I am looking for any advice getting off Ativan. I have been on 1 month. .5mg 3x per day. I am having tolerance issues already and tried to cut my morning dose yesterday to .25 with horrible results (bad anxiety by afternoon). I want to get off this! I have been doing some googling and it looks like it can take a long time to get off! I have just started Lexapro and really want that to work. Anyone have experience coming off Ativan???

www.benzo.org.uk


Good luck!

If you can wait for the Lexapro to kick in, you may not have any trouble getting off the Ativan. At least that's how it happened for me.

I NEEDED the Ativan while I was waiting for the Lexapro to kick in and from what I have read, most experience a breaking in period where anxiety gets much worse before it gets better.

I used Ativan daily for 2 months, while waiting for my anti depressant to kick in. Once the AD started working, I found I didn't require the Ativan anymore and I just stopped using it. I had no withdrawal issues. Maybe you are still suffering with anxiety that is not a result of the ativan at all?? Or not. I know everyone is different. But you asked if anyone went off the Ativan, and I have. I still use it very occasionally for high stress times.

Right now the Lexapro could cause anxiety as a side effect. Trying to reduce Ativan right now may be an issue. One month of Ativan shouldn't be too hard to wean off of, so that's why I am thinking it's the Lexapro possibly. I don't know this for a fact, just wondering if that could be contributing to it. I was on Lexapro and I loved it, except for the sedating effects. It really helped with my anxiety and obsessive thinking. I got lazy and unmotivated. Now am on Pristiq so we'll see, so far so good. I take Xanax 1mg to sleep each night. I am going to try to cut back because I don't want to get dependent on it which I probably am to sleep. I really need to sleep though so I wonder should I care or not. As it is I am up until 2:00 am before I take it and wide awake at that.

Thanks guys for your replies. You always make me feel better! I was reading a "Benzo" board and that had me convinced that tapering was going to take months, going down tiny bits at a time and would be sheer hell. Thank you for validating that once I get to a good Lexapro dose I may just be able to let the Ativan go! Thank you!!

Tidal and Floater, how much ativan were you taking while your ad kicked in?

just to add my ativan experience: i was on as high of a dose as 2mg at night 4 or more years ago - at the point of my worst insomnia, jitters, etc. - i was going days without sleeping &/or a couple hours a night. i can't recall for how long i was at that dose, but after i felt more stable, i started shaving off pieces & around a year or so ago was not using it daily. had no side effects doing it this way. but i also bumped it up when needed - i found that not doing so made things generally much worse for me. i was/am always able to reduce after the increase & over time have found that my body cycles in & out of time periods where i need the benzo to help me sleep, etc. i still take it as needed with no tolerance issues.

i know that this is not the case for everyone, but did want to share my experience. i tried trazadone at one point for the insomnia & that's when my horrid tinnitus started (which, unfortunately, has never gone away - one reason that i am afraid to try ADs).

good luck with everything.

ellen

I would take 1/2 of a .5 mg tblt. If I needed more later, I would take another. Maybe took a whole .5 mg tblt a couple of times, but that was it.

I was taking .5 mgs twice a day, occasionally more, rarely less!

Ok, one more question. When you stopped did you taper and if so, how much at a time.