Please help me nobody will. Severe depression from 25 years on ativan
Hi Cheryl
there is help for you if you want to come off these drugs
there is a forum that wil help you
just google benzo forum and you will find it
Good luck
i am benzo free now almost 2 years
Left sided headaches whole head today. Went to hospital nothing wrong. How long were your withdrawels
How long is a piece of string 
Everyones taper is different and to be honest i cant remember
you just have to take your time.
It is not a race and dont forget. Your taper is your taper.
There are no two people who are the same.
Sorry i bothered you
Oh dear Cheryl i didnt mean to upset you. And you were not bothering me at all.
It is just that i really can not remember how long it took me as it took me more than one attempt to taper off my benzo.
i wasnt a member of a forum and was given the wrong advice by my doctor who hadnt got a clue how to taper .
When i joined the forum. It was then that i managed to do my taper safefully.
Hope this helps
hi cheryl a couple of questions and i could advise you as i have done this. how much was you taking as this makes a big difference to how long and did you taper or did you dr just take you off it which they really shoiuldnt do.
if you were only on 1 or 2 mg a day it wont be tto bad i would suggest tapering off over about 12-20 weeks depending on how you do.
also there is the diazaepam replacement taper which works for some people but you may not want to complicate things by taking another drug that can make you drowsy and is nowhere near as effective as ativan ( lorazapam ) and is weaker bin its effect.
hi cheryl a couple of questions and i could advise you as i have done this. how much was you taking as this makes a big difference to how long and did you taper or did you dr just take you off it which they really shoiuldnt do.
if you were only on 1 or 2 mg a day it wont be too bad i would suggest tapering off over about 12-20 weeks depending on how you do.
also there is the diazaepam replacement taper which works for some people but you may not want to complicate things by taking another drug that can make you drowsy and is nowhere near as effective as ativan ( lorazapam ) and is weaker in its effect.
Sorry for butting in here but if I was you Cheryl i would get tapering advise from
those that know about it. This is why i have never given tapering advice to any one.
Ashley sad thing is my mother put me on this 25 years ago she was in the medical field when she was dying and just tell me what something to calm my nerves and when she passed away I realize that I was addicted so one milligram a day
hi cheryl, if youve only been taking 1 mg that is quite a low dose, so can do this, you need to have a sympathetic dr who is also benzodiazapine awere or has somw experience of coming off them.
if youve allready come off it and coped this far stay off it, but the withdrawel will last longer i couldnt say varies from person to person could be 1 month could be 4 months or more.
if you are still taking it then this is only a suggestion but here is how i did it from ½ mg ( i stopped from a ½ over about 7 weeks but was only taking it on and off for a year originally 2-3 a day stopped for about 6 weeks then started taking 1 mg a day then stopped again over christmas for about 4 weeks had 3 days of bad withdrawel, then started taking it again but just a ½ mg for the last six months )
first week
1, 1, 1, just a ½, 1, 1, just a ½
second week
1, 1, ½, 1, ½, 1, ½
next two weeks
½, 1, ½, 1, ½, 1, ½
½, 1, ½, ½, 1, ½, ½
week 5
½, ½, ½, 0, ½, ½, 0
week 6
½, ½, 0, ½, 0, ½, 0
next two weeks
0, ½, 0, ½, 0, ½, 0
0, ½, 0, 0,
you can take the occasional ½ or stop now
la12 I am not an expert at tapering.
You may have done it this way, but i can assure you that this is not
really the best way or correct way to taper off any benzo.
Your brain doesnt know whether it is coming or going by alternating drug dosage.
i suggest that anyone that is considering coming off benzos to find help
and i have yet to find a doctor that knows how to taper. Hence i found the forum that i belong to. There are thousands of people who have/are tapering . People from all over the world as they also can not get help by doctors.
tootsie58 i understand and appreciate your concerns, evidence has shown that certainly the majority of people have some trouble coming off benzodiazapenes, especially at the higher doses, one wonders how they ever got onto these doses in the first place as i find most dr are very reluctant to go any where near benzo’s these days, unlike 10-15 years ago.
It was only a suggestion from my own experience, and 1 mg a day is a lowish dose and it is doable in this time frame, I think some of the se tapers that go on for months or years do more harm than good, but are certainly necessary for heavy users.
Your probably right about the last week or two of the suggested taper as with lorazepam having roughly a 12 hour ½ life it’s a bit up and down, I could probably have stopped at week six.
I know you can get a pharmacy to give a solution of lorazepam for a slower taper but when i discussed this with my dr he wasn't interested, so I was on my own and ½ was the only option. When I got down to < 3 mg a week he gave me 3-4 mg a day of diazepam to help me taper off the last bit, but to be honest this actually made me feel ten times worse and I dumped that about a week and a ½ after finishing the lorazepam.
Best wishes
also i came up with this taper as it is more of a gradual reduction with one reduction fading into the next, and not a stepwise taper where you drop a % and then try and stabilise at the lower dose, which i think just drags things out. you can play around with this for higher doses and cut to the next lower dose over a longer time frame as well to make it more gradual.
Hi la
http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/
The above is a manual by Professor Ashton she is now retired and to be honest the manual could really do with up dating.
I am not a doctor/medically trained etc. I am like many a victim of these drugs.
Yes you are right about the prescribing of benzos has chnaged over the years.
I was unfortunate to be given them in 2009 although they knew what they can do to you. I was told that i wasnt being compliant by not taking mine. Although i had become tolerant to them.
There is no help at all for us and that makes me angry as tehy are prescribed drugs. Yet if i had taken Heroin I would get that help.
Cheryl has taken hers for 25 years at what dose i am not entirely sure of
it is recommended a steady reduction, but we are all different.
Some people can just stop and have no problems others not so lucky.
i do suggest that it would be best to get advise from people that have advised
others on what to do.
Just a word of advice if anyone reads this.
We are all different and no two tapers will be the same.
Good luck
Need some help here. So depressed and doctors wont help. I have to taper off 1mg after 25 years. Because of the worst headaches from ativan and ativan has made me sick also crying all the time severe depression social anxiety cfs you name it. I am hurting so bad tonight and nobody cares or understands my pain
Please help me with the ativan withdrawel. I have taken 1 -2 a day for 25 years. I have severe migraines now and anxiety from them. Its killing me the paranoia is awful andvthe Social anxiety. I need your help. My doctors wont help me
Hello Cheryl are u off benzos or r u still on them?
Good morning. I have been off ativan for 3 weeks after being on it for 6 years. I did a slow taper. I’m going thru pure hell. Depression and lots of pressure in head. In my research I’ve read that this is normal. This drug is a demon. Will be glad when all these symptoms are gone
I understand your pain,I have withdrawn from Klonopin and now I am still having horrible withdrawals from zyprexa,I know how u feel I am going through it right now as we speak,I feel like no one cares also,but God does,pray and hang in there as best u can,I know it's very hard .🐸🐸