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Has anybody successfully tapered off of lorazepam (Ativan)?

Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: May 7 7:47am | Replies (275)
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@frouke

I was reading about your frustration with Ativan and related. I’ve been on and off twice in over twenty years. I still take them one per day but it’s so hard to stay on this dosage and every time I start reducing something seems to come along and throw me off again. My own guess is that the med itself is causing us to go back to it and my reason is that the meds help a lot and maybe they make us weaker to fight back. I’m basically speaking for myself and I know how quick it helps me feel better. When my stress goes up I lack the determination to stay away from them, there’s just too much stress already it doesn’t leave much room for more

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Replies to "I was reading about your frustration with Ativan and related. I’ve been on and off twice..."
jmav999 | @jmav999 | Feb 21, 2023

I totally agree with you.
A psychiatrist once told me that when someone is addicted to a substance, even if one stops for a period of time, once we take the drug our brains say "gottchya" our synapses go crazy and we crave more.
That "gotchya" line really stuck with me.
At one point, I told my pcp I wanted to ween off and her response was, "why would you want to with the stress in your life. She has a point.
I'm also an alcoholic in recovery and I can never take a drink because it never stops at one.
At least with Lorazepam, we can drive and work and do all the things we do throught our days.
So, for now with all the stress I'm under, I will stay on my prescribed dose of 3 mg/day. It really has kept me sane and keeps me from drinking as well.
Once my life gets on a calmer realm, I will try to reduce down again.
It can be done, I've done it before. Well, at least I hot down to just one 1mg/day.
Hard to imagine my life without it.
But, it used to be hard for me to imagine a life without alcohol. Now, I won't touch it with a ten foot pole, at least today...one day at a time.

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