Tapering off Ativan Support Thread

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Hello Faith,

 

I am so sorry to hear you are struggling with severe depression and crying. This can be such a rough journey. Please know we are here for you.

 

Regarding switching to Valium, I just remember feeling MUCH worse when trying to switch. However, my doctor at that time didn’t feel it was necessary to switch over a length of time, she had me switch over in 6 days. Of course now I know better. I didn’t even last a week before I just went back to Lorazepam.

 

Regarding your crying spells, in the beginning of my taper I cried ALL THE TIME for no reason at all. It was very frustrating. The good news is that it did get better as my dose got lower! I saw a video of a gentleman that had the same experience during his taper. (Don’t know which benzo he was tapering from.)

 

Have you done any tapering while on Valium? Do you feel like you could manage these symptoms for a while until you get lower?

 

Take Care,

Committed

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Hi Committed-Thanks for such a supportive and detailed reply. I started at 15mg of valium, and have tapered down to my current 12. I may be able to get down a little further on the valium; I have also read of people whose Valium depression and crying

improved with time, but I guess I’m just not sure how far down I will have to go down.

I have also read about folks whose problems with valium never abated. Do you think that

it’s not a good idea to switch back to ativan? If I did, I would do it gradually, as I have

been on the valium only for about 6 weeks.

Thanks-Faith

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Faith - I know this is hard, but ultimately only you can decide which drug to taper from. For me, I just finally had to set my mind on one, get stabilized and then just start tapering again. Unfortunately there is no solid answer regarding how long certain symptoms will last.

 

My heart goes out to you as you make these tough decisions. Just keep reminding yourself that you are on the path to eventually being benzo free!!

 

Keep us posted on how things are going.

Committed

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Greetings Everyone,

Powerball, Good work literally chipping away at this thing. I'm happy to hear you've been doing well.

Lisa, It's good to know you've been getting some regular hours of sleep. It must be a huge relief.

Haimona, Praying you will also get some rest and start feeling better soon. 

Bikhawks, Best wishes on your switch to Klonopin. I hope it stops or reduces interdose withdrawal symptoms.

Committed, So sorry to hear about the wave you've been experiencing. Hang in there my friend.

Hearts, Good to hear your strength is starting to return, the flu really can be terrible. I hope your runs go well this week.

Faith, I hope listening to your body will help guide you in your decision. If it takes you some extra weeks, that's ok.

Please be gentle with yourselves everyone. I know you are all doing the best you can.

Luey

 

 

 

 

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Hi friends --  I appreciate what a supportive community this is. Luey, such a good reminder that we are all doing the best we can. I'm going to hang my hat on that as I head off to work a long shift.

 

I went running yesterday and felt grateful to be well. I have a long way to go re: the Ativan but it's a process much like a long race. One foot in front of the other, and we will someday be at the finish line.

 

Despite being tired in a good way from running, I slept soooo poorly. One of those nights when I wake up every 1-2 hours. Thinking of all of you who are struggling with the same.

 

Hugs to all.

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My dad’s blood work finally came back good. NO MORE CANCER!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!!

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Committed, YYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!

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committed,

So very happy for you and your Dad, God Bless!

 

 

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Committed-I am happy to hear the good news about your Dad. May he continue to heal,

and thanks for your support.

Luey-Thanks for the words of encouragement.

May we all continue to heal from this horrendous drug.

Faith

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Yay Committed!!! 

 

Thanks for sharing your great news!!  What a relief!

 

Big hugs!

 

Luey

 

 

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AF1, Lisa, Faith and Luey,

Thank you, thank you, thank you for being so happy for me!!

 

Committed

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Why am I up so damn late? I am a politics junkie. Have always been one. Waiting for Maine an Texas. I moved by 1000 meeting to 1030am. I am down to 0.16mg. Sleep still 100% preserved. I am simply dumbfounded by that. I was at 4mg the end of last March. Good night. Powerball.

