Tapering off Ativan Support Thread

I wish I could tell you that I’m out of the woods, marwegs, but that Bactrim really put the hurt on me. I don’t think I’ll know the full extent of it until I’m off of the amoxicillin this Friday, as I’m having side effects from that as well. I am struggling to remain positive and optimistic today. I’ve been stable and just about symptom free in taper for two months - the timing of this setback feels so cruel. I fully intended to throw my scale into the ocean this week and walk softly away. Instead, I’m back home earlier than planned, holding my dose, and begging my body to be done with the infection by Friday so I don’t have to play with another antibiotic.

 

Better days ahead, I hope.

 

Beauty

 

I’m so sorry, Beauty... these infections are so hard to fight. Praying for complete healing so you can finish what you’ve started.... You will get there

Kry, I too have felt emotional blunting.. it will return... give it time. In spite of what these Benzos have done to us, our bodies have incredible healing capabilities... you will heal, I know it!

Hi all,

 

I meditate daily using the 10% Happier app. I found this podcast regarding insomnia. The speaker is an expert in CBT-I, which I went through (it helped tremendously) and I have mentioned several times here. Take a listen and see if you get anything out of it.

 

LD

 

https://radiopublic.com/ten-percent-happier-with-dan-harr-WwE9m8/s1!ac0b2

Hi all,

 

I meditate daily using the 10% Happier app. I found this podcast regarding insomnia. The speaker is an expert in CBT-I, which I went through (it helped tremendously) and I have mentioned several times here. Take a listen and see if you get anything out of it.

 

LD

 

https://radiopublic.com/ten-percent-happier-with-dan-harr-WwE9m8/s1!ac0b2

 

LD,

 

I read the book 10% happier.  Thanks for the link about insomnia, it's one of my consistent wd sx.  I will definitely give it a try. G

Hello all... thinking and praying for you all...

 

Wanted to share... thinking about you all...

 

Kry, you are almost there!

 

Haimona, how’s the anxiety?

 

Beauty? Feeling better?

 

JuJuBi... how are you holding up?

 

Much love...

 

Thanks so much for checking in, Marwegs! Today and yesterday were a tiny bit better on the anxiety front, although the insomnia has continued to be horrible.  But I'm still tapering, slowly.  The finish line seems a million miles away, but at least I am making progress.  Tortuous, excruciating progress, but progress nonetheless.  Hang in there, buddies! 

 

Haimona

Does anyone have any insight about switching from sublingual Ativan to either a homemade liquid titration using the solid pills, or compounded liquid? I am assuming that those of you who switched to liquid titration weren’t using sublingual pills to begin with? I know that don’t work the same if swallowed, and I am nervous to switch to a different way of metabolizing.

I would love to do dry taper until the end but wondering how on earth I’m going to weigh those tiny crumbs....

Any advice would be so appreciated!

Marwegs,

 

Thanks for asking how I am doing. I am doing well with my tiny reductions and seem to be staying stable.

 

I do not have any experience with sublingual. I do understand questioning the delivery method.  I definitely questioned it when going from swallowed pill to compound liquid.  You might see if you can find a compound pharmacy with a pharmacist willing to answer your questions and if they have suggestions. I know when I switched from tablets that you swallow to a compounded liquid the pharmacist did say the delivery would likely be faster than with swallowed pills and I would likely get more of the drug. She suggested I drop my dosage from .84 to .80 that first day I did and it was fine.  A good Pharmacist is so much more knowledgeable about these drugs than doctors. And great if you can find a good one. I have heard some say they thought the liquid was weaker. I did not find that to be the case but we are all different. 

 

I did search and did not find much on BB but this link below. You might also try posting your question on the Withdrawal support thread and see if anyone has any insight on sublingual to liquid titration.

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=197242.msg2571083#msg2571083

 

JuJuBi

JuJuBi I’m so glad to hear you’re doing better!

 

I think I let my guard down because I was starting to feel like myself, and then got hit by a major wave yesterday and am trying to recover. I am going to hold, as you taught me, until I feel better.

 

I am feeling very discouraged, but trying to remember that this drug will do that...  trying to focus on the hope of the future and take this one day at a time.

 

Be well everyone...

Hi buddies,

  I’m having an increasingly difficult time over here. I feel like the reaction I had last week has sent me into something like acute after two months of mild to non-existent symptoms in taper. I’m holding at .025 still, but I do feel like it’s about time to make a move. I don’t mind a long hold, but at this dose, I’m not sure of the value in it. Of course, I’m struggling with accepting all of this...the cruelty of the timing is just beyond my comprehension. The cruelty of benzos (for so many of us) will always be beyond my comprehension.

  I’d love to hear any thoughts - it won’t be construed as advice - just need some ideas from my buddies on where to go from here.

 

Beauty

Finally I started to taper today. As I stated in my introductory post I planned to dry cut taper, but since my scale is still on the road, I changed my mind and decided for a wet solution in order not to loose time any more. I am 68 y and you ll understand. After so much reading about benzos, so many articles, posts, personal stories etc I decided that I have to stop with it and act.Wish me good luck

Marwegs, I don’t have personal experience with that, but a close friend went from sublingual to water titration to begin her taper. Her experience was that both factors (changing from sublingual to regular and from pills to water) operate like a cut. If you decide to switch, allow yourself time for the crossovers so you can stabilize well. I held a week when I switched to water, and that proved to be enough for me. Good luck to you! 💕

 

Beauty

Good luck, Phoenix! We’re here for you!

Hello tapering friends,

 

Welcome phoenix52-Glad you made the decision to continue your taper to get off Lorazepam. This is a small but very supportive group and glad you are here.

