How to manage side effects from 30 years use of Lorazepam

I have been taking Clonazepam for over 30 years along with Zoloft Buspar and Wellbutrin. Ironically I have cut my Zoloft dosage in half and stayed with my same dosage of Wellbutrin and Buspar.
Clonazepam was prescribed to work with my antidepressants and it did a very good job. I have stayed on the same dosage of 1mg in the morning and 1mg before I go to bed. I tried weaning off to 5mg twice a day and realized how addictive it truly was. My PCP has told me repeatedly to stay on it because I don’t drink and exercise vigorously 6 out of 7 days a week. At 75 she doesn’t think I should put myself through a very excruciating withdrawal since my depression and anxiety has been under control for so long.
That being said if there is anyone out there with any secret to successfully getting of Clonazepam without going through a year and half or two of hell I would love to hear from you.
Good luck to everyone. Depression and anxiety is inherited and my mother suffered severe depression and anxiety. She self medicated with alcohol which made growing up in my family very difficult.
Both my children suffer with depression and anxiety but because I was so open about my struggles they both got help and are happily married and very successful and I have been blessed with three granddaughters and two grandsons.
There is hope out there but just like any disease you have to treat it because it never just goes away. If someone tells you it does they never really suffered from it.

I started taking lorazepam 36 years ago at 0.5mg once per day to balance my Prozac for depression. I’m 84 now and have increased to 0.5mg two times per day over the years. It has been a great help with anxiety and no side effects. I’ve had to ignore the danger messages since I had no reason to stop. My doctor mentioned possible balance problems but I’m on a rollator due to bad knees so that’s a nonissue. I’ve never felt dizzy with it before either.

@frouke I have been on Lorazepam 1mg. for 20 years for sleep and it works great. However, I have recently found studies linking Lorazepam (Ativan) to dementia or at least "Brain Fog", which I have started having at age 75. Therefore, I would like to get off Lorazepam and switch to one of the newer sleep meds that do not work the same way in the brain and have not shown any connection to dementia. I live outside Houston where you would think there would be LOTS of doctors who have the expertise to do a slow taper of this drug. NO, there are not! So we all hear about how allegedly dangerous narcotics are, blah blah blah, but there are few, if any doctors to get us off of them! I do NOT want dementia or any form of it if possibly so I'm willing to get off this drug. However, I admit to being worried about going back to my sleep problems, which is not pleasant. I LOVE my good sleep of 8-9 hrs/night with no after-effects. Does anyone out there know of a place or a doctor in the NW Houston area versed in the Ashford method of tapering a benzo?

@txdogmom Btw, I have also been on Duloxetine (Cymbalta) for about 25 yrs and it changed my life after suffering from severe anxiety/agorphobia after giving up 27 yrs of smoking cigarettes (my drug of choice apparently). I was given it initially for a botched knee replacement which caused horrific nerve pain when the drug first came out for Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy. It significantly helped my pain and also literally got rid of the anxiety! It is also used for general muscular pain and Fibromyalgia. I only take 30 mg./day. It can mess with your libido and did mine but my doctor suggested taking a "pill holiday" and see if that helped. It did! If you stop Cymbalta longer than a day, you get the "brain zaps", which are not pleasant. That sure keeps one from stopping the drug too quickly. I will never stop taking Duloxetine!

@joetex And you haven't had any brain fog or memory issues?

@txdogmom No I haven’t. On rare occasions I have had to take an extra one and all it did was calm me down and made me feel normal again.