Feedback on side effects and withdrawing off of Lorazepam (Ativan)

Posted by vaughn369 @vaughn369, Mar 25 4:08pm

I am trying to see if anyone has had similar situation with side effects and withdrawal of Ativan. In summary, I am trying to help my wife titrate off Ativan due to its not helping and she is having side effects where she doesn't feel herself. The long story short is that it's been two years and she was on Ativan about 7 months taking 2mg/day. We were able to get her off then after about 2 months titrating down. About a month and half later against my better judgement was prescribed Klonopin which she was on for about 6 months. We titrated her off that because it was doing nothing. Unfortunately, this past December she was diagnosed with something else where Ativan was the only treatment. We are now titrating her again off this and its been hard to watch her struggle with the side effects. Sometimes there are just crying outbursts and can't explain why and is staying in bed a lot. I have also noticed she will not listen to me, but was thinking if others have similar experiences and share any advice/success in dealing with it. Right now she believes nothing helps and even getting off of this will not help. Thanks for any thoughts. I will also say, she has been on a total of 18 different medications and nothing is helping. I feel like the benzo is causing the problem.

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diverdown1 | @diverdown1 | Aug 23 10:03am

Look into Naltrexone. I take 25 mg a day. Also, if there is a history of trauma, it does not have to be Big T trauma. Childhood family dysfunction causes us to become stuck in some of the survival skills we developed as kids. I know that to be true of myself. Therapy, meditation, exercise (if possible) possibly a low dose of an anti-depressant (I take the generic Cymbalta 30 mg. lowest dose) also Propanolol ( a beta-blocker that does help with that stress response due to the nervous system). I feel for both of you. Benzodiazepines are wonderful for stress/anxiety, however our brains and bodies want them after being on them for long periods of time. I agree with one of the folks that posted about the Vagas nerve. Look into polyvagal theory. Is she seeing a therapist of any kind? Hang in there.