How to Wean off Ativan

capelang

Anyone successful with weaning off Ativan.  At first I was taking .5mg at night but when I started Taxol, I'm so anxious I'm now taking 2mg at night.  One tablet at about 6:00pm and the other around 9:00pm.  I've tried taking just 1 mg, but wake up wide awake with rapid heart rate. 

Anyone with a successful formula for weaning off. 

farmerlucy

Hi capelang - I don't know about Ativan but I was on Xanax after my diagnosis. I was taking .25mg 4 times a day. I took it about a month and a half, then I was worried about addiction so my NP at my PCP said to cut the dose in half approximately every two weeks. I cut it in half every three days instead and had a tough time and was very anxious and shaky. The bad thing about coming off it so quickly is soon thereafter I started having panic attacks. I hung on for about another month then saw my PCP again, this time he put me on an antidepressant and on klonopin (.25mg 2 - 3 times a day). He ORDERED me to stay on it until Spring (which was about 9 mo). By Spring I was in a much better place, and weaned off it over two months. That was not a problem.



How far out of dx are you and have you had any counseling? I was in a really bad place and I needed the meds and talking to a professional to get me out of it. Our church has a Stephen Minister program and I met with a SM for several months. Her day job is as a cancer social worker so she was an incredible help.



Private message me if I can help.

AmyQ

I would recommend checking with your primary physician.  I didn't rely on Ativan as much as I did Oxycodone and when I tried to quit cold turkey I had numerous problems.  Eventually reduced my dependence by supplementing with over-the-counter pain meds and finally done.  Helps to have had my last surgery with little pain.

I still keep Ativan on hand for tearful days which are few and far between now.  Good luck to you.

flannelette

You take a nail file or pumice stone and, starting where you are (cutting from 2 pills to one is way too drastic) shave off a few grains off one of the pills, a few more every so often, over months. I've weaned myself off both Xanax and zopiclone - a sleeping pill I used for 18 years. My dr. ordered me to, and that is how i did it. Your brain is wired to the signal of a certain amount of ativan to go to sleep, and it will rebel if it doesn't get it. But a few grains, very, very slowly, is almost like fooling it. By the way, i don't think there's anything wrong with taking anti-anxiety meds when you have anxiety.

capelang

Hey Farmerlucydaisy,

Thank you so much for your reply. I was diagnosed in May 2013, but this is my second time. First time Oct. 2009, small tumor (IDC) lumpectomy and mammosite radiation. 4 lymph nodes removed, 1st lymph node was postive, other 3 were negative.

In May 2013 my mammogram/ultra sound showed 2 lymph nodes enlarged. Biopsy revealed tiny cancer cells in 2 lymph nodes in the scar tissue are from previous lumpectomy.

Just completed 4 A/C treatments and 4 Taxol treatments. Last treatment was 9/26/13. Will have double mastectomy and all lymph nodes removed from my left arm - some time in November.

I'm somewhat irritated the way the Ativan was prescribed as a daily regime. I didn't really realize what it was. All I ever took was vitamins and probiotics. I think taking it every now and then for anxiety is just fine, but not on a daily basis.

I'm making an appointment today with Dr. so I can do this the right way. When I was taking just 1mg., I tried to skip it and was climbing the walls. Thanks for you advice!

capelang

Hey flannelette,

I've did read somewhere of someone else filing the pill. Makes sense because you can take a smaller taper. Otherwise, you have to try to cut in half and then half again.

Thank you for the tip - and I'm glad you were successful with the weaning process, it gives me hope.

Thanks!

capelang

What was your taper plan for the klonopin?  Dr. wants to switch me from ativan to klonopin.

flannelette

Hi Capelang - were you asking ME about tapering the klonipin? I don't have plan. I have generalized anxiety disorder - that is, I at times am overcome by anxiety, but not always, depends on what's happening, often calm as can be. I'm never tapering off. I get 3 x .5mg pills per day to use. I use 2 to sleep, and would say my brain is now dependent. I save 1 for if anxiety hits for some reason. As long as the dr. is fine with it, so am I.

Drs are NOT fine with it if you keep asking for more & more, bug the pharmacist, etc. - then you get red-flaggged and dr's alarm system says uh-oh she's an addict. I mean in the way of, say, stealing them from other people etc. which 2 of my friends were at one point. My friend's dr, who was a pretty bad dr., finally refused to deal with her and stopped prescribing & she got to having to go cold turkey which is utterly devastating, ended up in emerg., etc. If you do have a lot of anxiety, and many, many people do, and do need more, it's best to be in the hands of a psychiatrist who has a better understanding of deep anxiety and how to deal with it, i believe.

At one time my own dr was also an acupuncture dr. At that time I had a complete melt-down ("nervous breakdown?") she didn't hesitate to give me Xanax, which is really strong and fast for heavy duty anxiety, because she told me that she could treat me by acupuncture to come off it if i became addicted. So - that's a possible way, too - acupuncture. but after about a year or so on Xanax I came off myself by the nailfile method.