Please help me figure out my taper. Lorazepam to valium. I cant understand it al

I take 1mg to 2mg of lorazepam. Mostly 1mg to 1.5mg daily of lorazepam. I usually just take one dose at any time of the day and then the half or 1mg more later if needed. I have valium and want to do it this way. Can someone please help me with a schedule that I can follow. I would so much appreciate it. I have done this before- just by weaning off lorazepam directly- but got back on them due to a lot of stressors in my life. I am just more anxious though and want to just get off. Please help!

Thanks- Kristina

Hi Kristina!

 

It would be best if you first settlied and stabilized on a steady dose. Usually the lowest daily dose that you feel comfortable on for a week or so.

I haven't read any of your other posts, but are you currently working with a doctor? Will he be supplying you with an adequate amount of valium to do a cross over and withdrawal?

Hi, nobenzosinme. 

 

I know those crossover substitutions can be confusing.  When you have stabilized on a particular dosage/day and are taking the same amount at the same time every day (such as, 1mg morning +.5mg bedtime), we can help you work out a crossover schedule.  There's an sample schedule for crossing from 1 mg lorazepam 3x/day to 10 mg valium (diazepam) 3x/day in Chapter 2 of the Ashton Manual, Table #8:

http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm#s8

 

I would say for the most part I am just doing 1mg daily for sure. I just take more occasionally. Can someone help me make a valium schedule for the lorazepam 1mg. I dont take 3mg per day. Sorry to be a pain. I cannot think clearly.

Hi nomorebenzosinme,

 

If you decide to make you starting point 1 mg of Lorazepam, this is equal to 10 milligrams of Valium.  You'd start reducing your dose by 1 mg every week to 14 days. 

 

Pam

I would say for the most part I am just doing 1mg daily for sure. I just take more occasionally. Can someone help me make a valium schedule for the lorazepam 1mg. I dont take 3mg per day. Sorry to be a pain. I cannot think clearly.

 

Hi kristina,

 

Then 1mg would be a good place to start. The dose and time of dose need to be consistant. What dosages are your pills? It's best to have the smallest strength pills available, which is 0.5mg lorazepam and 2mg valium.  

 

According to various sources, including Dr. Ashton, 1mg lorazepam is roughly equivalent to 10mg valium. Crossing over to valium would entail switching out about 1/4 of each benzo every week or so.  

 

Are you working with a doctor?

I would say for the most part I am just doing 1mg daily for sure. I just take more occasionally. Can someone help me make a valium schedule for the lorazepam 1mg. I dont take 3mg per day. Sorry to be a pain. I cannot think clearly.

 

You are NOT being a pain and that table in Ashton was just an example to give you the general idea.  Do you take that 1mg at one particular time, such as bedtime, or split it up into .5mg am and .5mg pm? 

Hi. Thanks everyone. I am going back and forth if I want to do the taper or subsitute. I only have 1mg ativan and 10mg valium. My doctor that prescribes my meds is in another town, so I don't get to see her as much as I would like. She is not comfortable with the valium so I had to get them elsewhere - not online or off the streets or anything.

I do take the lorazepam once daily around 4pm or so. Any suggestions would be great. I have just been feeling so crappy lately. I don't know if it is just the stress of my crazy year. I also had a baby 9 months ago. I just feel awful. I want my SSRI to work and just get off the ativan.

Hi. Thanks everyone. I am going back and forth if I want to do the taper or subsitute. I only have 1mg ativan and 10mg valium. My doctor that prescribes my meds is in another town, so I don't get to see her as much as I would like. She is not comfortable with the valium so I had to get them elsewhere - not online or off the streets or anything.

I do take the lorazepam once daily around 4pm or so. Any suggestions would be great. I have just been feeling so crappy lately. I don't know if it is just the stress of my crazy year. I also had a baby 9 months ago. I just feel awful. I want my SSRI to work and just get off the ativan.

 

I went back and forth, too, nb, but finally decided to try a direct taper and see how it went.  Of course, I was able to get the .5mg tablets from my doctor so I could cut my pills into .125mg pieces.  Since you are just taking the ativan 1/day, you could be having interdose withdrawal. Ativan wears off fairly quickly so taking it 2-3x/day is usually recommended.  Maybe you could call your doctor and tell her you'd like to try splitting up your dose and then tapering off with .5mg tablets and she'd call in a prescription.

 

If that's a no go, another excellent way to taper off is by means of liquid titration. It sounds complicated but I'm told it's really easy once you get started.  You can read more about titration here:

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=6393.msg61329#msg61329

 

There are very detailed instructions there but don't let that scare you off.  There's also a link to a video made by one of our members which shows what the process is like and someone here creates the schedule for you.  If you can get tablets smaller than 1 mg, this might be a really good option.

Hi Beeper,

I think I am going to do the taper too. I feel better today- yesterday was just awful. I had been having to take hydros for awhile for various things off and on and finally stopped, that could have been some of it. I will call my doctor on Monday and ask for the .5mg and start my taper on Thursday. I like to have the weekend to get over the initial cuts.

Thanks!

Hi Beeper,

I think I am going to do the taper too. I feel better today- yesterday was just awful. I had been having to take hydros for awhile for various things off and on and finally stopped, that could have been some of it. I will call my doctor on Monday and ask for the .5mg and start my taper on Thursday. I like to have the weekend to get over the initial cuts.

Thanks!

 

I'm glad you are feeling better today, whatever the reason.  (What's a "hydro", btw?)

 

I think that's really good thinking to plan when to start  your taper like that.  You can't always count on the body to adhere to "the plan" (w/d only on weekends) but you are doing what a former counselor used to refer to as "stacking the deck in your favor". 

I didn't start my taper until tonight. I am going to cut every 2 weeks. Oh, the hydro is just lortab/vicodin. I had a baby then a surgery.

I will let you know how it goes.

Let us know how it goes for you!