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Bill’s Ativan taper


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My name is Bill.  I’m joining for support while tapering off Ativan. I was on 1 mg for 6 weeks while adjusting to Lexapro.  Started direct taper last week at 0.75 mg. Went to 0.5 mg Saturday through this week.  Main issues right now are weakness to the point I cant walk very far or exert myself, chest pain, and some anxiety at times.  I may try to continue 25% each week, looking for any advice on that
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Welcome to BenzoBuddies!  We are glad you decided to join us.  You'll find a lot of support and information on this forum, which is the only one of its kind online.  25% a week is a rather fast taper, you might consider slowing it a little if your symptoms are too strong.

 

For those starting a taper, we generally recommend starting out at a rate of 5 to 10% every 10-14 days, then adjusting the taper to suit your own needs.  Note: very short term users may be able to taper faster.

 

Withdrawal symptoms, which vary widely but commonly include anxiety and insomnia, often occur during a taper, but these are temporary and will get better in time.  In general, first tapers are easier, but cold turkeys or multiple withdrawals may be more severe and longer lasting.  Here are a few links to get you started:

 

The Ashton Manual, a concise reference for tapering and symptom issues.

 

Withdrawal Support (during your taper)

 

Once again, welcome!

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Hi Bill

  I am also tapering .75mg of Ativan by liquid taper after many years of taking it for sleep. The way to go from all I have read is very slowly. A fast taper is

much more likely to cause withdrawal and lots of issues. Just my two cents . Keep reading and you will learn a lot as I have. Once you have assembled the tools the liquid taper is easier and more accurate. There is help here on how to do it if you need it .

Good luck.

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Thank you Fridaygirl.  I’ve already discovered after 3 days it WAS too fast.  I was also only taking 2 Ativan doses a day and the ups and downs in a day were too much.  It would suddenly hit me with confusion and anxiety.  I got lost in a Target store!  I went to 3 doses and back up a bit and doing much better.  I have been reading on here and I’m also planning to do a liquid taper at a slower pace when I get the right equipment.  A couple more days now on 0.75 then stepping down 10%.

 

Keep me posted on your progress!

 

Bill

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Hi Fridaygirl,

 

Yes could you send me?  I would be interested what it looks like.  I have my own idea but I may want to modify.

 

Thank you!

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Here you go.......thanks to builder!!

 

Lorazepam is not water-soluble, and is poorly lipid (fat) soluble (so milk won't work), so your solvent  options are vodka (alcohol) or propylene glycol.  Either will work.  And the amounts of solvent are so tiny that you really don't even need to worry about the effects of the solvent.  For example, if you use vodka, the maximum amount you would ever need is 1.5mls.  That's .05 (5/100ths) of an ounce.  Your total consumption for a month wouldn't be enough to make standard cocktail/highball.  But PG will work just as well.

 

Combine 8mgs + 16mls vodka or PG + 64mls water.  This gives you 80mls dilute solution, .1mg per ml.  This will be approx a 10-12 day supply.  Store in a covered glass jar at room temp.

 

Let's try a 10% per 15 day schedule.

 

.75mgX 10% = .075mg

.075mg/15 days = .005mg/day reduction

 

So your daily dose schedule will be:

 

.75mg                7.5ml

.745mg              7.45ml

.740mg              7.40ml

.735mg              7.35ml

etc........

 

You just lower your dose by .05mls (.005mg) each day.

 

The easiest way to do 3 doses is just pull up the whole day's dose, and divided it into 3 seperate mini-doses.  Once you have pulled up the whole dose, put it in a measuring cup, and top it up to one full cup.  The just take 1/3 cup for each dose.

 

You will need a 1ml and a 10ml oral syringe, and a re-purposed glass jar (I used pickle/olive/salad dressing, etc jars.

 

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Thank you Fridaygirl.  Is this the rate you are using?  Looks like 6.7% a week.  I’d like to go a little faster but this may be a good place to start.  I’m not worried about the vodka, it should be fine.
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not good at math but yes this is the taper I am following. Getting about six hours sleep at best. A bit groggy today and mild headaches some mornings.

Manageable.

 

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I found out my stable dose is about 0.875 mg so I’ve stabilized there for 4 days and feel pretty good, taking three doses a day, 7 am, 1230 pm, and 530 pm.  Trying a faster taper was really rough, don’t want to repeat that.

 

Today was my first day of taper at 0.875mg using liquid taper.  It worked really well the first day and I feel good on the liquid version.  I decided to follow a 10% per 10 day taper rate, so tomorrow’s dose is 1% down.  And so we begin.

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