Looking for help to taper off Ativan (lorazepam)

Posted by pamee @pamee, Jan 8, 2023

Hi my name is pamee. I need help as I have a rare disorder from Ativan. It's horrific excruciating pain 24/7 with minimal sleep so I'm also sleep deprived. The pain is killing me at times I want to die. I take 2 mg 4x a day fir 13-14 yrs and recently been having blackouts. I'm scared. Can anyone please give me suggestions whether I taper one dose at a time or should I taper all 4 doses in a day at about 1/4 of the pill. Thank you for any help you can give. Kind regards, pamee

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pamee | @pamee | Jan 11, 2023

In reply to @sears "You did taper off using Valium? I’m a little confused here." + (show)

Yes I used Valum to taper Xanax and it was very scary from the physical pain

pamee | @pamee | Jan 11, 2023

In reply to @pamee "Yes I used Valum to taper Xanax and it was very scary from the physical pain" + (show)

Then my pain management Dr had me do it with Ativan and Valium and it was worse than ever I could imagine. He took me off Valim and started me back on Ativan

grumpypants | @grumpypants | Feb 25, 2023

Hello everyone.

Long story short I've been on Ativan for 1 year, with 0.5 morning and evening. I tapered the morning dose 2 times in the past year. It's been a week since i finished my 2nd taper for the morning dose. I've noticed an increase in anxiety in the past week so obviously I'm scared of stating the evening taper.

I'm doing all of this under the direction of my doctor. And she does a taper that is once 1 day off several times, then every 2,3,4 days over the course of 2 months or so.

To be honest idk why i made this post. Maybe just wanted to put my fear of withdrawals, seizures somewhere.

marjou | @marjou | Feb 25, 2023

In reply to @grumpypants "Hello everyone. Long story short I've been on Ativan for 1 year, with 0.5 morning and..." + (show)

@grumpypants When I tapered off very slowly, I too noticed increased anxiety.

grumpypants | @grumpypants | Feb 25, 2023

In reply to @marjou "@grumpypants When I tapered off very slowly, I too noticed increased anxiety." + (show)

To be honest idk if my taper is fast or slow. 😄

marjou | @marjou | Feb 25, 2023

In reply to @grumpypants "Hello everyone. Long story short I've been on Ativan for 1 year, with 0.5 morning and..." + (show)

@grumpypants My personal journey in slow tapering off Ativan was as long as I was on it…years.

grumpypants | @grumpypants | Feb 26, 2023

In reply to @grumpypants "Hello everyone. Long story short I've been on Ativan for 1 year, with 0.5 morning and..." + (show)

At this point I'm not even sure it's withdrawal that i'm feeling, since it still take 0.5 in the evening.

nanagizer | @nanagizer | Feb 26, 2023

In reply to @grumpypants "Hello everyone. Long story short I've been on Ativan for 1 year, with 0.5 morning and..." + (show)

This drug is terrible......I have taken it for about a year now and find that .5 is hardly making a diffference any longer. I was taking .5 in the morning and .5 in the late afternoon but recently had to go up to .5 three times a day. I want to taper off and get this out of my system but it is so hard. Everything just starts to feel like it is shaking inside. Has anyone tried Buspar as an alternative? My psych doc is suggesting it.

grumpypants | @grumpypants | Feb 26, 2023

In reply to @grumpypants "Hello everyone. Long story short I've been on Ativan for 1 year, with 0.5 morning and..." + (show)

I am on 0.5 in the evening for 1 year. During this time i also took 0.5 in the morning 2 times for a few months and successfully tapered that 2 times. Now i just finish tapering the morning 0.5 for 10 days and things are kinda strange. I don't even know what or how bad withdrawal gets with these doses. My doc says it's all fine and nothing bad will happen, but so many horror stories on the Internet makes me questions everything.

reese1 | @reese1 | Feb 27, 2023

In reply to @nanagizer "This drug is terrible......I have taken it for about a year now and find that .5..." + (show)

I did know a woman that needed to get off of Xanax and she was in a facility to get off of it. They administered Buspar for her and she made the jump off of Xanax and did very well with the Buspar. She told me that you can go off of Buspar, whenever you are comfortable to do that. Keep in mind that you will be taking Buspar every day and it will take a month to see results. Maybe your doctor will have you take both of them together for a month? That would be something I would ask, since the withdrawals are so awful.