Tapering off Ativan Support Thread

[[Al...]]

aweigh ,

Godd luck with your taper. You seem to have it well planned. I agree slow is best. especially when you get down to the lower ranges.

[[Ma...]]

I hope it goes well with the valium All Tied.  You are not the only one to have a hard time at the lower doses with A especially.

 

Please just stop back and let us know how the crossover goes.

 

Hugs.

[[be...]]

Hi new ones! Nature lover. I'm confused. Are you already at 3 times a day? If not, yes. It will help reduce symptoms. 4 is even better. Once every 4 hours works for me. Give yourself a couple of weeks at the same dose to stabilize before you move on.

 

Mariposabell, the simple answer is that you CAN use water to titrate ativan. Just shake the heck out of it before drawing into the syringe. It seems to work fine for most.

 

Aweigh, what is the advantage to your taper method? It seems crazy complicated to me. Genuinely curious.

 

Thanks everyone! I hope you are well.

 

BDL

[[na...]]

Thanks BDL,

I am at 2xper day.  My dr. said it is easier to get ride of the night time dose then work on the day, but it clearly is not working for me.  If you are taking 4 doses do you wake up at night or how do you spread the doses?

 

 

[[aw...]]

Hi, BDL:

Thanks for the input. I think it looks much more complicated than it really is because of the way I've written it up. On re-reading, it now seems to me like many people wouldn't understand it at all. It's not so difficult--I'm doing it now--and the method does have tangible advantages for some people, one of them being that you can do the taper from almost 100% dry to 100% liquid or anywhere in between.

I'm going to write an intro that attempts to explain the concept, rather than present the method or teach the math. Maybe that will help. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

aweigh

[[Ma...]]

Mariposabel:

Ativan does not dissolve in water. The pills turn into a suspension, floating in the water. It's possible to taper in water, but you need to treat it as a suspension, not a solution. There are people on this thread who are doing that. They can help you. Many people also use milk sucessfully.

 

I prefer to use ethyl alcohol, which does dissolve Ativan. I'm about to post my taper on this board under titration taper plans. It's a bit technical; I hope to simplify it soon. The thread is called "aweigh's taper". I hope it can at least give you an idea of one way to taper using both liquid and solid.

 

aweigh

 

 

Aweigh,

 

Thanks for your response.  Do you think milk, or something thicker, would be better?  Not sure I understand how to use a suspension. I can't use alcohol.  I like the water idea because at least I can see if the solution is more or less properly distributed.

 

I seem to be very lucky insofar as  my inter-dose withdrawals don't bother me much.  I just think smaller doses would be easier with dissolved pils.

 

Thanks.

[[aw...]]

MPB:

You might take a look at my taper method, if you can understand it. I hope to improve the readability shortly. I drink about 1 teaspoon of alcohol daily, so perhaps you could handle that small an amount if it helped your taper. If not, there are other solvents. Many people are able to take it in suspension (not dissolved); they use water, milk, or a commercial suspension agent like Ora-Plus. Some people (for whatever reason) have had a lot of trouble trying to work with suspensions.

 

I chose to work in solution once I verified that Ativan is in fact soluble in ethyl alcohol, so I don't want to advise anyone about other methods that I haven't used. Except that now I'm taking most of my dose as tablets, and just using liquid to measure out my cut 

 

I'd find someone who is doing what you want to do and ask them about it.

 

aweigh

[[Ma...]]

Mariposa,

 

Aweigh is a lab guy, so he's pretty exacting.  If you want to get technical, a suspension just means that the particles will settle out of the water if left standing, whereas in a solution, no particles will settle out.  But if you act quickly, shake your suspension just before dosing, it works sufficiently well for a lot of people.

 

Here's a very good video on dissolving your pills and doing a titration.  Ativan works pretty well for this as it breaks apart very easily in water.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJIEBnZOloY

 

Hope this helps.  and Hugs

Mairin

[[be...]]

How is everyone today?

 

I've been better since my ill advised detour into the glamorous world of boozing.

