Newbie planning to start tapering Lorazepam tomorrow

I've just posted an intro and got directed over here, so that I could check that I'm on the right lines.

 

Tapering down from 2mg Lorazepam, after about 5 weeks use.  I'm going to start with my mid-afternoon dose, since I keep almost forgetting that one.  Planning on starting by reducing the .5mg pill down by a quarter (which is around 6% of my total dosage) using a pill cutter - how long do you think between tapers?  Could I go faster than 7-10 days or could I try halving the 1st pill instead, which gives me a 12% reduction?

 

Any advice welcome - this is my first (and hopefully last) time using benzos, although I've withdrawn from SSRIs, including Seroxat which is a hard one, in the past.

Hi and welcome to BenzoBuddies. Glad you’re here for support.

 

After five weeks of use and since this is your first use, you might want to consider tapering faster so as not to prolong the benzodiazepine use, therefore increasing a risk of dependency.

 

It may be prudent to cut a small bit like you’re planning to do with the first cut just for confidence, I might then try cutting that amount each day rather than waiting days to cut again.  I haven’t done the math, but short use like 5 weeks usually indicates a relatively fast taper that doesn’t last longer than the length of use...so not more than five weeks of tapering. IMO even five weeks is too long of a taper.

 

But wait to see what others think...just make sure they understand you’ve only been on for 5 weeks and this is your first use. If it was a repeated use there’s more anecdotal evidence that a slower taper is advised.

 

Just my two cents.

Thanks Challis99, that's really helpful.  I like the idea of cutting the small amount off every day and I'll see how it goes.  Doc's plan was for a month, which I thought was a bit ambitious, but maybe not, since I've only been on it for such a short time.

Since you understand withdrawal symptoms from your experience with Seroxat you know what to watch for.  Great suggestions from Challis by the way.