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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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Call your Pharmacist! I was on Oxy, 10 mg 6 times a day for 1.5 years and I started to feel the effects of addiction ! It scared me and so I called mine and she gave me a schedule that was very fast and I had ZERO side effects!
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1 ReactionI was on 1mg 3x daily, I'm now taking.5mg 1x daily and want to quit. Is it possible to taper off by one day and off one day?
Thanks
Debbi
Im very tired on my last 2 week tapper
I was on it for YEARS and after repeated requests to my doctor about wanting to stop, I just started tapering myself by cutting the pills in half for a month or 2, then into quarters for a couple of months, and then just taking that quarter pill when absolutely necessary until I ran out. Now I smoke weed when I really need something, but thats safer and more controllable then the pharmaceuticals.
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4 ReactionsYes, I had been on it for years. Very slowly tapered off. Was at .5mg twice a day then down to half that .25mg twice a day then just once a day. Then I was to take it if needed but managed through the holidays with out any needed. Tapered slowly over months to be done with this med. I was told that this increases falling risk in older folks and since I'm 71 with other issues I didn't need this to be another risk. Good luck with your tapering off this med.
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3 Reactionshelpful discussion!
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1 ReactionHi, Long story short…last year my antidepressant stopped working after a traumatic accident. Dr did a taper switch , gave me Ativan to help 1mg am, 1/2 mg afternoon and 1 mg pm. After taking time to adjust the dose to be effective I began to taper off Ativan. I managed to get to 1/2mg am, 1/2 mg pm. Yesterday I forgot my fist 1/2 mg and remembered at 6:00pm. By then had headache, took the dose and thought I could just skip the pm dose. Woke up with headache and vertigo. I checked yo see if I was experiencing positional vertigo (bppv) which I have every now and again but this was different. Is this pretty normal? I took my 1/2 mg dose this morning and I’ll take it again in pm until I figure out the best way . Looking for any similar experiences and how to succeed. I see my doc in March
When you mentioned a taper switch did you mean a new antidepressant along with Ativan or a taper off the antidepressant with Ativan to help with the withdrawal?
@frouke Yes, I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear. I went from Zoloft after 20 years to Cymbalta.
@lovehope63 The Dr gave me the Ativan to help with the transition of anxiety etc.