Tapering off Ativan Support Thread

[Guest [ba...]]

I'm thinking about moving from 0.75 mg - 1.0 mg Lorazepam to 0.5 mg Clonazepam and need help with how to crossover.

 

Is this advisable?

 

Can I do a straight crossover or do I need to start slower with the Clonazepam and taper down the Ativan?

 

My Dr knows nothing about all this, which is how I got into this mess.

 

I'm not stable on the Ativan.

I was in July but tapered too quickly, I didn't know what I was doing and had to reintroduce some.

 

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated,

 

Thanks!

 

This probably won't help, but when I became unstable on klonopin, I was moved over to Ativan. 

 

I don't think that switch will necessarily help (or hurt) you very much.  0.5 mg of klonopin is equivalent to 1.0 mg Ativan, so I guess it's a bit of an updose for you.  Perhaps that will help with current symptoms.

 

When I switched from klonopin to ativan, I simply switched (in one day).  Since you're moving from a shorter to a longer-acting benzo, you may feel a slight drop in dosage for 2-3 days.  The Ativan disappears faster than the klonopin builds up.  It all evens out after a few days.

[[Ma...]]

Hi WinnieDog

 

I’m sorry you’re having to make this decision; many of us here have doctors that don’t understand the dangers of Benzos, or how to support us through a safe withdrawal. But you are here now. 😊

 

I’m concerned about the ‘why’ of switching to Clonazepam... from what I‘ve read, it is one of the hardest to taper from. We are all tapering directly from Ativan in this group... it’s not easy, but certainly possible, as many people have done it with success.

 

It sounds like you understand why you’re not stable on the Ativan... perhaps from a too-fast taper in July. I do wonder if going up and down in dosage is contributing to how you’re unable to stabilize. Keeping at a consistent dose in order to stabilize, along with adding more dosing times may help. Many of us in this group have switched from dosing once a day to 3 or 4 times, thus reducing the interdose withdrawal symptoms. I personally don’t believe that a crossover to Clonazepam will help, however we cannot tell you what to do... that is up to you.

 

I’m sorry you’re having migraines.... I’m not sure if you were already dealing with these pre-taper, but headaches are an unfortunate side effect of benzo withdrawal.

 

We are here to help you taper, should you so desire. Just let us know what you need. You can do this.

 

 

[Guest [...]]

thanks so much Marwegs and Badsocref

 

I know that I'm scared of what's to come!

 

I was very stable in July and have gone really down hill since then, pretty non-functional.

I didn't understand what was happening was withdrawal, as it is mimicking other health conditions I've been having that started before any of these drugs etc.

 

I've lost a ton of weight and need to stabilize.

 

I find that the Ativan doesn't put me to sleep anymore, it doesn't rev me up, but it also doesn't help with the sleep.

I could sleep fine without the Ativan using the Trazodone, which is how I got into this mess - it was too easy to drop the Ativan.

 

Yes I've also read that it's hard to come off of, which is why I'm not sure about doing this!

 

I do have an apt with a deprescriber tomorrow morning, I'm going to ask him as well.

 

I could try adding in more doses throughout the day to even out the interdose feelings etc.

 

I only wish I'd found this group in July.

 

The odd thing is that I've successfully CT both Ativan and Clonazepam 13 and 14 years ago.

I was given Ativan in the hospital while on bedrest with my youngest and then sent home with no pills, while she was in the NICU, I had no problems at all.

A year later I was given Clonazepam by a psychiatrist from the hospital to get onto Zoloft, as I was grieving the loss of one of our ID twins etc. Again, came off that no problems after 4 weeks of use.

That's why I couldn't understand what was going on this time?

 

It took me 6-7 weeks to figure it out, and now I hope it's not too late and I pray I haven't done damage to my brain.

I'm a highly educated person, with many degrees, as I'm sure many here are - and I just can't believe I'm in this position etc.

 

I'm sure everyone has a similar story.

 

Thanks for your help and I'll let you know what I decide!

 

[[Ma...]]

WinnieDog, many people have stories of easy CT’s from previous benzo use, but have struggled years later to taper. It’s normal. I have also lost close to 25 pounds, a common side effect of withdrawal.

