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Failed crossover


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I have been on 1 mg Lorazepam at .5 twice a  day for about 15 months. I started having problems sleeping about 6 months ago and now am in tolerance to the stuff and experiencing inter dose withdrawals.

 

I couple weeks again I started trying to cross over to Valium using the method suggested in the Ashton Manual.

 

I have not been doing well on the Valium. It makes me feel nauseous, messed up and a little panicky every time I take even .25 mg.

 

Taking less helps keep the tolerance / withdrawal  issues at bay at least and is about all I can manage.

 

What is the likelihood that I could just use these small amounts of Valium while tapering off of Lorazepam?

 

Anyone experienced this type of taper or Valium response?

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Are you still taking the Lorazepam 0.5mg twice a day in addition to the Valium?  How much Valium are you taking and how often?
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I am taking .5 mg in the morning and .42 mg in the afternoon along with .25 Val spaced out 4 times a day to deal with tolerance issues.

 

Lor at 6AM and 2PM

Val at 8AM, 12PM, 4PM and 8PM

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The issue I see with using Valium to deal with tolerance/interdose withdrawl is that you will ultimately have to deal with getting off the Valium after you are off the Lorazepam.  Would you like me to get one of our members to have a look at your situation and offer some input?
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Kate asked me to stop by.

 

I agree with Kate, you seem to be switching one problem for another.

 

I totally understand.  You were looking for less symptoms while tapering and so you tried the Valium method.

 

The hard truth is, tapering brings symptoms.  It seems best to pick a path, stick with it, learn acceptance about the withdrawal, and you will get through this.

 

How much support are you getting from your doctor?

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My doc put me with a pharmacologist who purports to work with people to taper off of benzo yet had no idea who Dr Ashton was!

 

Very alarming. Although I sounds like she does believe i the long taper, so that's a plus.

 

Thanks for your input. I appreciate it.

 

I was told on another group that had I changed my 2 doses to 3 or 4 a day, at least 6 hours apart, that I would have removed all occurrence of inter dose withdrawal and could have just taper off the lor itself.

 

Is that true that the tolerance  and inter dose withdrawal could have been solved by doing this?

 

Just seems to me that I would be at a lower does a lot sooner and that would increase my problems?

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0.25mgs of Valium will provide no clinical benefit. In fact, anything below a single 1mg dose will likely do nothing at all.

 

The equivalency of 0.5mgs of Ativan to Valium is approximately 4mgs.

 

A successful cross over would require approximately 8mgs of Valium.

 

You could try substituting 0.25mgs of your Ativan with 2mgs of Valium and see how that works out for 1 week. If it goes well. Substitute an additional 0.25mgs of Ativan for another 2mgs of Valium for another week. By week 4, you should be off the Ativan and on 8mgs of Valium.

 

The benefit of Valium is it's longer half life and allowing you to maintain a steady benzo blood level, allowing for a smoother overall taper.

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0.25 md of val actually does provide therapeutic relief. I feel it every time and within 5 to 10 minutes.

 

I am on this Val from a failed Ashton crossover as I mentioned earlier.

 

I stuck with the minimal amount I'm on because it gave me relief and I'm still tapering the Lorazepam.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi tomfoolry,

 

Could you add your medication history into your signature so we can see at a glance what you've been doing, I'm a little confused and don't want to go back through your posts to understand your situation.  These are the instructions but if you have difficulty doing it just put the information here and a team member can do it for you.  Add your history/signature 

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