ativan withdrawals and terrible headaches

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

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 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="">

 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.

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

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 .🐸🐸