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Has anybody successfully tapered off of lorazepam (Ativan)?
Has anybody successfully managed to successfully wean off of Lorazepam?
If so how was it done?
And if it was by way of switching to other drugs, were you then able to taper off of those entirely under a doctor's guidance?
My husband has been on Lorazepam for 16 years
He did well for 14 years, but dragged his feet about trying to withdraw while he was feeling better.
In May he had a relapse of anxiety, and insomnia, with brain fog, heart palpitations, and more.
Currently he's doing better, thinking better, but still feels like crap a large part of the time, can't sleep without the drug, can't nap.and still struggles with anxiety.
At this point, I believe it's the drug that is actually causing the problem. Currently he's doing 1 mg at bedtime and 3/4 mg when he wakes up at 2:30 am.
I know it takes 2 years for the brains GABA receptors to normalize after taking Benzodiazepines.
Also know it's really hard to withdraw, has to be done extremely slowly, and the side effects are exactly the same as the symptoms it is meant to help.
My goal is to eventually wean him off of all drugs as functional health tests show they block his nutritional absorption and may be damaging his intestinal lining. I would like to be able to repair his health using nutrition, supplements, and neurotransmitter amino acids.
All feedback is welcomed!
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The physician then needs to learn how to wean and take it out of the hands of the pharmacist.....that's not where it belongs. Not sure that I understand that you want to wean off a particular medication but then need another one in assisting to do so. That seems kind of counter productive. If your physician is unable to help then seek the assistance of a pain management or psychiatrists assistance. If the pharmacist manages it he is doing so by practicing outside the scope of his legal practice!
Thanks for your reply, I had 2 responses to my comment, one person recommended a pharmacist to help me and you mentioned that I not go with a pharmacist. I appreciate the advice and will try to get this under control one way or another.
I am sure you already have the answer in the thread somewhere, but I just wanted to put in my 2 cents. I was on lorazepam 1 mg as needed for anxiety after my husband died. I was also misinformed about its use. The doctor who prescribed it said there was no worry about side effects or it be addictive. After 20 years (YES, 20 YEARS) of being on this drug and trying multiple time to stop, I finally started tapering myself SLOWLY when my new PCP refused to fill it any longer. I started breaking them in half and then quarter for months. Long story short, I played the taper game for about a year before finally stopping completely. I still have anxiety and depression and take escitalopram for that, but I am learning the hard way to deal with my anxiety.
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6 ReactionsI am in the process of tapering off .5 mg Ativan that I have been taking once a night for 5 years.
My doctor gave me a tapering schedule to reduce dosage by 25% every 2 weeks.
Started with .375 for 2weeks. Now I have been on .25 for 7 days. Main issue I have is not being able to sleep. It is important to exercise and eat nutritious meals with good protein. I am 82 years old , weigh 125.
During the day I get feelings of depression and anxiety. I need to keep busy and force myself to have positive thoughts
I want off of this horrible drug. It has such bad affects on the brain.
Any comments from those who have weaned off this drug would be appreciated
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2 ReactionsI personally find it very difficult to stop the benzodiazepine, if it doesn’t work or it causes a ton of nasty symptoms then I would probably do much better with my ongoing attempts to stop. I used this medication when I got a cancer diagnosis, I was going through a total meltdown, my fears were off the charts and to make matters worse, we just started going into a pandemic making medical help more difficult to find. I tried a number of antidepressants but I had bad reactions to them so this complicated treatment even further. I was completely in the dark about all the negativity surrounding these meds until I came here and read so many comments from people who have been struggling to get off them added to which the government getting involved, this only made it much worse. I will never promote these meds to anyone especially today with all the pressure to get off them but in my case I had a miserable time trying to adjust to the more approved meds and each attempt to try another one just messed me up even more. I know today that the pressure to stop these meds is due to another medication crisis and so they are putting pressure on more people, I sincerely hope that everything will work out for the best and perhaps one day they will actually develop better medication that doesn’t cause another problem for those of us who need something to rely on for our health problems.
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1 ReactionThis is my story! Cancer diagnosis in September 2020. Prescribed for anxiety then relied on it for sleep. Had no idea of the consequences of benzos. My pcp then wanted me off it and after one unsuccessful try, I slowly tapered and have been off it for a year!
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4 ReactionsBravo to you and others who have successfully gotten off the benzodiazepines, I wish that I had known more 20 years ago, I would never have taken them in the first place, live and learn, btw, I got off them twice in the early days when it was easier to do so but somehow I was given them again and I went back on them, the doctors weren’t under pressure about them yet at the time. I noticed from the many sad stories I’ve read here about the horror of trying to stop and some of them are over 80 years old and they have been taking them for over 40 years, now they are being pressured to stop in a short period of time or else others have been completely abandoned by their doctor of many years, this is the reality of what they created and for those of you who only took them for a few years, consider yourselves fortunate that you have a much easier time to quit.
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3 ReactionsFor those of us that need help with these issues, I have found benzos to be the most successful for me. I feel like I’m being chastised for taking them as well as being embarrassed by my inability to handle my problems without medication. (from the general public, thankfully, not my doctor!). Right now, I have an extreme desire to stop taking both my anxiety and sleep medications, but I think I would just have to trade them in for others that are probably less effective. Why should that be necessary? I can’t wait to hear my doctor’s opinion!
I’m in agreement with you, I always found that benzodiazepines did the job well with calming mind and body, as for all the negative news about these drugs, they know how addictive they are but it didn’t change anything and they continued to prescribe them to innocent victims. No one today should be given these meds and people are more informed about them so they can refuse using them. Also I would like to add that with any addiction it is always harder to stop when you have been taking them for years, it’s truly rare to find people with benzodiazepine addiction able to stop effectively in a few months or even years, for those of us who are a long time user, we are looking at years
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4 ReactionsHoping as many have stated that my .5 mg a day is so low that even after years of taking it, I’ll be able to step down easily. THEN, praying at that point there is a better alternative available if anxiety is still a problem. I’ve been taking them so long, I’m not sure I still need them.🤷♀️
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