Need help coming off of lorazepam(Ativan) after only 6 weeks of use

Hello everyone

I’m at my whits end and after a horrific few nights I’ve spent the best part of my day absolutely sobbing in despair, I see no hope, I see no light, and I am devastated.

 

6 weeks ago today I was given lorazepam from a crisis team as I was horrendous and suffering extremely severe thoughts, they wanted me to take 3mg daily but I refused. I started by take 2.5mg a day, and I only did this for 2-3 days

I then cut my dose immediately to 0.5mg 3 times a day and remained at this dose for 2 weeks

I then cut my dose again to 0.5 twice a day and did this for two weeks

I then cut my dose to 0.5 once a day and did this for 8 days, I noticed withdrawal like head pressure, dizziness and brain fog but that was it

After 8 days I then decreased my dose to 0.25mg, the first night wasn’t too bad, I had a bit of anxiety in bed but not horrendous and slept fine

The second night I decided to skip the 0.25mg and that was a bad idea, at 2am I had severe tingling and burning sensations through my head and tongue and arms and hands, I have experienced this during a panic attack before I was even on lorazepam so I couldn’t understand whether the lorazepam caused these symptoms or whether it was just my anxiety going into overdrive as I did go to bed that night worried that not taking my medication would cause seizures or severe withdrawal and was scared , in the end I caved and took 0.25mg like the night before and managed to calm down enough to sleep

Then yesterday was a bad day, I was worrying all day about the tingling and scared of another panic attack, so spent yesterday very anxious all day

At bed time lastnight I took 0.25mg and managed to fall asleep quite comfortably, however I woke up 2 hours later with severe burning sensation in my hands and my heart rate was 160 bpm!! I then started shaking so horrifically that I could barely talk or walk, it was horrendous I’ve never shook so bad in my life! I was confused as to why it happened as I had taken the 0.25mg instead of skipping it. I was so scared and rang my mum at 1am panicking, she told me it was just my anxiety and that I needed to calm down. At this point the burning hand sensation had stopped and I just had a high heart rate and severe shaking

I did deep breathing and actually found my heart rate began coming down and the shakes getting less bad but I still was worried it wasn’t my anxiety and took another 0.25mg as I just didn’t know how I’d get through the night, so I took 0.5 in total lastnight, I’m frustrated because tonight would’ve been my fourth night on 0.25 but I just couldn’t cope lastnight and was utterly petrified

 

I’m now wondering if I’m going to suffer horrendous withdrawal

I’m petrified I will have seizures

I’m scared I’m tapering too quickly even though I’ve only been on it for a short amount of time

 

I even contacted a private rehab centre today who said for £3500 they can admit me for 7 days and have me off of it in that time, but am I being dramatic here? Do I really need to go to rehab after only 6 weeks on lorazepam? Is reducing my 0.5 dose to 0.25 really causing me so much distress?

 

The problem with lorazepam is I’ve done my research and know that it’s hard to get off of due to its short half life and also because doses don’t come small and it’s really hard to dry cut them by only small amounts

 

I do have an appointment with my gp in an hour but I’m extremely scared that there is no hope for me

I don’t want to endure these withdrawals my anxiety cannot take anymore, panic attacks were a huge reason I was prescribed these awful pills in the first place and now they are coming back it’s making me wonder how I’ll cope at all coming off of the lorazepam and stopping it completely

 

I don’t want to be on it anymore and the doctor doesn’t want me on it anymore either

He told me to reduce by half weekly and I was doing that perfectly fine with no issues so why did I have such a hard time reducing by only 0.25?!

I really need some reassurance and guidance 💖

This sounds so similar to me. I get burning sensations in my hands too. Rapid heart rate from sleep and anxiety is way worse. My nights and early mornings are the most rough.

 

I’m down to 0.5mg a day from 3mg and it’s been almost 6 months of weaning.

 

Hope things get better for you

Oh I’m so sorry your going through it too, you’ve been weaning a lot longer than me but it seems we have similar symptoms 😔

 

What are you planning to do about cutting down from 0.5 ?

How are you planning to reduce further? I’m not sure what or how to do it and kind of feel stuck at the moment

 

My doctor wants me to jump down to 0.25 again in a week but I’m hardly coping now so have no clue how I’ll cope decreasing again and by that much 😔

 

Best of luck to you and always more than happy to chat if need be xxx

Hi, it might just be that you have to slow things down, way down, everyone reacts so differently. As much as you want to be "off" it, and believe me, that is what I am also hopeful for myself, it may take some time before that happens and that is ok. Your dosage is not going up.

I’m willing to slow things down if need be but I don’t know how, I don’t know how to reduce my dose safely

When I tried to cut my 1mg of  lorazepam into 1/4 so I’m only taking 0.25 it was starting to crumble

 

Everyone keeps telling me I can’t cut from 0.5 straight to 0.25 because it’s way to quick but how do I achieve more than .25 but less the .5? I just don’t know what or how to do this

 

I’m also petrified of my risk of seizures , I noticed your signature said you was close to having a seizure, everyone on here says seizures are extremely rare and usually happen when you quick cold turkey from a high dose after a long period of time, noticed you’ve been on lorazepam only 1 weeks longer than me and now I’m terrified I may get the same problem 😔 xxx

Hi, don't be afraid, I should really clarify that. I felt week and dizzy and I too had read about the seizure risk , so with the increased anxiety that is how I "felt". In hindsight I do not believe that was what was happening. My own taper going from .50 to .25, looks like this: Over 1 week I did .50 one day and .25 the next. The following week I just did a straight .25, which is where I am at now. I am going to do 2 weeks at .25/day and then try putting in some skip days or some .125 days

Hi, sorry, last thing, it looks like you gave yourself 2 weeks to adjust to the cuts , the exception being the last week. Could that have been an issue?

And really, really the last thing.. When I went to the .25 dosage what I did was have my Dr. prescribe 30 .50 tablets which are easy to snap in half to make a .25, the 1mg tablets are nearly impossible to break evenly. I am going to then next break the .25 in half to make a .125 Good luck to you!

And really, really the last thing.. When I went to the .25 dosage what I did was have my Dr. prescribe 30 .50 tablets which are easy to snap in half to make a .25, the 1mg tablets are nearly impossible to break evenly. I am going to then next break the .25 in half to make a .125 Good luck to you!

 

 

Going from .5 to .25 isn’t too much after only six weeks of use for most people, but if you’re having severe symptoms it’s best IMO to take it slower. Hopefully your doctor will understand this.  I would take Nellcote’s good suggestions on this.