Ativan to Valium HELP

I recently figured out that I am dependent on ativan. It's been seriously destabilizing me for awhile now. I just had a hunch then I tried taking it same time every morning I felt stable, bingo. I told my psychiatrist I want to switch over to valium and then taper off of that. Valium has never had these rebound effects for me. Anyways, he said for the 1mg ativan the eq. was 5mg. Nope! Horrible rebound anxiety and irritation, crawling out of my skin the first day so I took 0.5mg of Ativan and felt somewhat better. So I've been taking 0.5 ativan and 5mg valium one week. Today I had to take another 5mg Valium in the afternoon after a lot of suffering (it was at home).

 

I'm thinking to follow the protocol and go to 10mg valium tomorrow am, stop the 0.5 ativan (as I've done o.5 ativan and 5mg valium one week). I don't have bad withdrawal symptoms at night. They are during the daytime, which is inconvenient because it obviously makes me drowsy to take valium in the morning.

 

What I also realized is I've been taking the exact supplements that a lot of sites say can exacerbate withdrawal during tapers. Specifically, D, Mg, and B. Wasn't taking these for anxiety but I'm going to stop and hope that helps. Plus a liver detox tincture I think was probably exacerbating these effects as well. So hopefully tomorrow the 10mg valium will go ok, sans supplements and herbs, cause this sucks.

 

Side note I had bad reactions to every psych med I tried to take while I was on the Ativan and I read this is pretty common. Mystery solved I guess.

 

Anybody have any suggestions that worked for them? I am super sensitive I think it's going to be a real slow taper off the valium and it's annoying I have 5mg pills for cutting the dose when (if) I stabilize on it.

When I was on .5 Ativan and C/O to valium it two tries and was successful at 7mg of valium but quickly came down to 5mg within a week. I finally stabilized then started my taper after about a few weeks.

When I was on .5 Ativan and C/O to valium it two tries and was successful at 7mg of valium but quickly came down to 5mg within a week. I finally stabilized then started my taper after about a few weeks.

 

Thanks, did you just take the 7.5 once a day then?

When I was on .5 Ativan and C/O to valium it two tries and was successful at 7mg of valium but quickly came down to 5mg within a week. I finally stabilized then started my taper after about a few weeks.

 

Thanks, did you just take the 7.5 once a day then?

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If I recall I took 5mg at night thinking I would be fine, then I went to work and starting having sxs so I took half a 5mg pill which was actually 7.5mg total.  I did this for three days and then switched to taking 5mg in the morning cause that is when the majority of my anxiety sxs was hitting me.

I finally stabilized but the valium was making me very sleepy and it was hard at first but soldiered on.

 

Thanks caltn, I messaged my doc and went up to 15mg and I feel SO much better. It feels doable now, I don't feel like I'm going to explode anymore. I think it makes sense to go up to this for the initial crossover as the ativan withdrawals hit me so hard. It's going to take more time to get off of but I'd rather not totally destabilize myself. Luckily it only makes me drowsy for short time and then I go for a walk and feel fine.

 

SO grateful! I was losing it with the wd symptoms.

Thanks caltn, I messaged my doc and went up to 15mg and I feel SO much better. It feels doable now, I don't feel like I'm going to explode anymore. I think it makes sense to go up to this for the initial crossover as the ativan withdrawals hit me so hard. It's going to take more time to get off of but I'd rather not totally destabilize myself. Luckily it only makes me drowsy for short time and then I go for a walk and feel fine.

 

SO grateful! I was losing it with the wd symptoms.

 

 

 

Once you stabilize I would start tapering cause Valium stays in your system a lot longer than Ativan. I was going through interdose withdrawals with the Ativan and knew I had to get off.

Yeah, I'm planning to taper when I feel stable.

Finally a window today where I was drowsy and relaxed but little to no wd symtoms at all. Forcing myself to be patient. It's hard to wrap my head around having to taper longer off these drugs than I was even on them. Getting over it though because I don't want to destabilize myself. That's why I was on them in the first place. They did save my life a number of times, even if it ended up making things crap now. It was still so much worse then!

5 months is plenty of time to become physically dependent on benzos. The equivalency tables are an estimate, there is no need to feel bad for needing a little more than the 10X conversion for ativan to valium. From what I have seen, ativan is a tricky one- for some people it is 5X more potent than valium, for others as much as 20X. I dont see a need to rush into tapering. Take your time to appreciate what it feels like to be stable, get a good tapering plan in place and start when you are ready. You can see my taper in my sig. You may be able to reduce a bit faster than I did as for me it was the 4th or 5th time I tried to taper.

Good luck!

JKS

Thanks JKS,

 

I think I was dependent between 1-2 months of use, actually. I've been actually wondering if I don't need 20mg of valium, so I appreciate your feedback. I'm starting to wonder if intermittent use of the valium in the past five years or so didn't cause a whole lot of my various instability and other physical symptoms and mysterious illnesses. It sure seems like a possibility. And about 6 years before that when I was quite young I was very addicted to benzos and abusing them, long before I had any inkling I had CPTSD. I went cold turkey then, and didn't even think about what the wd did. It's all kind of making sense now.