 

I was told to take Ativan nightly for sleep, it worked once, then did the exact opposite. People report having paradoxical effects from the drug, or increasing dosage due to the drug no longer working for its original intended purpose. Something someone told me at the beginning of this was, ‘hold as long as you need to, but do not updose’. I have to say, I agree.

 

Take all of the time you need, but for me, I’m battling through ‘good enough’ right now in order to get off. I feel scared but the drug is no longer doing anything but keeping me dependant.

 

Something that has helped me tremendously is to understand what is happening in my brain, and the knowledge that symptoms are a sign of HEALING. You do not have irreparable damage. Your brain is doing what it is supposed to do.. it is trying to restart all of its down-regulated receptors... and with that, comes a slough of really uncomfortable symptoms. BUT.... it means you’re healing! I always say, ‘where the mind goes, the body follows’. I don’t mean to oversimplify suffering, but it has helped me to go, ‘oh, ok brain, you’re trying to fix yourself’... healing is happening, even before we are off.

 

Take a read: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=66397.msg3086913#msg3086913

 

Good luck!

[Guest [...]]

thanks Marwegs!

 

It appears that we were at a similar spot in July!

 

If only I had the brains to taper then, I'd be closer to where you are now etc.

 

The one big complaint I have is the brain burning I get!

That is really terrible and frankly the only thing I'm trying to avoid.

It was so bad, and very scary - definitely makes you feel like you have brain damage.

I was really incapacitated with that, and that's what made me updose a little bit.

I also found when I switched back to the sublinguals, that the brain burning subsided a bit.

 

I was so good a few weeks ago, then I had to come off some antihistamines for a skin prick test and all hell broke loose.

 

I'll take a look at the thread.

 

Thanks for everything!

[Guest [...]]

Marwegs

 

I forgot to ask you if you were on the sublinguals or not.

 

I find them very hard to measure on the scale as they crumble so easily.

 

I can't use the pill version, was terrible!!

 

How did you do this?

 

My Dr would have no problem prescribing me anything.

 

I'm also speaking to a de-prescriber tomorrow from Ottawa from a compounding pharmacy, so hopefully that will help.

 

Thanks,

 

[[Ma...]]

Don’t be hard on yourself... this isn’t about being smart enough to figure it out... it took me WEEKS to figure out why I wasn’t feeling right. My husband spent all day on the internet researching, and finally uttered..’ I think you’re in withdrawal’. It felt like a death. I’m a professional, educated, took it as prescribed, and I was dependant? It grew my humility and compassion by oodles.... harrowing realization, to say the least!

 

Are you Canadian? I’m on the Westcoast, near Vancouver, and sublingual seems the preferred format here. I had so much trouble, (and stress!) cutting them, and eventually found a compounding pharmacy that created a liquid suspension for me to dose accurately. It was HUGE in helping me stabilize, and will allow me to accurately taper down to 0.001, which I hope to be at in 8 days.

 

If you google compounding pharmacists in your area, you can have it prepared as a 0.1mg/1ml suspension, which is tremendously helpful for those of us who are dividing our doses up throughout the day. Right now I am dosing 0.027mg 3x a day... I can’t imagine doing that using the sublinguals!

 

Also, I switched because the pharmacist told me the efficacy of the pill may be compromised once cut, which may have explained how unstable I felt at your stage. (I’m talking specifically about the sublingual pills.... maybe something to do with moisture affects them once cut).

 

Several people in this group have very successfully tapered from the pills, (not sublingual) but many of us have found ease and improvement once we switched to liquid. I am also doing a DLMT (daily liquid Microtaper), cutting tiny amounts each day instead of waiting and cutting larger ones. It has worked for me.

 

I am here for whatever you need. Many have gone before us and some of them saved my sanity.... you’re not alone. Prayers of peace and discernment over you!

[Guest [...]]

Thank you so much!!!

 

Only wish I went to him before I went to this Functional Medicine guy, who told me I have POTS/Dysautonomia (which I probably do and had signs of before I took any of these drugs). He badgered me and said that I had to be on Xanax and Paxil for my anxiety. For that I had to pay $800!!

