Switch from Lunesta and Lorazepam to Temazepam

[[Buddie]]

I am on 6 mg of Lunesta and 2 mg of Lorazepam. A sleep doctor wants to switch me to 30 mg of Temazepam. I take 3 mg of Lunesta and 1 mg of Lorazepam at bedtime and the same when I wake up in the middle of the night. He wants me to take 15 mg of Temazepam at bedtime and 15 mg when I wake up in the middle of the night. Any chance of this switch working. I don’t know the equivalents. Eventually I will have to find another doctor because he is not open to trying to help me get off the meds completely. But my PC doctor is very concerned about me getting off the high dose of Lunesta so for now I am hoping this switch will work. Thanks in advance.

[[Buddie]]

Hi Catlady, there are equivalency tables in the Ashton Manual. Hope they help you to figure it out.
[...].

[[Buddie]]

Some members struggle with getting off Temazepam because they are on capsules which are difficult to taper.  Should you decide to make the switch, you might want to see how the Temazepam is formulated in your country.

Here is a link to our equivalency table:

Benzodiazepine Equivalency Table

Is is your goal to get off benzos and sleep meds?  Ultimately, most of us have to deal with at least some insomnia when getting off benzos and sleep meds.  You may be able to postpone this problem for a while by making a med switch instead of tapering off but at some point, if you want to be free of these drugs, you will have to face it.

[[Buddie]]

Thanks for responding. My goal is to get off both the Lunesta and the Lorazepam. I did find a doctor that is willing to work with me to get off both meds. She prescribed 15 mg of Valium and will see me in two days to see how much sleep I get on that amount. If I get enough sleep I will taper from that. My worry is that I actually would need 40 mg of Valium based on the dosage of Lunesta and Lorazepam I am taking if I calculated it correctly from the Ashton Manuel. I don’t know what she will do if I don’t get enough sleep on the 15mg. Just hoping the 15 mg will work.

[[Buddie]]

Let us know how you get on. Hope you do get some sleep.
[...].

[[Buddie]]

Thanks [...], The mg of Valium the doc prescribed didn’t work at all and gave me the worst headache I’ve ever had. I ended up taking my regular dose of meds. Now I’m am trying to do a taper with the meds I have. So I am cutting the Lunesta 10% every 14 days. I have 15 mg capsules of Temazepam and am opening them and titrating them in water at the same rate. Just started this so don’t know if it will work. I’ve seen two doctors and they just essentially want me to get off the meds as soon as possible and don’t seem concerned about my sleep at all. I’m curious if anyone else is opening the Temazepam capsules so will start a new post to see if anyone else is doing that. Thanks again for your interest.

[[Buddie]]

Oh my, I am so sorry you didn't have any success with Valium Catlady.  This process can be so frustrating!  If you don't get any replies about tapering temazepam, you can use the search feature to find old threads:

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?action=search

[[Buddie]]

I only took 15 mg of Temazepam a night and became dependent by my 14th day.  In month 10 of my recovery.  Temazepam is very problematic.  I wish I would never even taken one!