Need some advice on ~3mg Ativan (13 months) taper

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on benzobuddies.

I have been taking Ativan for about 13 months now devided in 3 doses per day.

I started at about 0.5mg morning, 0.5mg afternoon, 0.25mg night.

I started taking this  in conjunction with SSRI's for severe depersonalization disorder (but the SSRI's always made me feel worse so I ended up with just benzo's).

Besides Ativan i'm also taking ~12.5mg seroquel to sleep.

When I first started with Ativan it was like a miracle, I was able to sleep/think/socialize again, but after months went by and upping my dose (current is 1mg morning, 1mg afternoon, 0.5mg night) my dissociation seemed worse. My memory is horrible and i'm even more detached then i ever was before. Also depression is something I only started experiencing ON Ativan.

So its time to taper off this stuff.

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Right now I'm using some sandpaper to cut a bit of the morning and afternoon dose. So far so good (i'm 14 days in, started at newyears day).

First week went really well so I decided to cut off a bit more (approx 5% extra).

The problem I'm having now is that my anxiety (from withdrawel) is increasing my dpdr by alot. I can't seem to get a break at all (usually I'd calm down in the evening but because I'm also cutting down on my afternoon dose i'm just on edge 24/7). I'v already had dpdr for 2 years now and for people who know what dpdr is like, that's hell on its own.

My doc won't put me on a substition benzo (valium) so that's not possible.

Would it be a good idea to first cut down fully on my morning dose? So i can get some rest in the evening on my regular 1mg dose?

Or should I just continue cutting down on all 3 doses at once? I think cutting all doses down simultaneously would speed up the total process of full recovery, but it will be harder right?

Hope to hear from someone.

Would it be a good idea to first cut down fully on my morning dose? So i can get some rest in the evening on my regular 1mg dose?

Or should I just continue cutting down on all 3 doses at once? I think cutting all doses down simultaneously would speed up the total process of full recovery, but it will be harder right?

Hi fromhollandwithlove,

Let me address the bold statement above.  There is nothing which will speed up our recovery, it only happens with time, because it takes time for your brain to repair the damage the drug has caused.  So, you should design your taper to accommodate your needs as best you can.  If you need the extra help in the evening, then you should work your taper to give that to you.

Please do not cut an extra 5% off your dose if you're feeling okay, for now, you should keep to a regular dosing schedule.  You may think you're doing fine, but when the symptoms sneak up on you, you'll wish you'd stuck to your taper plan.  We don't want to see you up your dose if things get too rough, a slow, steady reduction is best, you need to remain fucntional.

Since you already have issues with depersonalization, my recommendation is to go very slow because withdrawing from benzo's give us that, and since you already have it, why invite more pain by rushing this?

You mention you're shaving your doses with sandpaper, how are you measuring them, are you being as accurate in your dosing as you can?

Pamster

Thanks for replying Pamster!

Boy, I was wrong cutting of an additional 5-10%. Also because I took 5-10% off the total tablet (1mg), while I should have cutted off 5-10% of the current dose (which would have been around 0.9mg). The symptoms got worse after 3 days so now I'm back on the initial 10% I took off the tablet and now I'm stable again. I didn't know the withdrawel symtoms took like 3 days to really hit me (extreme fatigue and confusion).

I'm gonna wait with furthering reduction untill I have a bought a decent scale to be more precise.

For now I'll just try to cut down on my morning dose first, so I can get some rest in the evening and be able to workout/do yoga etc.

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Btw, if I manage to cut down my morning dose to say 0.5mg, would it then be a good idea to also start cutting down on evening dose? Or should I taper my morning dose to 0 first? To me it seems that I would have interdose withdrawel if I would just cut out 1 dose at a time. I don't understand how some people can take Ativan only once or twice a day for anxiety because it only lasts for 6-8 hours for me. How does that work? Why do these people don't have interdose withdrawels?

I'm sorry you had to learn the hard way, but it's a powerful teacher isn't it?  It's good you've stabilized and purchasing a scale is a good plan, here is a video on how to use it if you need it. 

I've heard many Ativan users complain about the short half life, so you're not alone in feeling awful in between doses.  I believe most folks taper their doses evenly, with Ativan it doesn't make sense to cut out a whole dose, but I think you would benefit from speaking to some of our members about this.  There is a Ativan Tapering Thread you can jump into and others with experience will respond to your questions, might as well go to the 'experts', right?