I am tapering my lorazepam posting for accountability

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi there - weighing back in after a few weeks. Can you get the liquid? That way, you can go down by .1 or 0.05 at a time. I went down .1 every two weeks, and that worked for me. The liquid is totally a thing. Perhaps your PCP could order it if your psychiatrist can't be bothered to figure it out. You've got this!!

Hi no I haven't tried that. I was ok once going down by cutting pills so figured to do that. Haven't talked to creepo shrink moved next phone call to December.

I have been at 0.5, 0.5 for a few weeks and will move to taking the biggest pill shard in my batch of split pills until it's basically a crumb then done, to 0.5, 0. I have a goodlt assortment of shards, lol.

I plan to ask PCP if he's willing to take over Rozerem prescription and tell him about the lorazepam and need (or not?) for new shrink.

Thank you for the support!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Last 2 nights were bad. I woke up around 2 to urinate (not unusual) but then was awake 2 or 3 hours thinking obsessively about "dangers" like did I do a bank transfer right, is the transferred money in the right account, etc. This despite having dine it carefully and printed records that day. Last night I was even down logging in to check.
I do have trouble sleeping but wonder if it's tapering related too. Ordinarily I would sometimes take an extra lorazepam hahah.

Check out the perimenopause forum. The exact time of night and the anxious thoughts of the "list" is very common. Lots of suggestions on there.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I heard about Talkiatry here on dcurbanmom, tried it, and it they have been very helpful. That might be an option if they take your insurance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi there - weighing back in after a few weeks. Can you get the liquid? That way, you can go down by .1 or 0.05 at a time. I went down .1 every two weeks, and that worked for me. The liquid is totally a thing. Perhaps your PCP could order it if your psychiatrist can't be bothered to figure it out. You've got this!!

Hi no I haven't tried that. I was ok once going down by cutting pills so figured to do that. Haven't talked to creepo shrink moved next phone call to December.

I have been at 0.5, 0.5 for a few weeks and will move to taking the biggest pill shard in my batch of split pills until it's basically a crumb then done, to 0.5, 0. I have a goodlt assortment of shards, lol.

I plan to ask PCP if he's willing to take over Rozerem prescription and tell him about the lorazepam and need (or not?) for new shrink.

Thank you for the support!!!!!

OP back.

I have been on 0.5 and a shard for a while now. The crumbs are getting smaller so expect 0.5, 0 soon.

My PCP supports getting off the benzo and will handle my Rozerem prescription going forward. I wrote him an email with background and plan to part ways with shrink. He is concierge and emails are no problem.

So now I have what I hope is my last telemedicine with shrink after Thanksgiving. Will ask how to handle that in separate thread.

Thank you for being here in cyberspace with me!

[Anonymous]

So proud of you! Sticking with a plan is hard, but you’ve done it. I often think about how glad I am to be off the benzos.

[Anonymous]

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

OP here. So I took the last PM shard last night and today start 1/2 pill (0.25 mg) in AM only.
I was chatting with Gemini and ChatGPT about tapering. Shocked that it may take weeks or months to allow my body to recover after stopping entirely.

Such a bad doctor. I quit him, btw. I really only stayed because of the lorazepam. Probably he knew that.

Anyway, onward.

[Anonymous]

You are doing great, OP! Keep it up!

[Anonymous]

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to report that yesterday I picked up a lorazepam refill (90) and told the pharmacist to archive the prescription because I was getting off that drug.

She was happy.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

[Anonymous]

I’ve been following this thread and you’re doing great, OP, but I also wonder why you don’t consider help with addiction, which is what it seems you struggle with even if your prescriber enabled it. Relapse is common, and you haven’t even completely weaned yourself off yet (for reference, a medically supervised and safe detox would have you off the benzodiazepines in 7-10 days, not the 3+ months you’re doing and I saw you just picked up a new script).

This is not an attack on you- these are addictive substances and it is not a weakness that led you to be dependent on them. However, you will be vulnerable to a relapse or cross addiction if you don’t do the work to figure out how to cope without a substance.

Wishing you success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been following this thread and you’re doing great, OP, but I also wonder why you don’t consider help with addiction, which is what it seems you struggle with even if your prescriber enabled it. Relapse is common, and you haven’t even completely weaned yourself off yet (for reference, a medically supervised and safe detox would have you off the benzodiazepines in 7-10 days, not the 3+ months you’re doing and I saw you just picked up a new script).

This is not an attack on you- these are addictive substances and it is not a weakness that led you to be dependent on them. However, you will be vulnerable to a relapse or cross addiction if you don’t do the work to figure out how to cope without a substance.

Wishing you success.

Thank you. Well, honestly I didn't have anyone to medically supervise me (concierge internist PCP said good luck, lol) and I didn't think of anything else except do what I am doing. I guess the 7-10 days used medication? Would love to know what you suggest I should have done.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been following this thread and you’re doing great, OP, but I also wonder why you don’t consider help with addiction, which is what it seems you struggle with even if your prescriber enabled it. Relapse is common, and you haven’t even completely weaned yourself off yet (for reference, a medically supervised and safe detox would have you off the benzodiazepines in 7-10 days, not the 3+ months you’re doing and I saw you just picked up a new script).

This is not an attack on you- these are addictive substances and it is not a weakness that led you to be dependent on them. However, you will be vulnerable to a relapse or cross addiction if you don’t do the work to figure out how to cope without a substance.

Wishing you success. [/I don’t think this is accurate. I was on a medically supervised detox from Ativan at Silver Hill Hospital and it still took me months. They got me started and I finished on my own. Seven to 10 days would cause wild withdrawal symptoms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been following this thread and you’re doing great, OP, but I also wonder why you don’t consider help with addiction, which is what it seems you struggle with even if your prescriber enabled it. Relapse is common, and you haven’t even completely weaned yourself off yet (for reference, a medically supervised and safe detox would have you off the benzodiazepines in 7-10 days, not the 3+ months you’re doing and I saw you just picked up a new script).

This is not an attack on you- these are addictive substances and it is not a weakness that led you to be dependent on them. However, you will be vulnerable to a relapse or cross addiction if you don’t do the work to figure out how to cope without a substance.

Wishing you success.

That’s not accurate. Kaiser’s guide to tapering patients off of benzodiazepines is pretty robust, and it suggests a much slower process than OP has enacted so far.

https://wa.kaiserpermanente.org/static/pdf/public/guidelines/benzo-zdrug.pdf

7-10 days is also not the timeframe on which a taper from this equivalent dose is accomplished in inpatient rehab. My loved one, for example, was transitioned to Librium (also a benzodiazepine) and was tapered off of it in more like 2-3 weeks.

To address your question directly: treatment for dependency (vs addiction, which is not something OP’s posts suggest) is surprisingly hard to access.

[Anonymous]

OP back. Well, my sleep is good and it seems stable on the AM half pill. It's 2 weeks on Saturday, so thinking of taking a bit less starting Sunday. Gemini thinks cutting to 1/4 pill is too much to reduce so will try for 1/3 pill, or the "big quarter" of an uneven cut.

Weird thing. Got a surprise call from shrink to say best wishes. I kept it short, thanks and bye. Ugh.
Made me realize how pissed off I am, have to put that behind me. But living well and benzo free will be the best revenge.