 

I will ask him about the liquid suspension!! Sounds great! I will have to find someone nearby that will prepare it.

 

That's great you've been able to do the daily cuts, I saw other people had done that. I think I need to be stable for a while before I can move forward with any cuts. Hopefully doing the liquid will help me more etc.

 

I agree that breaking the sublinguals affects the dose you are getting. I also heard it was because the active ingredient wasn't spread throughout the pill, so you have no idea how much your getting etc.

 

Congrats to being off soon!!! What is the amount of daily cut that you do?

 

You've helped me so much for tomorrow, I can't thank you enough!!

 

I have a ton of medical apt to do soon.

 

Will let you know how tomorrow goes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[Ma...]]

Wowzers... I’m sorry you’re in this spot. Hopefully, tomorrow you will get the support you need, but remember to always follow your gut and that YOU are in charge of your taper. No rush, so stabilizing is best.

 

I am currently cutting 0.009mg/day, which is a bit quick, but my waves come no matter what the speed anymore, and holding didn’t do much for me at this dose, so I’m forging on. 🤞🏼 ☺️

 

 

[Guest [...]]

I hear you!

 

I need to stabilize a bit, as I'm still working full time. I have a pretty big job, thankfully I can work from home and turn off my camera. 

 

What are the symptoms that you get?

 

I've been having the akatasia for a while, just thought it was something else - didn't know what it was. I call it my internal vibrations.

The migraines and brain burning are the worst, I hope you don't have those. The ears burning too is pretty bad.

I get the adrenaline surges, but I'm used to those for the most part.

My heart is the one thing that always bothers me, I have been to the ER 3-4 times for that since May.

 

My poor husband has been doing everything for months now.

I also haven't been able to talk much with my two kids for months - I have to eat all my meals alone - I can't take the noise etc.

 

I hope you've been able to be more functional than me!

 

[[Pa...]]

I will ask him about the liquid suspension!!

 

You can find a liquid suspension by typing Lorazepam into the search bar, don't rely on your Dr to do this for you, take your power back!

 

https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov

[Guest [...]]

Thanks so much Pamster!

 

I met with a De-Prescriber today and he is going to make the liquid suspension for me, so I don't have to worry about doing it etc.

 

What they do is basically spell out how the Dr has to write the prescription and then they take it from there.

He will also do check ins with me to see how I'm feeling.

His experience is to get rid of the morning dose first and keep the evening dose, so I can sleep.

 

Kind of scared about embarking on this path!

 

I will try and stabilize on the liquid and then try to taper!

 

Thanks!

 

[[Ma...]]

Happy that your appointment went well... good luck WinnieDog!

 

You asked about my symptoms... I’ve had many, and more recently, some scarier new ones (vision distortion was freaky), but the most common for me have been:

Nausea, ear pressure, fatigue, numbness in extremities, air hunger which is usually followed by anxiety, a lot of crying spells, fear and depression (which I never experienced until after using Ativan... this one has almost completely gone away).

 

Hope all of you buddies are hanging in there 💗

[[Bi...]]

Wowzers... I’m sorry you’re in this spot. Hopefully, tomorrow you will get the support you need, but remember to always follow your gut and that YOU are in charge of your taper. No rush, so stabilizing is best.

 

I am currently cutting 0.009mg/day, which is a bit quick, but my waves come no matter what the speed anymore, and holding didn’t do much for me at this dose, so I’m forging on. 🤞🏼 ☺️

 

Marwegs,

 

My compounded liquid arrived finally and I have just finished day 3. This is so much easier. So far so good. I started at .2 (.1 am and pm).

 

Question, how did you determine to cut by .009? Once I am stable I was planning on cutting by .1mg every third day. Do you think that might be too big a reduction?

 

Thanks for your support!

 

Bibs Jo

[[Ma...]]

Hi Bibs

I’m so glad you’re finding it easier... so much of my stress was taken away after switching!

