Tapering off Ativan Support Thread

[[Ma...]]

Hi Hoobie,

 

About 10 years ago I had been on 1 mg Ativan for about 2 years.  I got pregnant and was told to just go off it.  I did that, and had no withdrawals.  I was fine.  Unfortunately, I went back on it after the baby was born. 

 

Sometimes people can get off after short term use and low doses with no problem.  I was just reading some stuff that Colin posted, and it was interesting to me.  He said that sometimes physical dependency does not occur at low doses because the half life is so short that it doesn't really mess up your gaba receptors, its just in and out of your body too fast.  I know back when I was taking the 1 mg that I only took it once a day, so perhaps it was in and out of my body quickly.  I just know it was not a problem for me to get off, I just stopped and I was unaware of potential withdrawal problems.

 

So try not to 'catastrophize" this.  I think people who have only been on it one time, as opposed to going on and going off, tend to do better getting off.  Just don't ever get back on again.  These are nothing to fool with.

 

Hugs

Mairin

[[Ma...]]

Just wondering how everybody is doing?

 

Would love to hear from the ativaners.

[[be...]]

Not too bad! I'm at .12mg liquid ativan and dropping. I'm starting to make quicker cuts because i havent really felt the last 2.

It might be a little too complicated to say that it gets easier at the end, but I'm starting to think that there might be some truth in that statement. At least

for me. And I'm sure it's directly related to how slow you go. I'm just about to pass the 1 year mark. I am going to continue to cut till around .05 mg and then seriously consider jumping. It will be amazing to cut ties with this drug. Even if I'm feeling crappy.

 

Hope you are all well!

 

BDL

 

 

 

 

[[ja...]]

Hey Mairin,

the interdosel withdrawal symptoms were getting really bad the further down I got on my ativan

withdrawal (I was at 1.75 from 3mg). My psych. suggested we do a substitution with diazepam. Just started on Friday so it will take time. But I did sleep better last night.

 

This is a real challenge that 's for damn sure.

 

Hope you are doing well.

 

James

[[Ma...]]

Hi,

 

I'm doing ok, had a rough week due to stress but seem to be better today.  I'm at 3 mgs A now, been holding for two weeks.

 

I saw my pdoc Friday and he suggested I cut another .25.  However, I really don't feel like I should do that.  Probably other people could if just coming from 3, but I have come down from much much more than that.  I feel like its time to alter the cuts to a lower amount.

 

Symptom wise I've been ok except for stress induced internal shakiness this week, which is letting up.

 

I will try to go down in .125 increments now, then I'm considering .0625 if that gets too hard.  I've been reading how you can file the .125 down and weigh it.  Think I will try that, I want to put off liquid titration for as long as possible.

 

Hoping to get to 2 possibly by April.

 

Hugs to all.  I'm glad you are down so low BZD.  You've done well.

[[Ph...]]

Mairin, that sounds like a really good plan you have devised. I am pulling so hard for you as a fellow ativaner!:-) you are very impressive.

 

Hugs

 

P2

[[Ma...]]

Thank P2!

 

I really don't feel impressive, just trying to do the best I can with the hand I've been dealt.

 

I started this unfortunate journey on 6 mgs K.  I should never have been put on that dose.  That was really criminal.  I sort of ran away from the doc that put me on that, she was nuts.  Thank God I was able to find another doc that would take me on.  I can only see that as a miracle from God.  Yes, he pulled me abruptly off the K and put me on 8 mgs A.  That was one heck of a drop.  And I suffered a lot from that drop, pretty intensely for about 5 months until I was allowed to stabelize on 6 mgs A.  It wasn't fun, but at least it wasn't a cold turkey.  Anyway, I am so glad I got off K.

 

I am amazed God got me down this far.  I hope I can just keep going.

 

You've done really well too P2.  May God have mercy on us and help us in every way.

 

Love Mairin

[[Ph...]]

Thank you Mairin! I am always so humbled by the kindness of people on this forum. And you are pretty incredible. :-)

 

Hugs and love

 

P2

[[ja...]]

I really support you taking it slow Mairin.

 

And as you say, May God have mercy on us.

 

warm regards,

 

James

[[Ho...]]

