Has anybody successfully tapered off of lorazepam (Ativan)?

@berekann Thanks very much, nice to hear from you, hope all is well, and I understand re the Ativan not working as well and needing to get off of it. I cut to .625mg , have been there for 4 days and think I'll go to .50mg in the next day or two. Afraid about going to .25mg after that because it's a 50% reduction, but I think you said it was ok? Also, I started taking Trazadone two nights, got 3 hrs the first night and 4 hrs last night, which is what I used to get with no meds. I started at a very low dose so can increase but pine for my no med life, which was not that long ago and I lived that way for most of my life. Still, grateful for the Trazadone if it continues to keep me from zero, or extremely little sleep nights. Hope the Ambien keeps working for you if you decide to stay on it, and good luck also if you decide to cut back. 🙂

@happytoseeyou hey, there, glad you’re doing okay on .625mg - and cutting to .5mg was okay for me. Then I was going to cut to half of that - don’t ask me what that would be! But my doctor told me to just go to .25 mg and I did and after about a week or so didn’t really need it anymore to get to sleep, but then I did have some sleepless nights & tried doxepin that left me really sleepy during the day so back to Ambien, but that’s leaving me too groggy, especially if I take a little bit more after 2am. Starting to taper now. Like you, I’d rather not use anything and really when I was done with the Ativan I didn’t feel that bad even without much sleep. Trazodone didn’t work well for me either but my doctor said take it with 5 mg of melatonin which seems like too much. And I think you said it didn’t work that well for you Hang in there!

@berekann Thanks so much and still at .625mg, tonight will be the fifth night and have been having withdrawl, increased anxiety, but managing.. Have not cut to .50mg, because not sure if it's best to wait at least a week or should it be two, before cutting further? Also , when you got to .25mg, how long did you stay on that and did you cut further, to .125mg before stopping completely? I've heard that the end of a taper is real important and also that withdrawl can be bad after stopping the medication completely after taper is done. I see NP tomorrow and am worried that she may not refill prescription so that I can continue to taper slowly, and don't know what to do if that happens. Hope all is well.

@happytoseeyou you’re probably like me and anxious about the tapering! Certainly you can stay on it for two weeks before your next . And I did not do the .125 mg. I’d been planning to, but didn’t need itAnd I think your NP will be happy to renew it

@berekann and since you’ve been on such a low-dose for a short time, I don’t think it will be as difficult as for people who have been on higher doses for two or three years once I got to .25 it was really easy cause I was using also melatonin and sometimes Benadryl as the doctor said and hardly missed it

Is there anyone dealing with nausea daily? I was diagnosed with GAD general anxiety disorder 2 yrs ago. Started off on Ativan 3 times a day. Didn’t really help, I was nauseous every single day, still am by the way. Then I tried cymbalta. That didn’t help, seem to make worse. Then tried Prozac. That didn’t work. Then finally tried Loreev Xr. It’s the long acting version of Ativan. Hasn’t been out in the market long, fairly new drug. Been on it for about year and 6 months. I’m now doing a slow taper because although it has helped some, I’m still nauseous every single day. My therapist, psychiatric PN or me can’t seem to figure out why I’m still nauseous everyday. It’s gotten worse since the tampering started. Before the out of the blue GAD popped up, I never had this problem. Any one experiencing this?

@colleenyoung I was prescribed .5 lorazepam in 2006 and was on it for 5 years. I took one pill .5 nightly and never increased the dosage or took it during the day. I usually had one glass of red wine in the evening before bed along with the pill. I decided to get off of it after 5 years of taking it nightly. I somehow knew I could not go off cold turkey. I started out by cutting the pills in half and slowly got off of it. It took me about a year to be completely free of lorazepam. I did have night sweats and hallucinations during the process, especially the hallucinations at the end of the year. I did this process completely on my own, no doctor supervision. Never consulted a doctor. I was initially prescribed lorazepam because I told my doctor of anxiety I was having from going through a divorce. I wish she would have said "this is normal to have anxiety". Otherwise I was perfectly healthy at the time and still am. The only pill I take daily is a vitamin D. I still walk 3 miles everyday and eat a very healthy diet, am not over weight. Currently 67 years old, still have occasional anxiety but deal with in other healthy alternatives. NO MEDICATION!!!!! If I can offer any more insight please feel free to contact me.

I had quit taking the benzodiazepines and to continue to have success with my Alcohol-free lifestyle my Psychiatrist helped me by prescribing Topimax, Seroquel and duloxetine. I have stopped the Naltrexone, weaning off of topimax, off of Elavil. And now I sleep good at night w/o sleep meds. Hope to continue reducing meds as I am healed. 🙏🤗

How do you taper off of 2mg x a day of Ativan.

@kzoo13 Very very slowly. .025 mg at a time for 2 weeks.