Chipping away at Ativan

Dear Colin,

Hi!  I am new to this forum and wanted to run my taper plan by you.  I have been on lorazepam/ativan 0.5mgs at bedtime for 6 years.  (One tablet is 0.5mgs).  Approximately every 2 months I take .75mgs at bedtime.  Question:  My understanding is that this is a small dose of benzo.  How careful do I need to be with a taper?  I just started dry tapering last week.  I am just "chipping" a piece off every night (so it is less than 1/4 of the tablet that I am chipping).  I plan to cut off 1/4 of the tablet starting next week.  I would appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks!!!!

"Tired" of ativan

To tired of ativan,  I am one of the moderators on the site, and saw your post, and thought  I would throw an easy titration plan at you.  We can give you a more detailed one, but this one  will get you off the drug, and you can go at your own pace.   

If dry cutting a quarter of the pill works for you, and you don't get hit with severe wd's , then by all means continue doing this.  I would suggest after each quarter cut, you hold at that level for 7 to 14 days  to let your body adjust, then repeat the process taking another quarter and holding for the 7 to 14 days again. 

If you want to cut in smaller amounts you will need to tirtate.  This is an easy process also, and can be done with  simple household  utensils.

For instance.  one cup contains 16 tablespoons.  you could crush your .5mg. pill between 2 spoons till you get a fine powder and stir the crushed pill into the measured cup of either milk or water ( the drug does not dissoulve in either, just makes a suspension)  . Immediately after stiring, Throw away one tablespoon of the suspension and drink the rest.    Now the speed at which you want to reduce is totally up to you.  You could throw away 1 tablespoon  each night the first week , and it would take you 16 weeks to get off.  If you throw away 2 tablespoons the first week, then 4 the second week  etc...  in 8 weeks you would be done ,  reducing by about 12.5% per week  which is pretty close to our recommendation of around 10% every 7 to 14 days.  Obviously you could speed up or slow down by just extending the days between reductions.

There is no one right or wrong method  that works for everyone.  You have to go at the pace you can handle.  Some have pretty bad symptoms and go real slow to reduce the severity, and others ,like me, were able to go at the 10% rate with very mild symptoms.  Hopefully this is what you will experience .  If you have any more questions, feel free to ask,  everyone here  who has suffered withdrawls from this drug, knows what its like and are more than willing to lend their suggestions,and share their experiences.

st

Dear softtail,

Thank you!!  Your titration advice is brilliant!!  Now I understand what titration is and how I can use it!  The titration will allow me to feel more "control" than dry cutting.  (I printed your instructions).  The support I have received through this forum in a just a few days is amazing.  You have no idea how much I appreciate you and the others. 

Thanks!!  Have a great day or evening!

Best to you,

"tired" of ativan

tired of ativan,  Can't tell you how good it makes me feel to help a fellow benzo sufferer.  When I found this site I was at wits end.  I had no idea a drug could take over your life like clonazopam did to me.  Luckily, I recognized it early on, and found this site and titrated my way to benzo freedom.  Hopefully you will find the right speed and keep the withdrawls at a minimum.  Remember you have been on the benzo for a fairly long time so your gaba receptors are really used to getting that drug every night.  On the other hand, if you have been able to keep your dose down in the .5 to .75 range for this long, you don't have as far to go to get off the drug as many who find there way do.  Lets hope that you experience only a few mild symptoms on your way down, but if they get a little tough to handle, just jump on the site for support, and you can always hold for a little while before proceeding.  You will hear the saying "listen to your body"  passed around the site fairly frequently, and it means just what it says.  You have to let your own personal experiences with the drug determine your best route off the junk.    Good luck and will see you on the forum :thumbsup:

st.