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Bad Headaches and Shaking from Ativan taper to Valium withdraw.


[Je...]

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I would appreciate knowing where I can find the solution for the

painful headaches, dizziness,and shaking, associated with the Ativan

taper to Valium complete withdraw symptoms of a 85 year old elderly

woman?

Also how would she re-instate from a two week complete Valium withdraw

to cure the painful headaches.

 

Thank You

Jenny1

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Hi Jenny1,

 

Does this 85 year old elderly woman have a doctor who has tapered her? Do you know how long she was on Ativan, when she crossed to Valium and what mg she was on.

 

It's very hard to say how much Valium she would reinstate to since we don't know what she was on.

 

I'm sorry to hear about this. Often times it's difficult for elderly people to come off of a benzo if they've been on one for a while.

 

Have you gotten a second opinion from another doctor?

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I am responsible for the tapering.

Her doctor is a nut case who had her taking

Ativan - 1mg x 4 plus Serax - 7.5mg x 2 per day which is 15mg of Benzo's per day.

If I didn't find out about Benzo's she would not be alive today.

I used the Ashton Manual Schedule 3 as a 24 week switch to Valium and taper.

The Valium 1mg per week during the last weeks seems to have been to soon of a taper.

Don't know the exact length of time shes been on both Benzo's but  she been

taking 1 mg of Ativan more than 5 years for sure.

Currently she's been taking 1 mg of Valium for five days to try and ease the headaches.

We do not have access to multiple doctors where We live.

She is stuck with the doctor she has and he doesn't have a clue.

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I am responsible for the tapering.

Her doctor is a nut case who had her taking

Ativan - 1mg x 4 plus Serax - 7.5mg x 2 per day which is 15mg of Benzo's per day.

If I didn't find out about Benzo's she would not be alive today.

I used the Ashton Manual Schedule 3 as a 24 week switch to Valium and taper.

The Valium 1mg per week during the last weeks seems to have been to soon of a taper.

Don't know the exact length of time shes been on both Benzo's but  she been

taking 1 mg of Ativan more than 5 years for sure.

Currently she's been taking 1 mg of Valium for five days to try and ease the headaches.

We do not have access to multiple doctors where We live.

She is stuck with the doctor she has and he doesn't have a clue.

 

Hi Jenny1,

 

If I understand you right she was on 4mg of Ativan daily?

 

And 15mg of Serax daily?

 

Benzodiazepines have different strengths and action of duration. It sounds like this has been too fast of a taper.

 

The Ashton Manual is meant as a guideline. As everyone is individual, it's important for the patient to listen to their body and have some input on the speed of their taper and to work in conjunction with a medical professional.

 

Benzos can affect elderly patients more intensely because older patients don't metabolize medications as quickly as younger patients.

 

If it were me, I would seek medical attention to help her stabilize. If you can't find a doctor or medical professional in your area, I would call your closest government health agency and ask them where you can seek care for her.

 

------------------------------

 

As far as the comment in your next post, 'Great place to get help', there was a three day interval from your first post to the next. Members here may have been waiting for a response from you, as no one could offer their opinion without knowing any particulars. This forum is busy. When there are no postings a thread moves down the board based on most recent postings. I'm sorry no one replied to your second post. Since this is a busy forum your second post was probably 3 pages down in order of postings. To be straight forward--all the team members here are volunteers and many work full-time jobs. We are not medical professionals, we are a support forum.

 

I'm very sorry she's going through this.

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I am responsible for the tapering.

Her doctor is a nut case who had her taking

Ativan - 1mg x 4 plus Serax - 7.5mg x 2 per day which is 15mg of Benzo's per day.

If I didn't find out about Benzo's she would not be alive today.

I used the Ashton Manual Schedule 3 as a 24 week switch to Valium and taper.

The Valium 1mg per week during the last weeks seems to have been to soon of a taper.

Don't know the exact length of time shes been on both Benzo's but  she been

taking 1 mg of Ativan more than 5 years for sure.

Currently she's been taking 1 mg of Valium for five days to try and ease the headaches.

We do not have access to multiple doctors where We live.

She is stuck with the doctor she has and he doesn't have a clue.

 

Ultimately you need to do what the doctor says, but is there a pressing reason to be taking her off?

 

If she's having bad withdrawal symptoms it seems pretty harsh to put a woman of her age through withdrawal, not that everyone suffers but it can be rough to withdrawal.

 

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I have to agree with Starbird. This seems harsh and I'm not comfortable with you taking charge of her taper without medical supervision. The elderly taper differently that younger people do. This could end up being a difficult and potentially dangerous situation that you are not equipped with deal with. You need to seriously consider the implications of this.

 

Many doctors wouldn't put such an elderly women through a taper. I'm wondering why you are.

 

Please seek the help of a medical professional as Nicolette suggested, may I suggest, as soon as possible.

 

 

Edit: typo

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

"Many doctors wouldn't put such an elderly women through a taper. I'm wondering why you are."

 

This is a case of an elderly woman being over medicated by her doctor and her pharmacist, both of them either do not know what they are doing or they just do not care. This is abuse of an elderly. The more Benzo's she took the more she fell down. If an elderly falls and breaks a hip, the chance of surviving a hip replacement is not good. Also the other terrible side effects of memory loss, headaches, roar in the ears etc. were getting out of control. If You had first hand experience of a love one being over medicated on Benzo's and had seen what they go through, I wonder if You would then ask why I would put such an elderly women through a taper. My reason is to try and save her life. Both doctor and pharmacist know about every step of her 24 week taper. If I had a choice this elderly lady would be in a medical hospital where a qualified medical doctor and staff would nurse her back to being as healthy as possible.   

 

"It's very hard to say how much Valium she would reinstate to since we don't know what she was on."

 

Ativan - 1mg x 4 plus Serax - 7.5mg x 2 per day which is 15mg of Benzo's per day.

I used the Ashton Manual Schedule 8 as a 24 week switch to Valium and taper.

The Valium 1mg per week during the last weeks seems to have been to soon of a taper.

 

She was tolerating the 1mg of Valium per week taper very well until the last couple of weeks.

She is now back up to taking 2mg of Valium per day to help with the headaches and periodic shivering which both seem to be easing up.

Her doctor knows about this also.

 

I would like to know if someone knew how much of a reinstatement would be necessary and a time line for this reinstatement for her to stabilize.

 

Such as;

Valium 1mg for 2 to 3 weeks

then

Valium 2mg for 2 to 3 weeks

then

Valium 3mg for 2 to 3 weeks

etc.

increasing until stabilized without the bad withdraw symptoms

for 2 to 3 weeks and then begin to taper again with Valium 1/3 mg etc.

instead of the initial Valium 1mg taper.

 

All done with her doctors approval.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 6 years later...
Jenny1, I am in a situation similar to yours, just 6 years behind! Could we email each other? Maybe the moderators would send you my email address if you agree?
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