Lorazepam trying to taper

[gail]

have been on lorazepam for a year at my worst i was using up to 10 a day. with a lot of hard work i have managed to get it down to 5 a day and now seem to be stuck and unable to get any further. Any tips? my gp is awhere of the situation

[BubbleBonce]

Lorezepam is a short acting benzo so leaves your system fast making withdrawal hard. Try this link:http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm

Switching to a longer acting benzo like valium/diazepam will help alot. You might be very sleepy to start with , but that will wear off after a week or so.

Good luck! I made it off of mega doses of Valium so I know you can do it.

Bubble

[jothenurse]

I am also on ativan (lorazepam) and trying to taper. I have been on it for a few months. There were two times for a period of a week that I used 1 mg at 6 AM and 1 mg at noon (for a total of 2 mg) because of gagging and not being able to eat with my panic disorder.
Since then over the last several weeks I have tapered it. Last week I was taking .5mg at 6 AM and .25mg at noon. I have rarely needed ativan after the noon dose or in the evening.
This morning I tapered the morning dose to .25mg and then will take another .25mg at noon. I am having a lot of anxiety today. And feelings of unreality. But, I get these feelings even when I was taking more of the ativan. My doctor says that I am on a very low dose so should not be getting any withdrawal/rebound. She stated I could just discontinue it and take it prn. That is what I am hoping to be able to taper to. I have the anxiety whether I have the ativan or not, so would prefer to take it prn. But these feelings and anxiety are hard to deal with.
Any advice?

[jothenurse]

You said you were taking 10 a day and now 5. What is the dosage?

[jothenurse]

Gail -
How are you doing?

[Panic Man]

Hi BUBBLE, I am in cold turkey 9th week of valium (taking for 5 months 5mg up to 4 times a day.) I am suffering hell in withdrawal, how was your withdrawal and how long did it take?

[BubbleBonce]

I was on alot of Clonezepam and switched to valium to taper it. I think my biggest cut was 20% of the dose each 2 weeks and many times less than that. I took a few years to taper completely and was fine after a few months at the end of the taper. Cold turkey is brutal and I wouldn't recommend it, especially if you've been on short acting benzos for a while....