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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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Congratulations!!
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1 ReactionI’ve taken Prozac for depression and it was very helpful. There are some “withdrawal” issues when you want to come off it. Just keep that in mind. Best of luck
I recently had an MRI with anesthesia. The doctor advised me to stop taking my .5 Ativan at bedtime because it delays the anesthesia withdrawal. He said the dose was so small that stopping it would be a no-brainer. Doctors tell me thing slick this without realizing how sensitive I am to meds. I did stop and then started taking .25 at bedtime The thing is- since I did this I cannot sleep. Like hardly at all. Can stopping it this way cause a rebound type of insomnia. I certainly hope so cause I am a mess. Please share any insights or experiences.
It might be a small dose 0.5, however nothing is considered small with this medication. I also take the same dosage of Ativan and I can’t really go any lower, in the past few months I cut my dose in half with the help from gummies it’s quite doable but I worry about how well I’d do without the help, I really don’t want to give them up at this point in time, I’m just another senior who took them for years and never abused them. In your case you are experiencing withdrawal and it’s sleep loss, I think your options are either to ask the doctor for help or perhaps you’re reducing your medication too fast, I always hear from others that success is attainable if you go very slow with tapering off, good wishes.
I have no need to taper off. I have been on .5 at night for years and, like you, do not abuse them. I only stopped cause the anesthesiologist told me Ativan would prolong the effects of the anesthesia. However, now- almost a week later- stopping and then going to .25 has me feeling horrible and not sleeping so I do not know what is anesthesia and what is withdrawal. Very frustrating. Thanks for your comment!
Did the doctor just tell you to hold it for the surgery? They do that with some meds. But typically you can just resume. A 50% reduction is a big one, and I would expect withdrawal insomnia. I wonder if you go back to .5 you would sleep? You said you had no need to taper.
This was helpful- I did take .5 again last night and slept and woke up without symptoms of withdrawal. The doctor told me not to tale it before AND after surgery- to just stop. "It's low enough that you can just stop". This was after I explained that I am very sensitive to meds.
The doctor is wrong, I mentioned previously that your dosage and mine are very low but some people still had to withdraw slowly to avoid symptoms, sleep problems are very prevalent with this medication when you try to stop. Also I wanted to add that I had two major surgeries in the past five years and no one warned me about the Ativan causing a problem with anesthesia, in fact I was told to take one the morning of my surgery to keep me calm. I think that some doctors are just very uninformed about these medications and they often cause some people a lot of trouble by pressuring, my doctor was really bad for doing this to me and I went through so much stress and suffering, he even reduced my dosage in large amounts without even talking about it with me.
I was on .5 and had to do a six month taper to get off it. No dose of Ativan is too low.
I cant tell you how much I despise arrogant doctors! This doctor did not know me, did not know how sensitive I am to meds and gave me bad advice. This is not the first time this has happened and my job is to remember to listen to my body first,