Low dose on Lorazepam, severe withdrawal

I was on 1mg Lorazepam about two months to help me with insomnia, tried tap down too quickly only 1 month.

 

I was on the lowest dose (1mg lorazepam = 5mg Diazepam) and no tapering was necessary, because the last dose in the Ashton manual is 10mg diazepam. I had severe anxiety, weak tremor, numbness in the body and increased tinnitus due withdrawal.

 

Now I three months after withdrawal and restarted to take 0.5mg to reduce the tinnitus to level what it was before benzo, I even thinking go back to 1mg lorazepam or 5mg diazepam. I want to take it months and then slow tapering.

 

What will be the best withdrawal schedule for me?

 

Sorry for my English.

 

 

 

Hi David. 1mg Lorazepam is the same as 10mg diazepam. I wonder if you came off it too quickly, remembering that this is true?

When you were on diazepam before, I saw that you were taking another drug with it. Perhaps you might be okay on diazepam alone. That could mean going back to 10mg diazepam. How would you feel about that? Would your doctor let you change over?

Now I have answered your question, it will go to the top of the board. I hope that means that other people will tell you what they think.

Good Luck!

The last dose on the Ashton method is 1mg Diazepam, not 10mg. And even 1mg is too big of a jump for most people. You would probably benefit greatly from slowing down!

(1mg of Diazepam is 1/10mg of Lorazepam)

I've come to the conclusion that a "therapeutic" dose of any of these benzos is not a low dose. Any dose of a benzo in a tablet form can make you dependent and eventually cause you withdrawal.

 

I have a friend who told me that he can take klonopin a couple of times a day with no problem. Maybe he isn't experiencing withdrawal yet or maybe he is I don't know. But one thing I said to him was try not taking it for a couple of days and then come back and talk to me. He's been on a long time and I bet he'll feel it really bad if he stops.

Thanks Gilly and Kitty, you are right. Before I argued with my doctor that I found in internet that 1mg lorazepam = 10mg diazepam, but she convinced me that 1mg lorazepam = 5mg diazepam, so she must be really wrong.

 

I missed the continue Schedule 3 in the Ashton manual, so now I suppose that I have to take diazepam only at night and reduce 1mg every two weeks?

 

Another question, is clonazepam more likely to diazepam than lorazepam? I asking because in contrast to lorazepam, when I was on clonazepam, I felt strange dizziness when I slept and on day 7 I awoke up with tinnitus, I think it was because longer half time.

When you were on diazepam before, I saw that you were taking another drug with it. Perhaps you might be okay on diazepam alone. That could mean going back to 10mg diazepam. How would you feel about that? Would your doctor let you change over?

I felt very bad when I was on diazepam + another drug, I fainted all day and I do not know if it was because diazepam  or another poison.

Hi David,

1mg Clonozapam is roughly 20mgs of Diazepam, so it is much stronger. I have no idea why most doctors do not take this seriously, maybe because many people don't have a problem withdrawing from benzos, but obviously a LOT of people do. Cutting 1mg of Diazepam every two weeks is a good place to start, and once you get a bit lower you might find that making smaller cuts (.5 or .25mg) might be easier on your system. Everyone is so different so you kind of have to go by trial and error, unfortunately. Ashton is a good place to start but even her method is too fast for some people. I started out cutting 1mg every 2 weeks and then when I got to 5mg I started cutting .5mg every 2 weeks (or so) and when I got down to 2mg I had to cut .25 every 2 weeks. I wish you great success!

OliveKitty,

 

Who are these people who don't have a problem withdrawing from benzos?  I doubt they exist.

Warrior, I know one who took 1mg lorazepam a whole month and her withdrawal was low mood only 3-4 days. But she is very optimistic person.

My bf had the same thing happen before we met, he took Lorazepam 1 mg for a month and then when he tried to stop he got really bad anxiety, so he tapered over about a week and had a little anxiety for a month or so but nothing awful.

My bf had the same thing happen before we met, he took Lorazepam 1 mg for a month and then when he tried to stop he got really bad anxiety, so he tapered over about a week and had a little anxiety for a month or so but nothing awful.

 

A month is a short time.  I would like to see how many people had an easy time taking daily for 6 months or longer.

Agreed. I think it's impossible.

I was on 1mg ativan almost daily for about 4-5 months. I think I was dependent super early and didn't realize what the withdrawals were doing, just thought it was my ptsd, until I started taking it regularly a couple weeks and felt 'stable' and when I tried a 25% taper all hell broke loose. So yeah, I think a month is probably much easier but that's not true for everyone. I'm even struggling terribly just trying to cross over to valium for a taper later on (thought I think 15mg might be my proper dose now for just 1mg ativan). Ativan is terrible, I never had this problem when I was on valium for occasional anxiety attacks. Dependency never happened then and I could take it and stop whenever. With the Ativan, I believe the short action of the drug got me to take it nearly every day actually making my PTSD much worse, and so dependence happened very quickly. 

I'm sorry Diana, that totally sucks. You found the right website for help and support though!

I'm about 20 days on 0.5mg lorazepam and since then I have headaches and vivid dreams(is this a common side effect?).

I have to get out of this poison, but what keeps me is tinnitus.

Yesterday I begun switching between Lorazepam to Diazepam, I took 0.4mg Lorazepam + 1mg Diazepam and it was fine.

Now today I wanted to took 0.3mg Lorazepam + 2mg Diazepam, so I started first with 2mg Diazepam and half hour after I feel heavy and foggy.

Diazepam affects me too heavily.

 

The question, is it possible to tap with Lorazepam? For example, instead of taking 0.5mg Lorazepam at night, can I take it 0.25mg in morning and 0.25 at night, then 0.20mg in morning and 0.20 at night and etc...?

Hey David, there are lots of people who taper from Lorazepam.. I would pose your question on a new thread, I'm sure you can find some answers out there but this thread might not be seen by many. Sorry I can't help bc I'm tapering from Valium.

Yesterday I begun switching between Lorazepam to Diazepam, I took 0.4mg Lorazepam + 1mg Diazepam and it was fine.

Now today I wanted to took 0.3mg Lorazepam + 2mg Diazepam, so I started first with 2mg Diazepam and half hour after I feel heavy and foggy.

Diazepam affects me too heavily.

 

The question, is it possible to tap with Lorazepam? For example, instead of taking 0.5mg Lorazepam at night, can I take it 0.25mg in morning and 0.25 at night, then 0.20mg in morning and 0.20 at night and etc...?

 

Yes, you can taper directly off lorazepam, I, and many others have done this. You will need a way to reduce your dose in small fractions, dry cutting pills is difficult (e.g. going from 0.25 mg to 0.20 mg per dose). Head over to the Tapering Ativan thread, there are 1000s of posts delving into this topic. Good luck!

 

laser

Thanks Kitty and Laserjet3051.