What To Expect From Rapid Lorazapam Withdrawal?

[PsychonautRyan]

So my mom gave me the kick in the rear that I needed, and convinced me to transfer from my isolating community college to a list of four-year schools and for financial aid, a nerve-wracking process. I foolishly purchased 50 1 mg lorazapam pills, burned through 1 to 2 mg daily dosages for a couple weeks, as well as occasionally 3 to 4 mg doses just to feel apathetically sedated, and I'm down to a half-dozen. As of right now, I'm using kava kava and alcohol (the latter is a bad idea, I know) to cope. I took just 0.75 to 1.25 mg last night with some vodka just to make withdrawal tolerable. Anyway, as of right now: my muscles feel very tense and rigid, I'm fidgety, irritable and a bit paranoid, I'm barely eating unless my stomach is loudly grumbling. Knowing that Ativan has a 12-hour elimination half life, there's probably a quarter of last night's dose still in my system. I'd like to know what to expect for the next few days, if not weeks, and whether I should a) flush those remaining half-dozen tablets down immediately or b) rapidly taper (I'm thinking 0.5 mg every other day) to soften my rough landing.

 

[caseface99]

I haven't personally detoxed from benzos so I don't want to speak to much about what you can expect - but it sounds like you are quitting while you're ahead if its only been a month/50 pills. Things could be a lot worse...

A couple things, however - As long as you are using Alcohol, you are prolonging the withdrawals. Alcohol and Benzos both work on many of the same receptors so substituting one for the other won't help much. Whether or not you should taper with benzos depends on your tolerance and your will power. Many people can't taper, at least not without help, simply because it's too difficult to control your own dosages when you have more available. In heavy cases of benzo use tapering is the only option though - because of the risk of seizures. Admittedly I don't actually know how high of a risk you have because I have no personal experience with benzo/alcohol dependance so I'll let somebody else chime in on that part.

Otherwise, I would suggest developing some sort of plan of action in order to stay clean off the pills. Also be prepared for the rebound anxiety and insomnia, unfortunately things will be a lot worse then what originally drove you to use, at least for a little while. Stay positive though, and keep us updated!

 

[PsychonautRyan]

Update: Just flushed my remaining Ativan down the toilet, I haven't taken any since Thursday night, I'm compensating by using kava kava to relax, it acts on GABA but doesn't have the cognitive-motor impairment that alcohol and benzos do, so I assume it's a safe substitute. My muscles are stiff and rigid, but on the bright side I finished a my application for Westminster, a small, liberal arts college in Fulton, Missouri, and I'm focusing on deep-breathing to relieve stress. Seeing as how it's been a little more than twelve hours since last night, there's probably less than one-eighth in my system.