How to manage side effects from 30 years use of Lorazepam

Just the connection between drugs like that and dementia, would make me want to get off it.

To date there’s no evidence of this medication causing early dementia, it’s simply scare tactics to push people into withdrawal…doctors are hurting their patients by forcing them into withdrawal, many are seniors who have taken them for many years without problems and none have reported any decline in their mental health…forcing withdrawal is killing them.

How much do you take daily? Have you ever had to increase to get the same benefits? I guess I am a bit fearful of having to do that. 🙁

I have been taking .05 mg. for 3 months now but I was on 1 mg. for many years. I have always maintained my regular dose but sometimes when my anxiety goes up especially when I’m dealing with cancer, I may have increased it to cope, I know that one problem people have with this drug is that they have to increase their dose to get the same effect and that’s a problem, it would probably be better to start weaning off them and getting a different drug to help you cope with anxiety.

How did you taper down to .5 from 1? I think I should start trying to do the same.

Hi. I am in the same position as you - except it’s clonazepam. I am down to .5 but I am curious as to you saying to try something else for anxiety. May I ask what, if anything, you have tried?

I have tried several different medications, i.e., antidepressants which didn’t help and they made me sick, I basically reduced my dose and dealt with the symptoms this caused, I tried cannabis gummies to ease the stress and it helped me to some degree with appetite and sleep. I wouldn’t recommend cannabis to anyone who has never tried it because it doesn’t always affect everyone the same way and it could possibly cause you more anxiety. It’s really hard to know what works best for you, weaning slowly over a long period of time is probably the best way to do it, the Ashton Manual is a very good program to follow and it can be downloaded from the internet so you don’t have to pay for it.

i am facing this issue since 2 years. i too have the terror of having ssri snri or tca. Lorazepam is not a good pill to manage. Dr. too isnt good at my place.

I’m now taking 0.5 mg 3 times daily, this increase is due to trying to get on an antidepressant, I never did well with these drugs but Ativan helps with anxiety not depression. The side effects are awful and it’s the second one I’ve tried in 5 weeks, the Ativan helped a little but not enough and to make matters worse I now have inter dose withdrawal, hopefully I won’t have to increase any more otherwise I’ll have no option but to get off them or go to another longer acting benzodiazepine.

@frouke, I leveled off to 0.5 mg. 3 times daily, as I previously mentioned my Ativan went up due to trying antidepressants and I failed miserably, all I gained from this latest attempt is feeling frustrated with the results, I don't really want to stop taking Ativan and after 25 years on and almost 75 years old I really have no desire to push myself through more nasty symptoms, however in recent months I started feeling the Ativan withdrawal after about 7-10 hours and this really disturbed me, I know that I will have to deal with this at some point but I will probably try to get the get the doctor to taper me over to another Benzodiazepine that lasts longer, I must say that it worries me because I read that it's a process requiring the doctor's close involvement and I don't feel like I have a very experienced doctor when it comes to medications., sometimes I feel like I'm going around in circles.