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Greetings Friends,

 

The first crocuses popped up in my yard, it felt like the beginning of Spring today.  I'm celebrating reaching 1.25mg, another 1/4 milestone in my taper. It took me six months to go from 2.25mg to 1.25mg. but I have been doing so much better, almost symptom free and enjoying life during this time. Just to put things in perspective, the first six months of my taper I went from 6mg. to 2.75, but I was suffering.  Going slower really seems to have made things easier for me. I'm grateful for every good day.

 

I know we all have to experiment to find our own best pace and I hope you all are finding yours.  I know it can take a lot of patience and faith.  I truly believe life will get better for all of you too. 

 

Happy Spring Everyone,

 

Luey

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Luey:

Congrats! We came here last year about the same time. I think you suffered more than I did I think, but if I had micro tapered at the beginning, I likely would have gotten discouraged. Lately I have been doing very well. My nausea has gone away again, and I yawn almost religiously around 4pm. I don't even have that one cup of coffee in the morning on a regular basis. Tonight I go to 0.15mg.

 

I finally got a new bottle of poison and my average pill weight has gone from .122mg to .120mg. So the new weight is my new standard. As I have said before, this completely eliminates my need to weigh every pill. One problem I have is wondering how my 1 mg of Xanax is going to play in all this tapering (which supports my sleep).

 

My goal is always 100% sleep preservation and I have maintained it from 4mg all the way down to where I am today. I was scheduled for a 4 hr meditation tomorrow but I canceled it to help my husband find a second adjunct teaching position. He is a brilliant philosopher but jobs for humanities professor is as about as rare as a Ativan (poison) taper from 4mg to 2mg in 2 weeks and be free of symptoms. Good night. Powerball

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Luey and Powerball,

 

CONGRATULATIONS on your fantastic progress!!!!

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Fellow friends here. I did a new calculation tonight. I have reduced my 4mg of Ativan dose 96.2% in 11 months and 7 days. I am actually shocked by that with pretty much 100% sleep preservation. How is that possible? I hope all of you are well and tapering ok. I could NEVER have gotten this far without the support of THIS group and others who have been here in the past. None of my TOP NOTCH doctors in NYC and neither my Psych Doc knew how to help me. Good night. Powerball 

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Dear Friends,

 

I wanted to recognize all of you for your kindness, courage, perseverance, strength, humor, love and UNDERSTANDING!!  This includes the supportive men in our group too! 

 

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMAN'S DAY!

 

Give yourself some extra self-nurturing today,

 

Luey

 

 

 

 

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I fully support women over 50 ruling the world. We have had enough of white straight male privilege. I am in two of those categories myself.

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Powerball

 

How are you doing everybody?  I hope the good days are outnumbering the bad ones.

 

Best wishes,

 

Luey

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Hello again,

 

With the corona virus and all of the news, I wanted to check in with everyone. It's been kind of quiet around here lately, I hope everyone is doing ok.  Our tapering and reasons why we took ativan in the first place are already challenging, any added stress can make it worse. Right now the state where I live doesn't have any confirmed cases of cv, but businesses, public places are starting to take precautions.  Our governor just declared a state of emergency. I know some of you are in closer proximity to known cases and at least one of us works in a hospital.

 

Since benzos are a controlled substance it can make it harder to buy a backup supply.  I have been stock-piling ativan because of lowering my dose and have a few extra months supply.  In the past when I wanted to travel, my pdoc at the time wrote my prescription for a larger amount so I could double up in the two months before my extended trip.  I hope getting meds doesn't become a problem for any of us.

 

Thinking of you all, I'm sure everyone is doing the best they can to stay healthy, please check in when you can.

 

Luey

 

 

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Hi all

Hope everyone is doing well .have had some challenging days

2

Worried I have a son at wall st and am so worried for him .

Feeling shaky after last drop.

Hope is goes soon

Stay safe

Lisa

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Prayers for your son, Lisa! 

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Thank you

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Hi Lisa, Thanks for checking in.  Sorry to hear about your challenging days since your last drop, I hope the shakiness soon subsides.  I hope you have been able to communicate with your son to help ease your worries.  Sending calm thoughts to you and everyone.  I realize I need to take a break from social media and the news and go for a walk in nature. Keep the faith and stay healthy everyone,  Hugs, Luey