Anybody taking Buspar after stopping lorazepam?

Buspar definitely helps some. It is also not addictive and gives me no side effects. It’s something worth trying. It doesn’t work like the Benzodiazepines. It’s not as strong, nor quick acting. It’s more preventative. I went off decades long regular Xanax use and am now taking Buspar and Klonopin.

How much lorazepam were you taking? I take about 1.5 mg daily and tried buspar to cut back/off but it didn't work for me. Still on the 1 to 1.5 mg daily. I just wish I had never started this stuff back in september as it has taken a real hold of me....

Thanks for your comments, jewelina. Because Klonopin is a benzodiazepine like Xanax and lorazepam, is taking Buspar with the klonopin part of your strategy to wean completely off benzodiazepines?

Klonopin is also a benzodiazepine

I have been taking .5 lorazepam for over two and a half years. Even that low dose is difficult to get off of. I have trouble sleeping every time I lower the dose.
I’m currently on a quarter tablet (.125 a night) As are you, I’m determined to get off it and plan to be free in June.
Taking 7.5 mirtazapine for sleep while tapering

I began taking 1mg at night, one .5 tablet at bedtime and one .5 tablet in the middle of the night. Did that for a couple of years. Reduced to .75 mg per day for a while and finally one .5 mg tablet nightly for a couple of years. This seems the Goldilocks dosage for me, not too much not too little. Nevertheless, I absolutely was dependent on it daily, worried what it was doing to my aging brain, and I knew the time would come that my tolerance to it would demand I begin increasing the dose, so I realized that I definitely wanted to be completely rid of taking this miserable drug. I tried decreasing to one half then one quarter pill daily but had poor success at that. Finally, knowing that my dosage was low enough that I probably wouldn’t have a seizure by going cold turkey, I stopped taking daily doses but did take a pill every other day at first then every three days, and so on. Now, I take a pill every few days, sometimes more often, but I feel my chances for success are very good, even though I often feel quite miserable without taking it. (This a monstrous drug to try to stop taking on a daily basis.) That’s why I was wondering if another anti-anxiety drug not a Benzo would be helpful. Good luck, nanagizer, with your challenges with stopping. It is a tough one, but easier, I think, if you just accept that it will be painful with plenty of suffering to cut down and quit, but it will be worth it, and it won’t kill you.

My sleep medical doctor gave me a tapering method and I am going even slower. There’s an Ashton method but way too complicated for me.
Once I’m ready to taper again from .125 daily, I’ll do .125, .125, nothing, .125, .125, nothing…two to three weeks. Then .125 every other day. Then .125 every third day. Each change is two to three weeks. Then hopefully off!!

I know it’s a Benzodiazepine. Yes, it’s my plan. I used to take Xanax every 4-6 hours. Now I’m down to one dose of Klonopin per day. Benzodiazepines are not designed to be taken everyday. But once you are taking them daily if you don’t take them you have withdrawal. So you end up taking them to prevent withdrawal and they don’t work as they should.

I have unbearable withdrawal symptoms when i try to quit taking klonopin cold turkey. I was in the hospital for 20 days regarding another issue and since klonopin was not a listed medication in my chart they stopped my klonopin cold turkey for 20 days. My anxiety was through the roof. 24/7.
At home I was taking 1/2 pill in the morning and 1 milligram at 3:00 pm. It was a hellish nightmare so they gave me an adavan every 25 hours! Not acceptable. I finally got 1 every 12 hours. It just made me feel sleepy what a mess I was. Buspar did nothing for me.

Thanks, Andy the man, for your very helpful comments. Sorry you had such a rough time of it!

John