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Help with taper off 1 mg ativan at night


[Rr...]

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Hi!

 

I started taking 1 mg ativan at night to help me sleep.

This was about 6 weeks ago. 2 weeks ago I dropped to .75 on doctor's recommendation.

 

Now I'm feeling like crap, even started taking the extra .25 mid day to smooth things out.

 

So, since it seems I am dependent, should I try to switch to valium or titration? Can someone advise?

 

My doc thinks I can just cut the dose in half every week. I think he's nuts.

 

Can someone give me a titration schedule for 1 mg ativan and a 100 ml gradient cylinder?

 

Has anyone had success with valium crossover when taking ativan just at bedtime?

 

Thanks!

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Hi Rriver,

 

I think actually your doctor (kudos to him for starting to taper you off so soon after prescribing) isn't so far off on this.  Six weeks is long enough to create some dependence but shouldn't be a long drawn out taper or crossover to another benzo. 

 

There's a group of people tapering Ativan who can maybe help you more than I can.  Here's a link to the Ativan Tapering board:  Tapering Ativan Thread

 

Best of luck, Rriver, and good for you for getting on this so quickly.

 

Challis

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Hi Rriver:

 

I too started taking Ativan 1 mg at bedtime to help me sleep about 6 (actually 7) weeks ago. On Sept 9 I dropped down to 0.75 mg and it seemed tolerable until a week later it hit me hard for a few days. Now I am very cautious about tapering down but don't want to draw tis out any longer than is absolutely necessary. Let me know how things are going for you. We can get through this with determination. :-X

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Challis,

 

Sorry I didn't see your reply sooner. I'm new at using chat boards.

 

It's going rough. I realized I was having interdose withdrawals because I was taking all my doses at night. Stupid, yes. So I spent a week or so spreading out the dose. Today I began water titration, hoping this won't be long and drawn out. Basically, I couldn't cut 1 mg pills very accurately. I also got some Valium, just in case. I hope I won't need it.

 

Anyway, I'm feeling discouraged from reading all the sad stories on this board and from the fact that I suffered much using a dry cut. Oh well.

 

Thanks for asking,

 

Rriver

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Hi River,

 

I see you are titrating Ativan. I wanted to post my taper plan to you in case it may be helpful. I also included 2 examples at the bottom. One from .75mg and the other from 1.0mg.

 

I see you are tapering from Ativan (lorazepam) I wanted to share my dry cut plan in case you may want to do smaller dose reductions as the dose gets lower. This would be for splitting the Ativan (lorazepam)  0.5mg tablets. The percentages would be the same, although Klonopin is a different potency. I understand Lorazepam is circular in its shape and small. That would make getting some of the chips more challenging, although separating the doses in piles worked just fine for doing a dose reduction, from my experience.

 

 

I am currently Benzo Free! I tapered from 5mg of Klonopin and here are a few things I have learned along the way:

 

I dry-cut directly from Klonopin.  I have learned some important things about this process for me:

 

 

1) I have found that I need to hold for no shorter than 2 weeks. That is because Klonopin has a half-life of 30 to 40 hours and the generic clonazepam has a half-life of 18 to 50 hours. It takes five half-lives to get a dose reduction out of our system.

2) I listen to my body and hold until it feels like it has adjusted to the new lower dose. I usually get a few lower symptom days before I do another dose reduction.

3) My average holds have been 2 to 4 weeks

4) In order to keep the symptoms at a tolerable level, I keep my cuts around 10% or lower.

5) I have been able to keep my cuts below 10% by going to .03125mg when I hit .5mg of Klonopin.

6) When I got to .125mg I slowed my taper to .015625mg dose reductions. 

7) My last dose was .015625mg. Then I became Benzo Free.

 

 

 

In case you are interested in how I am able to dry cut the lower doses:

 

Cutting 0.25mg:

Here is how I am able to get the .25mg pieces. I break the .5mg tablet in half.  The brand Klonopin is scored and breaks in half easily.

 

 

Cutting 0.125mg

 

Take the .25mg and cut that in half. That is a .125mg piece.  I use an angle razor, like a box cutter. And cut on hard surface like glass or a mirror.

 

 

Cutting 0.0625mg

 

I have the 0.5mg Klonopin.

 

I break the 0.5mg tablet in half then, I cut 1/4th off of that. I use an angle razor like a box cutter. I have found that the razor is thinner and sharper than the pill splitters I have worked with. Yet, I have read that some have no problem using pill splitters.

 

I cut the 1/4th off of the tablet on a glass surface. I have found the glass surface to be hard enough to get a clean cut. I press down firm and fairly fast. The 1/4th breaks away (from the .25mg). Now I have 0.0625mg.

 

NOTE: If you are unable to get a chip that is .0625mg then you could crush it into powder. That would work as well. You would take a .25 mg piece and separate it into 4 piles.

 

 

Cutting 0.03125mg (Powder)

 

The way I get the 0.03125mg is I crush a 0.25mg piece and separate the powder into 8 piles. I happen to have a window scraper; so that is what I use, or you could use a razor. I crush the 0.25mg on a dinner plate with the top part of a pill crusher. Then use the window scraper or razor to separate the pile into 8. Each pile is 0.03125mg.

 

NOTE:  (What I do is crush the portion of the tablet. Then I put it in one pile. I do my best, with the razor to separate the pile into two. Then I take the two piles and separate them into two. That makes four piles. Then I take those and separate them into two more piles. That makes eight.)

 

 

Cutting 0.0156mg (Powder)

The way I would get a 0.0156mg cut is by crushing 0.125mg piece (to get the 0.125mg, cut the 0.25mg in half). Then crush the 0.125mg on a dinner plate, into powder with the top of a pill crusher. I happen to have a window scraper so that is what I use or you could use a razor. Then separate the piles into 8. Each pile is 0.0156mg.

 

 

Cutting 0.0078mg (Powder)

Crush a 0.625mg into powder and separate into 8 piles.

 

NOTE: With the powder, here is how I take it. I lick my finger, press it on the powder, then I put the powder in my mouth. Then I drink some water after.

 

Here is how I do the Percentages:

You get the % by taking the dose reduction and dividing it by the dose you are currently at. For example; a 0.03125mg dose reduction from 0.5mg is a 6.25% dose reduction.  0.03125 divided by 0.5 = 6.25% reduction.

 

OR I use this calculator:

Percent Calculator:

 

http://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/algebra/percentagechange.php

 

Here is what a dose reduction from 1 mg by 0.0625mg would look like:

0.5mg

0.25mg

0.125mg

0.0625mg (Chip or Powder)

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

0.9375mg Total

That would be a 6.25% dose reduction

 

 

When I cut .75mg to do a .0625mg dose reduction, it looked like this:

0.5mg

0.125mg

0.0625mg

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

.6875mg total

This is an 8.3% dose reduction.

 

 

I wish you only the best,

Summer :)

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