Hello from a new member

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on the forums, I have been reading the forum for quite a while though.

Anyway, let me introduce myself:

I am a 25year old male and I have been on lorazepam for 2.5 years for anxiety problems. A month ago I decided to get off the pills cause they were doing me more harm than good.

I started tapering on 8 september and I have been benzo free for 6 days now!

Can't say that it has been easy, but since my last cut I have been feeling better and better actually

The tapering period was rather fast maybe but I didn't want to go to the doctor to get a refill, I was just so sick about how those pills made me feel towards the end.

I have a small question though: since I have been feeling rather well the last days I was wondering if things might still get worse or is that rather doubtful when coming off a rather low dose of a short acting benzo?

I also was wondering how long I should wait before having a drink? I'm not planning to get drunk though, haven't had a drink since I started tapering but I do enjoy the occasional beer with some friends

Finally I would like to say that this forum has been an incredible support for me, even though I never posted here before. Good luck to everyone who is trying to get off the evil pills or who still is in withdrawal, you can do it!! 

Hi InFlames,

Welcome to BenzoBuddies!! Congratulations on being benzo free!!! Ativan at 1mg is still a very powerful benzo and you did taper off at a fairly fast rate. It is hard to predict if you will experience worse days ahead as everyone's different in their own journey. Just know that if you do have some bumps in the road, they will get less and less and things will get better and better. You do need to be careful with alcohol for a while since you are still recovering and alcohol affects the same brain receptors as benzos do. I had read somewhere but don't remember where that you should wait about 4 months. An occasional beer should be okay but do not overdue it as it could awaken the w/d symptoms. Others will be by to give you their perspective on their tapers and post benzo experiences. Hang in there!!

T2

Hey there InFlames,

Glad that you been able to benefit from reading posts on here. I guess I just wanted to say Hi and am glad that you decided to go ahead and post! You did do a pretty fast taper; glad that you are feeling alright. Be careful with the alcohol; I would definately heed Theresa's warning about it. I am just glad you posted, even filled in your Signature box with your tapering schedule, and wanted to welcome you!!!! We have a lot of fun around here, helps with withdrawals! Laughter is good medincine! It's really hard to say whether or not you are going to have more symptoms. It's always a wait and see everyday for people who are benzo free and in the healing process. Your body is still healing from the benzo, so just take what comes at you and know that "this too shall pass."

Lori

Congratulations on 6 days benzo-free, InFlames!  That is awesome!!!  

I'm so glad you've been feeling better already.    You may slide by without much in the way of post-withdrawal symptoms.  One of our moderators, haljes, was like that. (We still love her, though.  ) According to Dr. Ashton, there isn't a relationship between the amount you were taking or the length of time you were on the lorazepam.  The healing is a very non-linear process, totally counterintuitive IMO.

For most people, there are little waves of symptoms that occur every so often with decreasing intensity and duration over time. You've obviously been doing a very good job of just taking what comes and rolling with to have gotten this far and this attitude will continue to serve you well.

I don't know what to say about having the occasional beer.  I suppose if it were me I'd wait at least a few weeks and then just see how I reacted to a single beer.  You seem to already know that alcohol acts on the same GABA receptors as the benzos, so I guess it would be like taking a little bit of benzo in a week or so.  There are times when we may have to accept a benzo as a pre-surgery treatment, for instance, and that does not cause a return of dependency or symptoms according to Dr. A., so maybe an occasional beer is the same? Not really sure, though.

I know you've been mainly a lurker, but would you mind if we started a congratulations thread for you over on the Celebrations board?  It really is encouraging to those still tapering to see a fellow benzo-head get free.  I also hope you will come back from time to time and let everyone know how you are doing.  

Thanks for the fast replies and for making me feel so welcome! 

I guess I have been rather "lucky" when it comes to withdrawal symptoms, though 6 days off is still the very beginning and more symptoms might develop over time ( I hope not though ).

I do have a couple of minor withdrawal symptoms which include ringing in my ears and feeling somewhat nervous as if I had 12 cups of coffee but ah well ... those will subside eventually, just taking it one day at a time.

Concerning the beer I will lay it off for a couple of weeks more, rather safe than sorry!

And I would very much like a thread in the Celebrations forum if it can help other members during their withdrawal!

Thanks again for all the encouragement and advice, I'll keep posting from time to time 

Congrats to you.  Wish I could taper as quickly as you did, but I'm not as "brave" as you are 

I have that nervous feeling....my heartrate is really fast....does this interfere with your sleep?

It does mine

Haven't had any troubles sleeping so far actually, mostly it fades away at night for some reason .. just to make room for the awful buzzing in my ears ..

What calms me down a bit is a nice cup of green tea, I have 2 of those a day ( the non caffeine version that is ).

Concerning my fast taper, it might not be the best for everyone to do it that fast but I just did a cut when I had 2 good days in a row, which was mostly after a week.

Even though I am not 100% OK yet, the feeling of being free and never having to take those pills again is awesome .. it exceeds the withdrawal symptoms by far.

Hang in there Cal, you will eventually get there! Just take it slow

I can surely empathize with you about that buzzing, InFlames.    I started a thread on it some time back.  It is a new symptom for me; never had it while tapering. Go figure.  Now I am pleased if the volume is a 3 rather than a 4 (on my 1-5 scale, with 5 being the level at which I start  Maybe there's something useful there for you. 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=8987.0

You've already gotten some awesome advice...so I just wanted to say Welcome!!! 

Love,

Jen

Welcome to BB. Congrats on being benzo free.

Robert