 

I’m terms of how much to reduce by, it was based on my dosing of 3 times per day. I wanted to reduce evenly across all three doses, so my options were to reduce by 0.003, 0.006 or 0.009/day, knocking off 0.001, 0.002 or 0.003 per dose. (Multiples of 3... Hope that’s not confusing!) Because you are dosing twice a day, you may want to reduce by 0.002, 0.004, 0.006, 0.008 or higher per day.

 

I held for a few days, several times during my taper, but then resumed and pushed onwards by slowly increasing the reduction rate after each hold. Stable for me meant not being bed-bound. I have rarely been comfortable through my taper... in fact, it’s been really rough as it is for many. I also found it got harder the lower I got. The drug has a paradoxical effect for me, so I’ve been very eager to move quickly, especially at the end here. I’ve found that 0.009 is as far as I can push it without being ill. Everyone is different. Follow your gut!

 

Hope this helps! Ask if you need any more clarification. 😊

[[Ma...]]

And sorry, one more note Bibs Jo... 0.1mg every 3 days does feel pretty aggressive... I would caution against that unless you have no symptoms and think you can handle it. You’re so close to the end, so I’d start slow and speed up if your body can handle it.

That’s like cutting 0.033 every day... I haven’t been able to reduce any higher than 0.01mg/day without big consequence.

[[Bi...]]

Marwegs,

 

Oh my gosh. I meant reducing by 0.01 mg every third day. I missed a decimal point in my last question...Thank goodness I made a spreadsheet and put it on a clipboard. I refer to this every single time I prepare to take a dose. I should be done mid December if this goes smoothly. I’m hoping to leave this all in 2020:)

 

Thanks!

Bibs

 

 

[[Ma...]]

BibsJo

That sounds more reasonable! 

You’re almost there!

Maria

[[Ha...]]

Hi all,

 

I hope everyone is having a decent Monday.  I have been doing the direct small cuts, using the scale, for the past couple of weeks.  Each week I cut by about 2.8%.  I was warned that after a couple of those, back to back, I might notice the cumulative effect and this proved to be completely true.  This weekend and today I am very very jumpy and jittery, and my sleep has been worse than usual.  Sheesh.  Today I feel about ready to jump out of my skin, which is kind of ridiculous since I've only cut a little more than 5% altogether (my math skills are not great, but I know the second cut was from a smaller amount so the total cut is less than 5.6%, if that makes sense).

 

Anyway, I guess I'll hold here until I feel a bit more stable (or whatever passes for stable these days) again.  It does feel good to know that I'm making progress, but seems crazy that such small cuts have such severe effects.  This damned poison.  .

 

Haimona

[[Ma...]]

Hi buddies,

 

Tonight I will take my last dose, and gently walk into my continuing journey to healing.

It’s my birthday today, and so I thought, why not have today be the end of dosing as well.

 

This has been a tumultuous journey, that has shaken me to my core, tested my resolve and strengthened my faith. It is also Canadian Thanksgiving today, and I am so very thankful for all of you who have encouraged me through this storm... it saved me in so many ways.

 

Haimona... you’ve got this. You are so close. And the symptoms = healing, so press on 💗

 

Much love,

Maria

 

 

[Guest [...]]

Happy Birthday Marwegs!!

 

I just came on to wish you a happy thanksgiving!

 

I hope that the coming days are ok and that you give yourself the time to heal!

 

You've done a great job.

 

 

[[be...]]

You did it, Maria!! Cheering you on from Texas, sweet friend. You’ve done the work, and you have everything you need to weather whatever comes your way after this. Praying for wide open windows!

 

Love,

Beauty

[[Ha...]]

Maria,

 

Thank you for your kind words, and big congratulations to you! What a tremendous accomplishment.  Wishing you nothing but windows, with blue skies beyond.

 

For me, I still feel like I have a million miles to go -- but glad to be in this journey with you and all the other wonderfully supportive people in this group.

 

Haimona

[[te...]]

Marwegs,

 

Congradulations and Happy Birthday,

Wishing everyone here well and with great hopes of success for all. Everyone here can do it , yes it take time and all the patience that you have but with each other you can do it.

Lisa

[[Ma...]]

Thank you ladies for your support and encouragement! 💗