It is truly strange how prevalent a role alcohol plays in our society when you step back and examine it from a distance. Basically the majority of the people you see around you everyday, I would guess an overwhelming majority, abuse alcohol to some degree.

I don't mean abuse as in life ruining, health deteriorating, off the rails abuse. Necessarily.

But any time someone drinks alcohol to get a little buzz or to take the edge off of reality, they are technically abusing it. At least by my own definition. It is a drug. And if you take a drug to get high you are abusing it. That might not sit well with some and I'm open to debate but, there it is.

 

Regardless, it's everywhere. And it's basically a benzo. What does that say about us?

Are we broken? Does life just suck, objectively?

 

Sorry for rambling. First thoughts as I open my eyes on this dreary Brooklyn morning where outside my window millions of people are sleeping off hangovers. At least we aren't! Although, granted it sure feels like it sometimes.

 

 

BDL

[[Ma...]]

Hi BDL,

 

Glad to see your post.  Have you read Birdman's thread where she talks about benzo w/d being the 'very long hangover?"  Kind of an interesting way to look at it.

 

I don't think every time someone drinks alcohol they are abusing it.  People have been drinking it since day one.  But yeah like any drug it has an effect.

 

Obviously there is something in most of us that seeks to "take the edge" off life.

[[aw...]]

Hi, BDL:

Good to hear you in a cheerful mood, which does not imply its opposite  Seems to me like the underlying axiom of your statement is that it's basically not OK to get high. Have I got that right?

 

aweigh

[[be...]]

Not sure what I'm saying actually. What do you think? Is it ok to get high?

I really don't know. Maybe it is.

[[aw...]]

BDL:

I think it's a universal need, or at least behavior, in higher animals. When I was a kid, I remember watching blackbirds eat over-ripe pyracantha berries and fall off the wire. I also think we're a long way from the natural use of drugs. Oddly enough, our problem is that we don't know how to get high properly. We hippies used to make a distinction between getting high and getting loaded, man. Mushrooms vs. whisky. We now live in unhappy times, and a lot of people are looking to get loaded.    Hello, Mr. Benzo...

 

aweigh

[[be...]]

It's a subject I've never broken down in quite this way before.

I mean, Jesus drank wine right? It can't be that bad.

 

I DO definitely have experiences getting "high" in my past that I know were really good for me on a very basic level. Mushrooms being a prime example. Incidentally, I hope one day to have a brain that can handle that again.

 

No rush though. Obviously.

 

 

BDL

[[aw...]]

Yeah, that's about where I'm at. Ecstasy would be my 'window', but like the sign says: "You must have this many intact GABA receptors to ride this ride." 

 

aweigh

[[be...]]

Haha! Totally.

[[aw...]]

Dude, you're PM mailbox is full.

 

aweigh

[[be...]]

Emptied.

[[In...]]

Just adding to this thread as it pops up for me. I must have posted here somewhere although certainly never been on Ativan.

 

I was part of that hippie phase in college. Lots of folks smoked marijuana and some tried LSD. It was very much promoted at that time, even more than alcohol I think.

 

Well, I never took LSD and didn't enjoy coughing at all trying marijuana. So now it's the present, and there are, I think, many more drugs out there and in use. I actually work periodically in substance abuse. Big irony to me with the benzo thing, although no abuse here. Just followed doctor instructions.

 

Yeah, I do think there's tons of folks abusing alcohol from adults to teens ( my area). Life is somewhat stressful and upsetting so I see plenty of adults (co-workers) too at select times, really

"take the edge off."

 

Just an observation and a comment.

 

Intend

[[Ho...]]

