Hi, I'm new! Want off Lorazepam

[[b1...]]

Hi my name is Beth.  About a month ago I was put on a medication that gave me awful anxiety so on September 26/08 I was prescribed 0.5mg Lorazepam twice a day (1mg total per day).  Now that I am off the original medication that was giving me the anxiety I thought I would just stop taking the Lorazepam...WRONG!!!  Even after only taking it less than 2 weeks I had horrible withdrawal symptoms.  So a couple more times I tried cutting by .25mg/day and still had withdrawal symptoms.  By reading here on the boards it looks like I should be cutting the pills in 1/4's and only weaning .125mg a week or so???

 

Please if anyone can give some suggestions I would be most grateful   I just want this drug out of my system...I have never felt more out of control of my life as I have in the last month!!

[[Be...]]

Welcome to BenzoBuddies, Beth.  I'm so glad you found this very supportive group of people. 

 

So you are on of the unfortunate ones that got withdrawal (w/d) symptoms quitting after just 2 weeks use.  Another member had the same reaction, took her time getting off ativan (lorazepam) and is doing much better now.  Some people are just more sensitive to medications.

 

I tapered directly off a much larger dose of lorazepam but did cut just .125mg every 2 weeks after I got to 1.25mg.  You might be able to go faster, like every 7-10 days, but you can let your body be your guide on that.  You already have the .5mg tablets, right?  Then you are set to quarter them with a pill splitter or razor blade. You are on .5mg 2x/day, is that right?  Are you taking your doses pretty much 12 hours apart? You can drop the .125mg from whichever dose you don't need as much; many start with the morning dose but it is totally up to you.

 

You are way ahead of the game by your research and decision to get off as soon as possible.  Once you start tapering, you will feel back in control. 

[[Je...]]

Hi and Welcome!!

 

You've already rec'd some great advice...so I'll just say...glad you found us...and hang in there...it get's better...I promise!  It's amazing how quickly these drugs get a grip on us...isn't it!

 

Take Care,

 

Jen

[[Lo...]]

Hey Beth,

Glad you found your way to BenzoBuddies! Looks like Beeper already gave you some great advice to help you with a tolerable taper. Sorry that you are having some horrible withdrawal symptoms.   Everyone's body is so different and their experiences are all so different as well, when it comes to getting off benzos. I would also recommend you doing .125mg cuts, then waiting for atleast 7-14 days to see how you feel. You want this process to be tolerable. You don't have too many cuts to do and we are here for any questions that you might have. This is a great place to vent and to meet people who understand and know what you are going thru.

 

Lori

[[Mi...]]

Welcome to BB!  As Beeper said, some people are super sensitive to medications.  I am one of them, so I understand how your body could become addicted after such a short time.

We are here to help, so ask any questions you may have, and let us know how you are doing.  We care!

 

Missy

[[...]]

It sure is scary how this drug can affect someone sooo quickly and severly.

 

I was on lorazapam for 5 months and am now weaning.  The withdrawal symtoms have been tolerable for me, but not all are as fortunate as I have been. 

 

The advice given thus far is the best you will receive....even better than any dr. !  Seems the dr.'s are not that knowledgeable about this drug as the people on this board are.  They have lived with it and are trying now to live without it

[[b1...]]

Thank you so much to everyone for their kind and encouraging words!  You have no idea how much it means to me to find such supportive people!!  My doctor hasn't been very helpful in the least so I had no idea where to turn.  My first step was to sit down with my husband yesterday and have a good cry fest as he had no idea how I have been trying to come off of these pills and how they were affecting not only me, but him and our kids.  So now that he's behind me 100% and I've found this board I feel like there is hope

 

Yes, I am VERY sensitive to medications.  If I take more than one regular strength Tylenol I'm nauseous, most non-drowsy antihistamines make me drowsy and when I was recently on a beta blocker I had every side effect possible.  Soooo, I am very anxious to get off these silly Lorazepams. 

 

I'm going to take a regular dose today and start tomorrow with a 1/4 pill cut in the am. And I'm going to start living my life again and stop obsessing about my health.  I'm going to start walking and doing yoga again and just try to get back to my normal self while I wean myself off these.

 

Beeper, yes, I am on .5mg twice a day and try to take them about 12 hours apart.  Starting today though I'm going to try to take them closer to mid morning and right before bed as before I was taking them at 6am and 6pm and then by half way through the night my body would start getting weird jittery feelings and I would lay awake half the night.  I took one before bed last night and actually got 6 hours of sleep!!!  Lack of sleep is such a weird thing for me as I've never had problems falling or staying asleep in my life so this has probably been causing me a good deal deal of my anxiety.

 

I'm sure I'll have lots of questions so I'll be sure to ask when I need to.  I've had this bottled up for awhile now and it feels so good to just let it go and start on my trek to being benzo free!!

[[b1...]]

Oh, I forgot to ask...is there a benefit to switching to 3x/day instead of 2x/day?  I find that the last couple hours before my pill I start feeling a little ancy.

