Not to throw a wrench in things, but I had a different experience with Ativan altogether. I had a twin pregnancy in 1998 - 1999. Back then, doctors didn't allow pregnant women to take SSRIs. Because I had to go off my Paxil and became non-functional, my doctor prescribed Ativan for me. I took it every 4 hours for months. After the pregnancy, I went back on the Paxil and weaned off the Ativan with no trouble at all. I know that the nature of the drug can cause dependency, but dependency is not the same thing as addiction. Benzodiazepenes in general are frowned upon, but I take issue with that. People with seizures take benzos at quadruple the dose that is generally prescribed for panic, and no one questions that. If a patient is not prone to addiction, I think benzos are fine. Sometimes coming off a medication like Ativan (or Paxil, for that matter) can have side effects, but sometimes what you experience is a resurgence of panic symptoms, which are then mistaken for "withdrawals".
I have been off Ativan fully now for two weeks, i feel a lot better, less sick, more confident and am now starting to sleep a bit better on my own, i am so glad i am off it daily now, if i did have a bad incident i would consider taking a quarter but only as an absolute last resort.
If you go to my blog you will find a longer version of what sunny said. It is how Ativan works as told to me by my therapist, and why it is hard to get off it. Once you know about the Ativan pathway you will understand why Ativan withdrawal is done different. If tapering does not work take your normal dose but stretch out the time. Try to get as long as you can between doses till you don't need it any more. If you can not get off it ask your doctor for one with a longer half life and withdraw from it. I had to switch to Valium, but I am off it.
yes sunny, i thought because i had been on the prozac almost four weeks i would try and cut it back to .25mg again I felt great yesterday (but had taken .5 the night before) and so decided that was it, i dont want to give in and take .5 again tonight as i will never end up getting off it, my plan is to go down to .25 for a couple of weeks and then see from there
ativan is incredibly physically addictive. after just a few days, your body will adapt and use the ativan to perform its normal daily routine, so when u remove even a part of your regular dose, your body is wondering what happened and tries to find ways to cope.this is probably what your symptons are. you should always talk to your doctor when adjusting ur medication.
when i weaned myself off of ativan, the doctor prescribe clonazapam as a replacement for ativan and weaned me off that. but i did also feel the light headedness and nauseau.
I have been taking ativan for 5 months daily at night, i have gone from taking .5mg per day to .25mg per day om and off and in the last 3 weeks (while i have been getting used to my Prozac) i have been taking .5mg per day again, i originally went on the Prozac to take something regularly to help while i worked through CBT and i wanted to get off the Ativan because i have read so many negative things about it, every now and again (maybe twice a month) if i had a big exposure i would take .25mg during the day) last night instead of taking .5mg i decided to cut back down to .25mg, today i feel a little nauseous and a few waves of light giddiness in my head here and there, does anyone know if these symptoms could be because of the reduction of my dose?
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