Your experience with Ativan /Lorazepam

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I've had anxiety disorder for years and tried all sorts of meds. None of them worked very well, and some I'm actually allergic to. I managed to control it mostly with some ativan on hand for really bad days (I never took more than 1mg dose). I've been doing OK for ages until the last couple months. When nearly everyday was a bad day so I took it more regularly. I stopped it about 3 days ago and am experiencing some withdrawal symptoms (mostly anxiety, insomnia and sweating, oh and over sensitive to smells). Every resource I checked said you shouldn't stop it abruptly but should wean off gradually. The thing is my dose is usually only 0.25 to 0.5mg once a day. I'm not sure if I can cut those pills any smaller.

Just wondering if anybody have experience or tips regarding ativan or other benzo withdrawals. Especially if you took low dose for a long time then stopped. How long did the symptoms last and did any food or supplement help? I bought some whey protein to try but I've yet to take any. Not sure what to expect.

No experience trying to get off it, was prescribed it for panic attacks and disliked it so much I threw the bottle away after the first dose. So you should understand this idea isn't based on personal experience. But if you can't get your doses any smaller, maybe you could try slowly taking them farther and farther apart. If you're used to taking them once a day, try once every 36 hours, then every other day, then every third day, until you can stop without withdrawals.

I take a 0.5 mg dose only right before an exam so I don't panic and flunk the whole thing. I have not had any problems with withdrawl symptoms probably because I don't use it very often.

Thanks for the replies! I did some research and found out my dose was pretty low. Hopefully that means the withdrawals won't be too bad and the worst is over. I'm mostly afraid of the "cognitive impairment" they were talking about. As an aspie my brains are all I've got to figure out everything. I need it to stay sharp.

Sometimes I wish I can just take some anti-depressant like other people and feel much better. My brother takes olanzapine before bed and sleeps a full 10 hours. When I tried it in a small dose I just got a tummy ache.

I had no withdrawals because I only took it once, before a dental procedure to stop me freaking out. But it turned me into an utter zombie, and I totally understand why you want off it.

The only trick to any withdrawal is to taper off slowly--very slowly, over a month if you need to. That takes the withdrawal symptoms down to a tolerable level. If you had to be on benzos for a long time, the tolerance can really build up--that's why most psychologists know better than to put you on them for any significant length of time. Seems like you've got a tolerance/withdrawal problem--a physical (though not psychological) addiction.

You can taper off more slowly than a quarter of a pill per day; first you take it daily then every other day then every third day--by then you should be at the point where you can just stop taking them altogether.

Your anxiety is still causing you problems, though, right? Talk to that doctor again, ask about starting SSRIs for it instead. Those can be taken long-term, and there are lots of different ones to try so you can find one that doesn't make you feel tired or out of it. They have a subtler effect and work best in conjunction with therapy, but they don't tend to have that strong tolerance/physical-addiction issue (you still taper off them, though, when you quit taking them). A more long-term option, if you still want to try meds.

I took it for a while, maybe a year. I never had problems with withdrawal, as I only used it occasionnally but I needed to increase my dose massively (up to 10 mg). Most of the time, it worked, nonetheless.