Newbie and need suggestions.

Hi. I have been taking anywhere from .625-.75 mg of ativan since oct. 18. In .125 pieces. So I took that quarter of a pill 5-6 times a day depending on the day. As of last refill the doctor told me to up St. John's wort and start weaning. Told me a quarter a pill a week until I am done. So 9 days ago I went to just taking .50mg a day, divided into 4 doses. I am shakey, have inside tremors, increased anxiety, breathing issues because of increased anxiety, to were I cannot drive and had not left the house in three days, then I went out last night, my son drove and it was a quickie trip to the store. My question, I want to do the titration to get off the rest but know I have to be stable. Was this too big of a cut..should I go back up a dose, wait this out?? Not sure what to do.

You are weaning too fast AND adding a stimulating supplement at the same time.

Any suggestions?

I have several suggestions but I need more information.

 

Why are you on Ativan and why are you going off of it?

 

Why are you on St. John's Wort and why are you increasing the dose?

Have been in 3 car accidents in the past year and a half, going thru change of life, daily stressors brought on panic attacks and anxiety problems. Doctor gave me the ativan to help that with the goal of putting me on an antidepressant, which didn't work twice. I was told to take the St. John's wort cause it is a more gentle form of an antidepressant. It took the edge off and made me a little anxious for awhile, but then would calm down. It also helped me get my appetite back a little. Been losing weight.

Want off of these because the doctor wants me off of them and frankly I want off of them now that I actually know about them. Took them blindly.

Hi,

 

I'm tapering off ativan (lorazepam) too but I've been on it a lot longer. There's a dedicated board for tapering off ativan:

 

 

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=44903.0;topicseen

 

where there's a lot of information. I was on St. John's wort too and it made me very photo sensitive.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Joy

 

 

Taper one drug at a time very, very slowly and see if it improves. 

 

I would start with the St. John's Wort first as it is the most activating whereas Ativan is calming. If you stop the Ativan first the St. John's Wort will become even more activating.  You may have more severe withdrawals from the St. John's Wort then also if you still don't have the calming help from the Ativan on board.  Then after the activating St. John's Wort is gone hold for a while and any withdrawal symptoms from the St. John's Wort have passed then restart your Ativan taper even more slowly.

 

If you are already having withdrawals from the Ativan then hold your taper until they stop before tapering the St. John's Wort.