[[...]]

Oh, I forgot to ask...is there a benefit to switching to 3x/day instead of 2x/day?  I find that the last couple hours before my pill I start feeling a little ancy.

 

All I can say is I did start my taper my first going to 3x a day....I don't know if that is "better" or not.  I was taking this on an "as needed" basis and not on a regular schedule, which is why it was recommended to get on a 3x a day schedule.  I'm sure t2 or beeper can answer this question with more knowledge than I    They have always been there to answer every question I had almost immediately.....

 

  My first step was to sit down with my husband yesterday and have a good cry fest as he had no idea how I have been trying to come off of these pills and how they were affecting not only me, but him and our kids.  So now that he's behind me 100% and I've found this board I feel like there is hope

 

Great first step....having the support of family is a MAJOR help.  Then of course the people on this board are just absolutely FANTASTIC!!!!!!

 

And I'm going to start living my life again and stop obsessing about my health.  I'm going to start walking and doing yoga again and just try to get back to my normal self while I wean myself off these.

 

One major thing I have learned through this (I have been on lorazapam for 5 months and found this board about 2 weeks ago) is ATTITUDE makes a HUGE difference.  And you seem to have a great attitude now.  I have decided to start living my life again and stop obessing about my health also and I see a big improvement is how I feel.  This is not going to stop me from enjoying myself (although, sometimes the symptoms take over  )

 

  Lack of sleep is such a weird thing for me as I've never had problems falling or staying asleep in my life so this has probably been causing me a good deal deal of my anxiety.

 

We almost sound like twins.....sensitive to meds, never had trouble with sleep, going to beat this, keep a good attitude and just live my life no matter what.

I never had sleep issues before benzos.  Infact, I used to say sleeping was my hobby   But now, I wake frequently through the night and never really feel rested.  I learned that benzos deplete the sleep hormone, melatonin.  Even though the dr.'s prescribe it sometimes FOR insomnia.  Yea, well, I've learned the docs have alot to learn about this med for sure!!!!

But your body will adjust with time.

 

Feel free to ask any questions...someone will always be here with a quick answer.  These people are really GREAT 

 

 

 

 

[[Be...]]

Oh, I forgot to ask...is there a benefit to switching to 3x/day instead of 2x/day?  I find that the last couple hours before my pill I start feeling a little ancy.

Since lorazepam has a fairly short half-life, you might benefit from slowly switching your doses around to 3x/day, 8 hours apart.  After you get to .125mg 3x/day, you can drop the middle dose and take the other 2 12 hours apart.  When I started tapering, I was dosing 5x/day which was overkill but had become my pattern.  I still felt antsy an hour or so before my next dose, though, because I was already having tolerance withdrawal.

[[su...]]

Hi Beth, you'll be off in no time. All of your side effects are common, so nothing to worry about. I take klonpin 3x a day and it seems to be the only way I can take it. Good luck and please write if you have any questions.

[[b1...]]

Do you have a suggestion as to how to switch from 2x/day to 3x/day?  I normally take .5mg in the morning and .5 in the evening.  I think I would feel ok going with .25 in the morning, .25 in the afternoon and .5 before bed.  Do I just switch over to taking it this way or is there a better way to do it gradually?  Or maybe I should just switch the times that I'm taking the 2x/day and see if that makes a difference?

[[Be...]]

Do you have a suggestion as to how to switch from 2x/day to 3x/day?  I normally take .5mg in the morning and .5 in the evening.  I think I would feel ok going with .25 in the morning, .25 in the afternoon and .5 before bed.  Do I just switch over to taking it this way or is there a better way to do it gradually?  Or maybe I should just switch the times that I'm taking the 2x/day and see if that makes a difference?

I'd probably try adjusting the 2x/day schedule to see if that helps before moving to 3x/day.  If you still want suggestions for moving to 3x/day, just post a request and someone will get back to you.  It isn't complicated and is more "art" than science.

[[b1...]]

Ok, I'll see how today goes (I switched from taking at 6am/6pm to 9am/9pm).  I don't want to delay weaning off these by having to switch to 3x/day.  Thank you for such quick replies!!

[[...]]

When I started my taper I looked at the time I usually go to bed...between 9:30 and 10 PM.   So I backed up 8 hours....which brought me to 1:30-2PM.  So I took my .5 at bedtime (9:30-10 PM), .25 at 1:30/2pm and .25 at 5:30/6am.  Worked well for me.  I did this for a few days to get on a schedule, then I cut my bedtime dose to .25.   Stayed there for a week and cut my afternoon dose to .125, next cut was am cut down to .125.  

 

So now I am taking .125 am/mid afternoon/bedtime.  Next cut will be to eliminate my afternoon dose.  That one will be a little scary  

 

[[Lo...]]

