I LOVE mine and am addicted to it. Cheers and goodnight. Powerball. 

[[Co...]]

Good morning all!

 

Luey, been a bit rough since the beginning of the year so I am taking a couple day hold to see if things will get back on track. Thank you for asking. Hope you are feeling better on your hold.

 

Powerball, I use a heated blanket too!! Love it!! Seems like I am always cold since I have been tapering.