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Tapering Ativan (Anisocoria?)


[IA...]

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Hello everybody!

I recently discovered this forum after looking up symptoms of withdrawal my psychiatrist did not mention to me. I've taken benzos for two extended periods in my life. Once between the ages of 15 and 21 (klonopin everyday) and I managed to quit cold turkey. Recently I was put on ativan after having a terrible reaction to ssri and have been taking 1.5mg everyday for about 8 months and I'm in the process of reducing my dose. I've taken benzos primarily for panic disorder that birthed itself from a bout of costochondritis I had as a teen. I was convinced it was a heart attack and ended up spiraling down the health anxiety rabbit hole. The symptom that's freaking me the heck out are pupils that are different sizes and I only just noticed this a few weeks ago. Is Anisocoria a symptom of withdrawal? When I quit cold turkey a decade ago I had muscle spasms, tremors, headaches, stuttering, insomnia, and mild auditory hallucinations. I guess I'm looking for a bit of reassurance from others going through withdrawal.

Thanks for reading!

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Hello IAmSilky, welcome to BenzoBuddies,

 

I'm sorry to hear you're dealing with benzo's again after successfully getting off of them, but I guess this prepares you a bit for what you're dealing with.  I read a member just the other day talk about their pupils, but it was more a question about them being pinpoints but I'm sure you a thread on the Withdrawal Support (during your taper) board to see if there are others who have experienced this.

 

What does your taper look like, we typically suggest reducing your dose by about 5-10% every week or two to minimize your symptoms, but we have many who go even slower.  Here is a link to our taper boards in case you'd like to see the methods we support.  Planning your taper (Taper Plans)

 

I don't know if you've read  The Ashton Manual but it's a great resource for understanding what benzo's do to us and chapter 3 will list your symptoms.

 

We're glad you're here, please let us know how we can help you.

 

Pamster

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Currently my psychiatrist has me skipping a dose every other day in the morning. So I would take 0.5mg three times a day normally and currently its 0.5mgx2 and 0.5mgx3. I've been doing this for roughly a week and a half. I have the usual symptoms with headaches nearly all day. Lots of muscle tension and I'll shake like a leaf at times. Everytime I wake up with heart palpitations but the CBT I've gone through helps me tremendously with controlling that. I sometimes have emotional outbursts in the form of crying that I haven't had in months. I was extremely depressed and stressed to the point of breaking but thankfully that's behind me now. I'll definitely search around to see if anybody else has dealt with this pupil stuff. I mentioned the Ashton Manual to my psychiatrist but she was adamant about skipping doses as opposed to a gradual taper. I even asked if it would be a good idea to go on a longer lasting benzo and coming off that way but she was against that as well.
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It sounds like you're more knowledgeable about benzo withdrawal than your Dr, I'm sorry to hear she's not receptive to allowing your blood concentration levels a smooth decline.

 

Klonopin has a fairly long half life and I've seen many members taper off of it successfully and I don't see any reason why you can't do this too.

 

I'm so glad CBT is helping you, you seem to have a full toolbox to help you through this.  :thumbsup:

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Thank you! I found a few posts mentioning what I'm going through with the pupils. Booked a visit to the optometrist to check my eyes out to be on the safe side. I'll definitely mention tapering again to the psychiatrist as well!
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