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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Ativan W/d

R

Re:Dissociated

Greenlighter
Joined
Dec 11, 2014
Messages
6
On Nov. 7th I started taking Ativan up to 3mg per day, after using for 20 days I have run out of my prescription and have been experiencing some agonizing w/d symptoms such as lightheadedness, muscle aches, chills and sweats, and extreme irritability. My question is what can I do to ease my w/d symptoms as I can't refill until Dec. 7th.
 
The good news is many people have dug themselves much deeper with benzos and made it through. The bad news is no matter if your knee deep or chest high in a pile of sh*t it still sucks haha. I feel you about a few years ago I had similar withdrawls. But first there are a few things that are really important do you have or ever have had a seizure, heart problem, or severe mental disorder like (suicide, psychotic episode, mania). If so I strongly urge you to go seek immediate medical assistance as benzos like lorazepam alter ion channels in your heart which, influence your brains ability to put the breaks on excititory signaling in your brain, and influence many systems in your brain thought to be involved in many mental illnesses severity.

Unfortunately most chemicals that influence gabaa receptors require a prescription. You could try taking 1-2 benadyrl and maybe one more benadyrl every 8 to 12 hours but it may increase your anxiety by in increasing heart rate and blood pressure. And does not influence the same receptors as lorazepam
 
Well, the easiest thing to replace a benzo when you don't have a benzo is alcohol. You drink, w.d. is gone. But the thing is that when the effects fade, your w.d. will be worse couse a part of your brain will love the effect of alcohol and will carve it again. You will have to redose over and over again. If you are not an expiriensed drinker, perhaps you will overdo it and get bad effects.
So yeah, if you realy feel you can't deal with your w.d. drink, but very carefully.
 
Drinking isn't the best idea, I would try and find some kind of benzo to hold you over.. benzo WD is awful, I have been forced into it before for reasons other than my own fault... like losing pills, etc.

I was able to find help from friends/family and connections I had.. luckily! most of the time at least... only when I was in jail, and had no access to my meds, was it the most agonizing feeling I have ever went through, not only in WD from benzos, but also subutex! IT was no doubt the most miserable experience I have ever witnessed... Other than alcohol, which I hate, and would never drink again, but that's just my opinion... is weed! Weed if its the right bud, can help tremendously with anxiety caused from benzo WDs and make you stop thinking about it as much... especially if you have little or no THC tolerance.. it is totally helpful, with the right strain! Some buds, however, will make you even more paranoid/anxiety ridden.. So really, I would ask friends/family, for help.. that usually works for me. but I know not everyone has friends/family who take benzos or condone taking them.. so if that's not an option.. I would get some kava tea and extract to put in the tea, and drink that.. its pretty much harmless if used in moderation, and does help at calming your nerves, much like I found Ativan to be like.. a very "light" benzo type of feeling.. Weed and kava.. try it out! if you cant get benzos to get you through, because that WD, is going to get hella bad, if you have to wait until Dec. 7th... that is no good!

Hope you figure it out! Good luck!
 
This one is hard for me, as I really don't ever condone drinking Alcohol in any situation, but in this situation it could be of limited benefit. Alcohol, like others have said, is a sedative/hypnotic that mimics and can be substituted for to a limited extent, Benzodiazepines and Barbiturates. Alcohol can be used to relieve the bulk of your withdrawal, but probably not all. We're not advising you to get drunk either. Just drink enough to control your symptoms.

The only reason, I repeat, the only reason that I am okay with this is because Benzodiazepine withdrawal is, unlike Opioid withdrawal, harmful to the body and mind. Benzodiazepine withdrawal is not "therapeutic" in the way that Opioid and/or Stimulant withdrawal would be. It's generally not advisable to go through the process on your own due to the potential for complications.

The Alcohol should only be used if you really feel like you're having a serious withdrawal syndrome. This is tough for Harm Reduction debate, as Alcohol cannot be condoned and neither can cold-turkey Benzodiazepine withdrawal. I'm open to other opinions.
 
My issue would be the complexity of drinking dosing. Its not as simple as popping a pill. Given it is is so rapidly metabolized. I could see maybe if you used a bac calculator premeasured your doses and drank in a way that kept your bac around 0.04 - 0.07 another issue is driving and if they have other issues like high blood pressure or diabetes
 
Hello everyone, thank you all so much for the advice. My doctor prescribed my klonopin 2mg per day to get me through until my refill, which I may not end up having filled as I'm going to be meeting with a psychiatrist on Monday.
 
Glad to hear it OP. Let us know if you need any help in the future.
 
Re:Dissociated said:
Hello everyone, thank you all so much for the advice. My doctor prescribed my klonopin 2mg per day to get me through until my refill, which I may not end up having filled as I'm going to be meeting with a psychiatrist on Monday.
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Good. Just try to be more carefull in the future.I think your ativan was supposed to last you until the next perscription.
 
It absolutely was. I'm very aware that I made a poor decision. It's just those holiday nerves. It's hard to the only liberal in a conservative family. Lesson learned though. Again, I appreciate all of the support on here. Could anyone recommend an an anxiety medication with less physical dependence? A friend told me gabapentin helped her a lot after discontinuing benzo treatment.
 
^I've seen people in this forum talking about kava as a good anxiolytic with out/little physical dependense. Never was intrested in trying it and don't know how it works, but you could do some research to see if it would do for you.
 
bomber said:
^I've seen people in this forum talking about kava as a good anxiolytic with out/little physical dependense. Never was intrested in trying it and don't know how it works, but you could do some research to see if it would do for you.
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I second kava. It can be tricky to find a good vendor and tricky to prepare it properly, but doing a little research will get you squared away with it. It's not going to compare to benzos, but it will take the edge off mild - moderate anxiety levels without any physically addiction issues and should help a little with WD symptoms.
 
Imo it may be a case of mind over matter.

Ativan is the lowest strength benzo pretty much out there .. Its what they give to wean ppl off xanax , klonopin and alcohol.

And 20 days is really the low end of the dependency timeline.

People tend to read about benzo wd online and freak out. It can be awful but not at such low doses and low intervals of time. I know everyone thinks their dose is high and they feel like death..

I can almost assure you that you will not die. That is harm reduction at it's best no?

All IMO I am not a doctor and I cannot doubt what you think you feel.
 
Blow fat ass clouds from a huge vape with a nonactive just glycerine bottle labeled oj kush that should keepyour consertive family atleast a few feet away lol kidding. If you have a anxiety disorder ssris may cause a slight improvement in symptons over 8-12 weeks
 
I'm under 25 and in the category of patients who experience the suicidal ideation side effect of SSRI's, unfortunately. The Klonopin seems to be working well so far. I will keep everyone updated as I see a psychiatrist for the first time tomorrow.
 
Did you experience suicidal thoughts on ssris or is it just because commercials say antidepressant may increase risk of suicidal thoughts or actions especially of you a teenager or developing adult.
 
d1nach said:
Did you experience suicidal thoughts on ssris or is it just because commercials say antidepressant may increase risk of suicidal thoughts or actions especially of you a teenager or developing adult.
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Only when I started taking Lexapro. I've switched to a different SSRI (Zoloft) and am not experiencing any suicidal ideations, in fact I was only told of the side-effect after I started experiencing it.
 
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