 

Beauty-I am so sorry you are going through this, especially so close to walking off. What these drugs do is cruel.  Ashton mentions that after .005 the drug doesn’t do much so you may be right in that. Let us know what you decide. We are here to support you. You are in thoughts and prayers.

 

Marwegs-I can relate to being hit with a wave after days of feeling good.  I think you are wise in letting things settle.  You know I am on the slow and steady team.

 

KRY-Today is Benzo free day. Congratulations! I know that is a big relief. Now it is just the healing in your future.

 

 

I hope everyone else is doing well.  I have made it down to .5 today. That means I am at 1/3 of where I started down by 67%!  I have slowed things down considerably and so far that has been the right decision for me. It is hard to resist the temptation to speed up and just get off this stuff.  I am reminded by my support circle often that this is not a race but a journey with an end goal to get off Lorazepam and if possible on the first taper while preserving my psyche, CNS and sanity. I have removed my timeline and goals in between. There is one goal for me and that is to get off and preserve living life as much as I can while doing it. If my body tells me I can speed up then I will. If it tells me to go even slower than I will. But for now I am happy to be the turtle in this race. Since going on the liquid and daily small reductions, symptoms have slowly faded. I am very close to taking my dose as Luey says  "like brushing my teeth." 

 

Wishing you all success and good days. 

JuJuBi

 

JuJuBi-

thanks so much for your support and happy to see you reached .5  you are very smart in the way you are handling your tapper..  today is day 1 of my new Benzo free journey.  I will stay in touch and let everyone know how I am doing

 

God Bless you all

Good morning everyone, I am slowly continuing my taper down to .312 from .375.  Doing it slowly this way is still challenging, but better than when I made .25 reductions all at once, as I did in the past.  Sleep, anxiety, dizziness, and cog fog/memory issues remain my biggest problems.  But it's Sunday, and we are here to support each other, and that helps.

 

Much love to all the buddies.

 

Haimona

Happy Sunday Buddies,

 

Welcome, Phoenix! You are in the right place, everyone here has been so lovely and supportive. Good luck as you begin your taper.

 

Kry - so so happy for you... your story is almost identical to mine, and gives me hope for my own journey.... I have been so discouraged these past three days, as I hit a wave, but will press on. Your body will heal - it was designed to. Keep us posted!

 

Beauty - I am so sad to hear that you feel stuck at this last part of the tapering... Follow your gut about when to walk off... I am praying for discernment for you. Thanks for sharing about your friend's shift to liquid. I anticipate the shift will be like a cut, which I am scared of. I did find a thread on here where someone had tested water titrating into a much smaller amount of water (because sublinguals dissolve nicely) and simply putting the dose under the tongue as you would a pill.... I may try to see if it works, once I get lower in my dosage.

 

JuJuBi - I am so encouraged this morning to read that you are making such great progress, and with so little symptoms. I am hoping that I will hit a similar stride soon enough. I think I am going a bit too fast, and am going to slow a bit. These big dips aren't worth it... but I do feel pressure to get off quickly, as I was on them for such a short time. I have been really weepy and feeling quite hopeless  these past couple of days, wondering how the heck I am going to get through this.

 

Haimona - This is hard, but we are in it together. I am struggling in a wave right now too, after feeling relief in a bit of a window. I just know we will get there.

 

Hugs to you all 

Hello Everyone,

 

I logged on to respond to a private message and thought I'd stop by.  I'm still feeling good and enjoying life two weeks post taper.

 

Beauty, again so sorry to hear about your reaction to the antibiotics.  I can relate;  one time I took Cipro and it made me feel terrible!  If it was me, I would stop taking the small dose of .025mg.  I think its too small of an amount to have any effect.  Unfortunately you still might be recovering from the antibiotic set back for a while.  I firmly believe you are going to recover and feel better starting soon.

 

Phoenix, The people in this group know I have a strong bias towards daily liquid micro tapering (DLMT) as the most accurate way to micro-taper and minimize withdrawal symptoms.  I just successfully tapered from 6mg. to zero in 19 months.  I suffered doing dry cuts until I slowed down and switched to DLMT.  Here' a computer app. designed from a Swiss BB Jim Hawk.  His ReadMeFirst section gives the best overview I've seen of micro-tapering.  If you decide to do DLMT, I can give you a simple formula for doing your own calculations.  Maybe send me a pm and let me know to post here as I am on BB much less now.

 

http://benzo.alwaysdata.net/

 

Good wishes to all!

 

Luey

Thanks, Juju, Luey, and Marwegs. I decided to cut to .02 today, and then I will go to .015, .01, and then be done. I know that this dose isn’t doing much of anything for me, but the sensitized CNS from the antibiotic is reacting to absolutely everything. This is entirely new for me, so I’m just dipping my toe back in the water...and praying the infection doesn’t come back. 🙏🏻

 

Hope and healing to all..

 

Beauty

Im praying for you Beauty

Thank you, kry. It’s been a really rough few weeks, but I’m doing a little better each day.

I say when we are all 100% healed.. we pick a location and all meet up for a celebration..  Something needs to be done about doctors mis-using this drug

Count me in!!!

awesome..  who else in in..

 

here is my interview I did with Geraldine Burns in mid June of this year..  she is wonderful

 

I'm in!

Count me in!

 

Kry, listened to your interview.... it’s astonishing how similar our stories are, including loss of my parents and the incredible increase of work after Covid (I’m a graphic designer and run a communications department, so understand how your vocation like mine increased the pressures of our online presence!)

 

Praying that we all experience great healing.