Hi all. I started another thread called "Tapering off .75 mg of Ativan."  But I wanted to ask a few questions on this thread, too. I'm new to this so I hope I'm not breaking any rules! I started on ma daily dose of .75 mg of Ativan a little over 3 months ago. I took it 3X a day and never changed my dose. 8 days ago (at the direction of my doctor) a started to taper. I began by decreasing the daily dose by .25 mg (33%) for a total daily dose of .5 mg. I've been on that dose for the last 7 days and have not had any bad withdrawal symptoms - just some very mild things that are totally manageable. My plan is to reduce my daily dose by .125 mg every week for the next month or so. So, for example, today I will take a daily dose of .375 mg and will stay on that for a week, etc. From start to finish, my total taper duration from .75 mg to zero will be 36 days. Again, I have only been taking the Ativan for about 3 months. I have read that dose drops should be 10%. Mine are bigger - more like 25-30%. Is this an issue? Am I dropping too quickly? Is 36 days too short of a taper period for my situation? Again, I feel good after a week, but I don't know if I should expect it to get worse. Or, should I expect it to remain manageable if it has been for 8 days. I got great advice from Cedartree and don't want to disrespect her by posting many of the same questions. But I've read so many horror stories and want to get a few more reassuring opinions (or not) on my taper plan. Thanks!

[[be...]]

All I can say is that would be too fast for me. BUT, everyone is different. I say see how it goes. If you can get off in 36 days with no problems then do it. But I would prepare a plan, if the cuts catch up to you and you start feeling bad. You may end up needing to hold for a week or two longer than planned. Don't feel that you NEED to rush it. It can really mess your head up and by extension your life.

So just be very aware and cautious. And good luck friend!

 

Keep us posted.

 

 

BDL

[[...]]

I was taken 1.5mg of Ativan per day for 3.5 months and started tapering in early Dec 2012 after I began having tolerance withdrawals and I started reading about Ativan and did not know it caused dependacy, I freaked out, Doctor never told me this.  I started Paxil 12.5 CR about 8 weeks ago.  So I sped up my taper.  I dropped from 1.5mg to 1mg at once and have chipped away each week or two since early Dec.  I am now at .5mg cut in three peices, I take one peice of .5mg every 6 hours except for after I go to bed I take nothing until the following morning.  For a total of .5mg.  It helps to take it in three doses, but after about 4-5 hrs.  I began to shake alittle and tremble.  Gosh, it has a short life.  I wonder how long I will have these shakes after I jump, I plan a jump in Feb at some point that month.  I always wait until I stablelize for a week before I make another cut, but getting an exact cut is hard when you are cutting a .5 in three peices and plan on a slower taper from here on out before the big jump. How is a person to cut .25 in three peices at that point when I make my next cut from .5mg per day.

[[be...]]

Well, you can't. I'm sure someone will chime in about jewlers scales and dust and such but to me that's not a reasonable plan. It's messy and and complicated and ties you down.

Find a compounding pharmacy in your area. Then find a doc that will prescribe you liquid ativan.

If you can do that you will have professional help through this which is invaluable for piece of mind.

And you just draw a syringe with the exact amount, shoot it in your mouth and be on your way.

If those things are not available to you there are other ways to do do a liquid titration on your own.

But once again, messy and complicated.

OR cut and hold. Ride out the storm. If you don't have a ton of responsibilities this can be a way out.

But not a fun one.

Good luck! Keep us posted.

 

 

BDL

 

[[Ho...]]

Hi Buddie,

 

I've been weaning off Ativan for 9 days. I use a pill cutter to cut my .5 mg pill in half, then cut those halves in half. You end up with 4 .125 mg pills. It's been working for me - I got the pill cutter at CVS. I'm currently taking .125 mg 3X a day for a total daily dose of .375 mg. I'll stay on this for a week then go down to .125 mg 2X a day or, if I still want to take 3 doses a day, I'll use a local compounding pharmacy like Birdman referred to so I can get doses smaller than .125 mg (can't cut them any smaller than .125). Hope this helps! Good luck! Hoobie

[[ja...]]

I strongly suggest you look into liquid titrating or finding a compounding pharmacy. I started withdrawing way too quickly on 11/1/12 - I think it was close to 25%. I really suffered and still am. I went down to 1.75 mg (from 3 mg) and started holding there on 1/6/13. I just started liquid titrating yesterday and at the rate I am going now - tossing .01 every other day, I should be off of ativan in about 350 days. It's been kicking my butt ever since I started withdrawing in November so I really want to go slowly which is against my nature but I will tell you this is the hardest thing I have ever done. Hope this makes some sense to you

 

regards,

James