Tapering off Ativan Support Thread

[[Ta...]]

Hi Ellie,

I have been titrating with plant milk since the beginning of May 2022 at 2 mg lorazepam. I experimented with using water at first, but I found that it didn't mix evenly, and much of the pill particles floated down to the bottom of the syringe. So, I had a lot of symptoms, too, perhaps because the dosing & solution were so uneven. Then I tried different milk solutions, and the Ripple seemed to mix up thoroughly and evenly. I don't like to use milk from animals because they are treated so badly, so I am grateful for all of the plant based options available. Right now I'm using Plant Cream from Country Crock, and I mix it with a little water. It makes a nice even mixture with the drug. I dose 4 times a day - every six hours, and this eliminates interdose withdrawal symptoms most of the time. I mix a fresh batch of the solution every day at midnight. I discard the amount I'm cutting.  It's just my little ritual - and it seems to be working.

 

I feel for what you are going thru, Ellie, this is truly one of the hardest things that any person can go thru. I just keep on going,  Just staying on lorazepam isn't an option for me. It feels like I'm allergic to it now. So I keep at it. I had severe pins and needles yesterday. I went for a swim and a walk, and felt better - nothing too strenuous. Dry skin brushing helps me tremendously with pins & needles, also drinking decaf green tea helps.

 

I hope I answered all of your questions. Please feel free to contact me. There are some very helpful and caring people here, and you will be supported. You're really brave  & I admire your courage. Just keep going, one step, one day at a time. All the best to you.

Eileen

 

[[El...]]

Thanks for your explanation!  So, I started a titration with Ripple on the 29th-just before I heard from you.  Immediately, the next day, I just felt awful.  I don't know if it is the change from tablets or I am experiencing a wave of symptoms, but his happened with water as well so I am suspect.  I persevered through yesterday.  But, I think I am going to go back to the tablets and take a little rest.  I just don't know what to think.  It is so much easier to control the dose by titrating...but I don't want to feel so ill (not that any part of this journey is great fun !).  Do you know anywhere on the site I can search to see if others have experienced trouble adjusting to or switching to a liquid?

Hope things are going well for you.

Ellie

[[Ta...]]

I have read many stories of difficulty changing over to liquid..Search "liquid" and something there will hopefully help. I think it's a good idea to hold and stabilize for a while. Whenever I get in a rush things start to fall apart. Let yourself recover for a bit. Hope you feel better.

 

 

[[du...]]

I am tapering off of ativan and am at 0.16 mg/day divided into 4 doses using liquid.

 

I feel like crap every morning for several hours. Does with interdose withdrawal cause kindling like damage on a daily basis? I was discouraged to swap to V by my doc but as I go lower on my taper these mornings are brutal.

 

Thoughts?

 

Thanks

[[El...]]

Dude 66

Wow!  I certainly am no expert on tapering, but it seems to me that you tapering really fast.  I recently tapered about 3.5% over a 7 day period and I really, really felt like crap.  Holding for awhile only straightened me out.  If you look at other profiles, it seems like people take from 3-4 months to a year or more to taper at such low numbers.

Just a thought.

Ellie

[[du...]]

I think my post was confusing. I will rewrite-

 

I started at 0.25 mg twice a day. I then water tapered down and now my total dose per day is 0.16 mg. Dosing is 4 times a day so basically each dose is 0.04 mg for a total of 0.16.

 

Using manufacter's solution. I go down 0.01 mg every week or so depending on how I am feeling. My calculation is that is around 5.5% drop.

 

Maybe will go to every 2 wks and things could feel better.

 

Some say if done correctly there should be minimal symptoms. That is not my experience!

 

 

[[Di...]]

Hey Dude,

Congratulations on getting to .16!  That is a big achievement.

I don't know what correctly would be but I wish I did.  My taper has been horrific and I have gone so slow with holding.

🤗

[[Ta...]]

Something I've found really helpful here recently is when someone speaks the absolute truth and says "the drug lies." It's just three little words, but right now they are very impactful. I got trapped in some horrible feelings of depression and desperation recently, and it really had a grip on me. Then I was reminded that THE DRUG LIES. And it does, every chance it gets. I tried to hide under the covers, but that only made things worse. So I wrote down a game plan. I hurt my knee, so no running - but I could walk. When I feel panicked, unfiltered cranberry juice has helped by increasing nitric oxide. Decaf green tea reduces glutamate. I wrote on a card: THE DRUG LIES, and I carried it around with me. Eventually lorazepam loosened it's grip, so I wrote that down. Little things that we do to help ourselves can really add up, and sometimes the truth really does set us free.

 

Hope you are all well,

Eileen