 

I hope I can stabilize at 15mg, I plan to try and stay here for around a month. When you crossed over did it take time to stabilize at that dose? Or, is it common to have some wd until you do so? This would make sense to me I just have no clue. Sometimes my body is screaming at me to go back to the ativan, but I really don't think a taper off it would go very well for me.

When I did the crossover I did it in stages so it took about a month and then I waited a week or two before starting to taper. If you did it all at once, it makes total sense to wait a month before tapering. It might take a while to fully even out, but in my experience trying to cross back from a longer acting benzo to a shorter acting one is hard. It sounds like you are on a good path now.

Take care,

JKS

Thanks JKS, it seems like I am the in the 1mg Ativan is equiv. to 20mg Valium category. This makes sense because before I realized I was dependent I was requiring up to 2mg ativan for panic attacks, and I didn't really take my time stabilizing on 1mg before beginning a very impatient 25% weekly taper that was hellish. Now I just hope to feel more stable on this dose of valium and let my system adjust, because judging by what's going on from this crossover, alone, I think it would be very hard for me to taper off ativan and valium has been so much easier in the past. That being said I've never taken it daily. Just riding the waves and doing everything I can to manage this. I hit a depression wall yesterday but I think it's also related to hormonal issues and some old triggers. It's hard to separate what symptom comes from what. I can't blame it all on the benzos, I have severe and progressive mental disorders, that existed before I ever had any kind of drug.

Finally feeling stable on the Valium after one week at 20mg, then yesterday I was so drowsy and not having Ativan WD I skipped my PM dose and felt fine, and this morning am going to see how 12.5mg goes (vs usual 15mg). It's been a couple hours and I feel good. Going to try and stabilize again at this dose for a week and see, then start a 1mg per week taper possibly.

1 mg per week sounds a little fast to me. I found it was easier to make small cuts and then make another one if I was feeling ok rather than make a big cut and wait to recover. I also found withdrawal from Valium would kick up three days and eleven days after a cut, so I liked to hold two weeks.

Good luck!

JKS

Thanks for the feedback JKS. I will just have to wait and see how this goes. Historically, my body has a really easy time getting off valium, which is why I crossed over at all, and I wasn't on ativan for years or anything so I'm hoping it won't be so hard now. I'm also on a major diet change back to paleo for the past month that really stabilizes me and I think it's making this whole process a lot more peaceful. Plus exercise, and I'm quite used to horrible wd like symptoms from my CPTSD/BPII in general, and I'm in a dual recovery support program 3 days a week so that helps too. But if it gets bad I'll go slower and just adjust to what my body needs.

JKS-yeah had to go back up to 15 and I'm going to slow the taper down. It gets hard for me to be patient I want this crap out of me. Working on the acceptance bit as best I can, I'm sure that will get easier over time.

If you are feeling ok, it doesnt matter that you are tapering. I found it better to go slowly but always go forward rather than overshooting and correcting.

Good luck!

JKS

Thanks, yeah that's true. And at least I have a psychiatrist who is supportive and will prescribe whatever I need. Even though I had to pay cash for 2mg tablets (my ins only covers 120 per month, and they wouldn't even take that portion out of what I paid if I wanted the whole rx). I just get frustrated.

I got to this point ten days ago where I lost all appetite, then the nausea started. And I also started sleeping probably 20 hours a day. Otherwise I'm fine, haha. I'm not really sure how long to wait now before tapering down from the 15mg. I was thinking after a full two weeks at this dose but now I'm unsure. Will this go away? I feel like a science experiment.

It can be pretty random. That's why I call it the benzo rollercoaster. I wouldnt complain about extra sleep too loudly around here!

I recommend tapering in baby steps, slow and steady you will get there.

JKS

Haha JKS, yeah most people have insomnia so this is super weird. Everyone is different. I had bad insomnia and horrible restless sleep prior to this for a very long time. It's not exactly ok to be sleeping 20 hours a day either. But also, I started sleeping most afternoons anyways before the taper. I'm just all around worn down so I'm going to just go with it. Considering I have the luxury of not working for the time being. The nausea and appetite loss sucks though. I'm going to start micro tapering maybe next week.

I’m not a microtapering fan unless it is needed, particularly with Valium. Your previous cuts were large. No reason to think a 0.5 mg reduction from 15 mg wouldn’t be fine. Was that too many negatives? I mean to say, I cut 0.5 mg at a time around that dose and did well.

JKS

Ok, I've been holding at 14mg for an entire month now and I am just getting sicker and sicker. My nausea and appetite loss are extreme. I am exhausted almost all the time. My sleep patterns are off because I'm so tired all day and I crash and end up waking up at midnight and then I'm up. I think I've lost around 15-20 pounds just in the last couple weeks. I'm using cannabis again, both my doctors really wanted me to for a long time. But I'm just so sick I don't know how much longer I can take it. Even smoking pot I'm still vomiting when it wears off. I don't really know what to do with this taper and I'm regretting crossing over to valium at all. And the back spasms, omg.

 

JKS I think I have to microtaper because I'm too sensitive. I have it all worked out and even the supplies to see if that goes better, but I can't even keep tapering