Hi Mairin,

 

I'm still doing really well. I've been tapering for 2 weeks now - started at .75 mg, then went to .5 mg for a week, and have been on .375 mg for the past week. After tomorrow I'll drop down to .25 mg for a week, then one final week on .125 mg if I still have no issues. Actually, because I've really had no withdrawals at all even if I go 10 hours between the small doses (I currently take .125 mg 3x a day), I'm seriously considering stopping sooner - maybe jumping at .375 or .25 mg. I think I'll see how I feel on the .25. If still no issues at all I'll try a jump. That's a long answer to your question! The short answer is I'm doing great and I thank you for asking, and I thank you and everyone else for their advice and support over the last 2 weeks. I'm convinced it helped me tremendously and is a big reason why I haven't gotten any real withdrawals. I'm grateful for this forum and for you all. Hoobie.

[[aw...]]

Hi, folks:

I was at this all-acoustic Crosby, Stills, and Nash concert and somebody yelled out, "play louder". The Croz said, "listen harder".

 

Sometimes I feel like that's all I need to do to know when and how much to cut, when and how long to hold...just listen to my body a little harder.

 

Aweigh

[[Ma...]]

Hi I posted this elsewhere but I'm going to repost here because I am wondering what ativaners think of this, if you have any insight.

 

I have the idea, I could be right or wrong, but I have the idea that, when we cut and hold, what we are basically doing is waiting for the amount of drug that was cut to work its way out of our system, and for our body to recover from that.  Is this reasonable and accurate?

 

In other words, ativan has a half life of approx. 12-20 hours, which I think means that the amount you cut will work itself out of your body in approximately 3 or 4 days.  Actually, that is one of my questions too, does it take about 3 or 4 days for ativan to eliminate?  I'm guessing its somewhere around there, as I have a hard time with figuring out exponents.

 

I like the idea of the cut amount being gone in 3-4 days, and then giving the body some time to recover from that cut.  For most of my taper, I've been cutting somewhere between ten and 14 days.  It has gone well so far.

 

But the thing I wonder about is this:  Ashton reccomends a hold of 10-14 days.  But she is talking about Valium, which has a much longer half life (200) hours, and really two weeks doesn't seem long enough for that cut to work itself out.  It seems like three weeks would be more reasonable, since I think I figured out once that a 200 hour half life would take about three weeks to diminish to zero.

 

I'm just wondering, if this makes any sense, if I could cut a bit faster than 10-14 days, considering ativan's fairly short half life. 

 

Does this make any sense to anyone, or is this just me being lost in my head?

[[Ho...]]

Hi Mairin,

 

Those are great questions and the same type of things I've been wondering. I hope someone can provide and answer. The only input I can provide is that I continue to cut every 7 days and am having virtually zero withdrawals (I'm now ending the third week of my taper and have made 3 cuts). Granted I was only on .75 mg's and only for 3 months, but still a decent dose of this nasty little benzo. I actually took 2 doses yesterday of 0.0625 mg's but completely forgot my evening dose of .125 mg's (as of 2 days ago I've been taking a total daily dose of .25 mg's, down from .375). I went over 12 hours before I took a 0.0625 dose this morning. I felt fine and was even considering skipping the dose this morning and trying a jump. But I opted to stick with my plan to be safe. My point is that I'm tapering rather quickly and am not having a bad experience. So I wonder the same things you do about half lives, quicker tapers, etc. Hoobie.

[[Ma...]]

Hoobie,

 

I personally think you have an excellent chance of getting off with no problems.  Just don't ever make the mistake of taking these again.

 

Colin said something about muliple dosing that I found interesting.  As I told you, I got off 1 mgs Ativan after about two years use with no problem.  But, I only took it once a day.  Colin was saying that in that case, sometimes dependence does not develop because its not in your system long enough to cause gaba receptor downregulation.  And ativan has a fairly short half life.  That may have been what was going on with me at the time, it was not causing downregulation.  I really had no side effects.  Just came  off it and that was it.  Did not even taper.

 

So just to be on the safe side, I would say taper as fast as you can, every 7 days is fine as long as you are not feeling anything.

Stay positive, I really think due to what you've said, it will be ok for you.

[[Ho...]]

Today is Saturday, Feb 2. On Thurs and Fri I took 2 doses a day of 0.0625 mg for a total daily dose of .25 mg. My last dose was at 7:20 pm last night (0.0625 mg). It's now 12:30 pm on Saturday and I feel fine. No withdrawal symptoms at all. I think I'm done. Any chance I could start to feel any symptoms in the next few days if I don't take any more of the Ativan? I haven't had any in the 4 weeks I've been tapering.

