How did you successfully taper off of 0.5 lorazepam (Ativan)?

I am 74 and have been taking Klonopin for over 30 years. I take 1mg in the morning and 1mg in the evening.
I have talked to my PCP and she has told me because I am very active and have no balance issues and I have never increased my dosage she sees no reason for me to get off it.
I also take Zoloft, Bupropion and Buspar. Obviously I am retired and cut my Zoloft back from 100 mg daily to 50mg with no side effects at all.
I tried to taper to .5 mg in the morning and .5 mg in the evening. That appeared to be way too fast.
I welcome any suggestions from people that have successfully tapered off clonazepam or any other benzo. I am assuming they are all as difficult to taper off of.
Are there any drugs that you can take to make the tapering process easier?
I welcome any thoughts and suggestions because I value opinions that are posted on this site. Anything to make the tapering process easier would be welcomed.
I look forward to hearing from anyone out there.

@nanagizer I was on .5 for at least two years. See photo for my schedule

@daveshaw

@kawanhee
So it took you 10 weeks to get off Klonopin?
When I get my next prescription should I get .5 mg tablets and then cut them in half? It looked like the first week was 5mg twice and .25 mg twice and slowly go down from there. Is that right.
Did this avoid any withdrawal symptoms? How much were you taking and for how long?
Let me know.
Thanks.

@daveshaw you’re misreading. Each change was two to three weeks. So about 6 months.
And I was on Ativan, another benzo like klonopin

@kawanhee Thanks for clarifying. How painful was it over the six months?
How long were you on Ativan? I would assume it was for anxiety. What have you replaced it with?
I appreciate you being so open with me.

@daveshaw I was originally prescribed .5 mg of Ativan when I was diagnosed with a disease. I then began relying on it for sleep, but it eventually stopped working.
Because I weaned myself very slowly, it was not painful at all.

Apparently, the higher your dose and longer you have been on it, the more difficult and slow the taper. It took me almost a full year to taper off 1.5mg once a day for 20 years. The first .5 was easy to omit because I was taking it only for sleep and that .5 just a few nights a week. Then I went to .75 for a month, then .5 for several months, .375 for several months, .25 for several months ( and this got very hard) - anxiety, social phobias, blood pressure issues, worsening dysphonia. Severe insomnia. Dr prescribed vistoril for sleep, which did not help. Discharged me with 2 months prescription for .125mg dissolvable tablets, which did nothing. For me, the withdrawal symptoms were very bad during this time. My PCP prescribed Remeron but that didn’t help. Finally got into a sleep doctor who prescribed Lunesta, which works well for sleep and I’ve felt my nervous system slowly recovering. Sleep is essential for me and when I sleep, I am more calm and social. I’ve been off klonopin for almost 2 years. I’m glad I did it.

@daveshaw, hi, I’m always reading about people who have withdrawn from benzodiazepines and found success in doing so, fortunately there’s lots more help available because this problem with benzodiazepines is so prevalent everywhere. In Canada where I live these drugs are labeled controlled substances, it’s not as severe as in the USA but there’s more pressure from the older doctors who want to retire with a clear record. I take Ativan and have been for over 20 years, I take 1 mg. daily and I managed for about 4 months to reduce it by half by using CBD/THC, unfortunately I relapsed due to health issues. It’s a different journey for everyone and you really can’t compare to other people and how they felt, so much is involved like your age, how long you’ve been taking them and your general health. Also, there’s so many success stories about recovering from life without these drugs, I wish you good luck and hope that your recovery goes smoothly.