Increased anxiety during c/o?

I am in my first week of c/o from lorazepam to diazepam. Each day my anxiety seems to be increasing. Is this normal or is my c/o dose possibly to small? I wasn’t expecting it to be completely smooth but my anxiety is worse and more often than when I was just on lorazepam. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hi CTB Free,

 

I'm sorry the c/o isn't going smoothly.  For some of us, it doesn't.  I attempted a brief c/o to diazepam from lorazepam too, but after 2 days the sedating effects were too much.  I then went back to lorazepam and completed a direct taper a few weeks ago.

 

Is there a reason you're not tapering directly from lorazepam?

 

xo,

sierra 

Hi Sierra,

 

CONGRATULATIONS!!! It’s so encouraging to hear of people reaching the end of their tapering journey!

 

My taper from lorazepam was bearable but for some reason my doctor told me to work on cutting one of my 4 doses when I started my taper. Not knowing any better at the time I did what she said. As soon as I cut out that 4th dose I started having increased anxiety. I thought maybe spreading out my dosage times would help so I spread them out all at once. Second BIG mistake! I was having terrible IDW with the 3 doses spread out. My doctor suggested switching to diazepam. I’m wondering if I should have just stuck with the lorazepam and tried to break it back into 4 doses? Right now I am working from 3 doses of .5mg lorazepam. I know we are all different, but could you suggest how I might accomplish that? Just changing the times of my dosages so suddenly had me pretty much out of commission for 2 weeks. I would much rather just taper from lorazepam if I can get it worked out without the IDW!

 

Thank you!

Committed

 

 

Hi Committed!

 

I think you answered your own question! 

 

In my experience, many doctors haven't a clue as to the pharmacokinetics of specific benzos.  However, you got it right - you're experiencing IDW.  Lorazepam's duration of action is about 6 hours.  That's why it's a good idea to dose 4 times a day.  Your doctor taking away one of your four doses explains the increased anxiety - it's IDW! 

 

You can see from my signature, I dosed 4x/day throughout my taper.  Each reduction I made was spread amongst all doses pretty equally (my bedtime dose was always a bit more than the others) .  This may be a good way for you to continue your taper - go back to dosing 4x/day and your anxiety will probably lessen.

 

The other benefit of tapering directly from lorazepam is it's a short acting benzo with no active metabolites.  That means, within a few days of changing your dose, you'll feel those effects.  So, within a few days of you going back to dosing 4x/day, if the anxiety lessens, IDW was the culprit. From your description, sounds like that's a pretty sure bet.

 

Once you're more stable dosing lorazepam 4x/day and drop the diazepam entirely, you can start tapering again. 

 

There's also a dedicated Ativan Support Group.  We'd love to have you join us:  http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=44903.7670

 

Hope that helps you get some much needed relief!

 

xo,

sierra 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much Sierra!! I really appreciate the advice and support. Loooking forward to getting this ironed out so I can get back to tapering!

 

Congratulations again on completing you taper!!!

 

Committed 

So...one point to keep in mind is that all of these drugs have different effects on anxiety. Valium is a bit "smoother" than fast-acting benzos, in terms of controlling anxiety, meaning that it often takes time to build up and doesn't always work immediately, like Xanax, Ativan, or even Klonopin. A lot of people complain, for example, that initially, Valium just makes them sleepy, but does almost nothing for anxiety.  Sometimes this dissipates, sometimes not. If it doesn't, then you might consider microtapering directly from Ativan.