Hey b1791,

I am sooo glad that you have "hope" again! That is exactly how I felt when I came to BenzoBuddies and got so much help and encouragement. Just knowing that others had been thru or were going thru the same thing as me and understood!! And for you to move forward with your life and stop worryin about your health....that's what I started to do as well. I can't do everything I use to do, but I do more than I did a year ago! Even when I have a wave of withdrawals, I try to keep doing my everyday things and it's great to get on here and talk with people; takes your mind off of your symptoms. Look forward to your posts on your progress. You sound more than ready to beat these benzos!!!

 

Lori

[[b1...]]

My mother in law was just here and wondered why I couldn't make it to dinner last night so I told her that I had bad withdrawals from weaning from the Ativan too quick and she said she had been through the same thing herself and she gave me some tips.  It's so nice to know I don't have to "hide" it from the family.

 

Again, thank you to everyone who's welcomed me to the board with open arms 

 

Beth

 

P.S. I decided to paint my son's bedroom today to keep my mind on something other than my health and it's been a great day so far. Might have the whole house painted before long

[[Th...]]

My mother in law was just here and wondered why I couldn't make it to dinner last night so I told her that I had bad withdrawals from weaning from the Ativan too quick and she said she had been through the same thing herself and she gave me some tips.  It's so nice to know I don't have to "hide" it from the family.

 

Again, thank you to everyone who's welcomed me to the board with open arms 

 

Beth

 

P.S. I decided to paint my son's bedroom today to keep my mind on something other than my health and it's been a great day so far. Might have the whole house painted before long

 

Hi Beth,

 

That's great that you have someone close to understand what you're going through!! When you're done painting there, can you come here?

 

T2

[[co...]]

                                            hello Beth

Welcome to BB I too was on lorazapam for 4 years i too suffered from tolerence withdrawl but at the time i didnt know that is what it was i didnt learn that untill i found this site and read the aston manual i am now off lorazapam it will be a month the 17 of this month its a bumpy road but you can do this and be freoo from benzo's if i can do this anyone can..god bless you own your journey to freedom..

                                        blessings

                                          sherry

[[Ke...]]

Hi Beth-

 

Just wanted to welcome you to the site    As you can see there are a lot of knowlegeable and supportive people here.  You have already recieved some great advice to get started with your taper.  CAL is also right on about maintaining a positive attitude.  You sound upbeat and positve so I would expect you to do great    This is a trial and error proposition, so let us know how you are progressing.  Feel free to shout out any time, we are here for ya!

 

Best of luck with your taper.

 

Keith

[[b1...]]

Thank you all again for our warm wishes and helpful advice!

 

One question I have is...the original medication that I was on that gave me the anxiety was a beta blocker called Metoprolol.  I had to wean off of those and it took about a week to do that and it's been about 11 days since I had my last one of those.  I've read that it can take up to a month for that medication to clear the body so I'm wondering if some of the "benzo withdrawal" symptoms I've been suffering could really have been from the Metoprolol withdrawal?  I'm not sure if anyone has experience with this kind of thing, but I'm thinking that maybe I'm not having as many of the benzo w/d symptoms as I really think I am???  If that's so, and I've only been on Ativan for just over 2 weeks, I wonder if I can speed up my withdrawal of it...or should I stick to a very slow withdrawal?

 

Beth

[[Th...]]

Thank you all again for our warm wishes and helpful advice!

 

One question I have is...the original medication that I was on that gave me the anxiety was a beta blocker called Metoprolol.  I had to wean off of those and it took about a week to do that and it's been about 11 days since I had my last one of those.  I've read that it can take up to a month for that medication to clear the body so I'm wondering if some of the "benzo withdrawal" symptoms I've been suffering could really have been from the Metoprolol withdrawal?  I'm not sure if anyone has experience with this kind of thing, but I'm thinking that maybe I'm not having as many of the benzo w/d symptoms as I really think I am???  If that's so, and I've only been on Ativan for just over 2 weeks, I wonder if I can speed up my withdrawal of it...or should I stick to a very slow withdrawal?

 

Beth

 

Hi Beth,

 

I'm not familar with Metoprolol side effects, but it is possible that could have caused you some problems. Have you made your first cut yet? You may be able to reduce .125mg every 4-7 days since you were only on it for 2 weeks. You just need to see how you feel after your first cut and go from there.

 

T2

 

 

[[b1...]]

Yes, I made my first cut of .125mg this morning...feel fine so far.  Guess I will play it by ear and may be able to do another cut in 4 or 5 days instead of 7 - 14.  Hmmm, I'll definately post here and let you know how I'm doing.

 

Beth

[[Th...]]

Yes, I made my first cut of .125mg this morning...feel fine so far.  Guess I will play it by ear and may be able to do another cut in 4 or 5 days instead of 7 - 14.   Hmmm, I'll definately post here and let you know how I'm doing.

 

Beth

 

Sounds like a plan!! 

[[Lo...]]

Hey b1791,

I think your new plan of tapering every 4-7 days sounds good. Just see how you feel on day 4 and if good, then taper. It didn't really sink in that you have only been on the benzo for 2 weeks. Hope all goes smooth for you. Please do keep us posted!

 

Lori