Hi guys,
Just wondering if any of you have experience quitting a benzo and what your method was.
I have been taking lorazepam (Ativan) daily for about 8 months now. It is the only drug I’ve taken long term.
At first it was a miracle pill for me. It would keep me calm, help me to sleep and allowed me to “have a life” and get things done. However, lately I feel as if I NEED it just to get through the day.
It starts in the morning. I wake up uncontrollably shaking with my heart pounding and this huge weight of impending doom over me. I have become agoraphobic, need to have someone next to me at all times (moved back in with parents) and am finding it hard to do simple things like shower without having a breakdown.
I try to breathe through the symptoms, but I will eventually have a full blown panic attack if I don’t take a pill, complete with chest pain, dizziness, heart palpitations, hallucinations and dark thoughts I didn’t know I was capable of having. The anxiety I had before I took these doesn’t hardly compare with the crushing, all encompassing anxiety I have now.
Over time I have successfully weened myself down to 0.5mg twice a day but I find I cannot get off of them completely. I really don’t want to be dependent on these but I feel like I’ve gotten deep in the rabbit hole now. Please help.
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