[[Al...]]

I am not a math wiz but it seems to me that .0625 x 2 = .125. not .25?

[[Ho...]]

You are a math wiz and you are correct! Sorry about that - typo on my part. I just finished day 2 with no Ativan and still feel good. Should I assume I'm out of the woods?

[[Al...]]

Well, it seems promising, I am no expert but I have been on my Benzo for 3 years solid. That is part of why I am having a hard time of it.

In your case you were not a long time user and your last dosing was quite small. I would suggest first getting more feedback from the good people on this site.

If it were me I might try to continue with zero dosing and see how my body reacts. I mean allowing enough time to pass to be sure. If symptoms start up you can either ride them out or if they get too strong take a small dosespaced out in long intervals,basically tapering a bit further.

 

By the sounds of it you may be one of those lucky many who can get off relatively easier than some.

 

best of luck to you. 

[[Ma...]]

Hoobie,

 

I'm no expert but I did come off 1 mg A many years ago c/t and had no withdrawal, and I was on it a lot longer than you.

 

I think you will be ok from now on.    Just don't go back to these.

[[ja...]]

my switch to valium seems to be helping....so inspired by you guys and your paths...without you all I couldn't have even thought about this.

Love you all,

James

[[Ma...]]

I'm so glad the V is helping you Jarow.  May God bless and help you the rest of the way

[[be...]]

I've wondered many times if Valium would have helped my process. Doesn't matter now I suppose. I'm glad it's helping you. Nice work.

 

BDL

[[Ve...]]

Hi everyone.... Just briefly, I went from 3mg Ativan a day to 1.5 and felt awful and then cut myself down to 1mg per day (.5 2x per day).  Ok, so I went through an awful week, but feeling pretty good now.  The only problem I am having is with sleep, racing heart (only early a.m., like 4 or 5 in the morning), then I just want to sleep during the day.  I'm thinking if I just get my butt moving and get some exercise and move around and do something during the day, then my nights might be better.

 

Anyway, it was suggested to wait two weeks to start tapering off the rest of this crap.  I was thinking about doing the Titration, but I'm not real patient with things like that.  I'm thinking at this point I only take .5mg 2x a day, couldn't I just cut that down next week to .5mg in a.m. and .25 in pm for a couple of weeks.  I mean I made it through relatively well with a 2mg cut pretty darn fast, .25 I'm thinking wont be so bad.

 

If this is bad thinking let me know, because I'm just trying to find the quickest, safest and of course easiest way of doing this.  Thanks so much for any help you can give me!  My Dr. wants me to show her my plan for cutting back the last mg. in the next couple of days or so.  She was the one who directed me here and under her supervision, is letting me cut back myself after 6 years of taking it....I just have to show her that I am doing it and in a reasonable amount of time.

[[be...]]

Cool doctor you have there. That's huge.

I wouldn't say your thinking is bad. But it is aggressive compared to

many taper plans on here. There is a chance you could land yourself in painworld.

But my philosophy has been, do what you can tolerate. If its too fast you will know it. Then hold till you feel better.

I tapered down from a total of as much as 3 mg a day. Most of it was easyish until I got to the last .5 mg.

I've been in that stretch for the majority of my taper. Using liquid. Coming down in tiny increments.

But you may be able to handle and accept the symptoms better than I was willing to and as a result, go faster.

I often wonder if I might have been better off going faster. I'm fine now very little symptoms. By they are there constantly. And I'm a slave to the a still. So it's a trade off. I should be done next month. I'm at .108 mg a day. Good luck!

 

 

BDL

 

[[Ve...]]

thanks BDL....I still have a week before I taper again, I mean I really didn't even taper at all in the beginning, I dropped from 3mg. to 1mg and I'm only coming down .5mg.  So, like I said I have another week to think about it and hear what others have to say also.  So yeah, the first part was aggressive...too aggressive to ever do it again!!  But I made it through and am doing a lot better and if I am doing even better next week then I think I will try it.

 

You mentioned painworld though....the first 4-5 days when I dropped to 1mg, I was in extreme pain, I mean even my skin hurt, my muscles and joints were killing me at one point it hurt to blink!  Is that what you are referring too?  I hope and pray that this doesn't happen each time I taper.  I think if it does then I will go even slower, I can't go through that again!!