tapering doses of ativan

[lipika500]

My father (74 yrs) is heavily addicted to ativan. He used to take 10mg ativan daily? after lot of persuation and meeting with doctor doses has come down to 6 mg. But he is having withdrawal symptoms, like, palpitation, bouts of depression, confusion etc.
The doctor has suggested to taper the dose, 6mg to continue for 4 weeks, then 5mg for 4 weeks, then switching over to campose and then again tapering. Will you please suggest me what should be the right tapering regime?
Lipika

[Joey1742]

Hi I totally agree with abbey your father can come off these relativley easy I have myself. The first time I tried I didn't know what I was getting myself into I was realy I'll and it came on so fast and with to many symptoms to mention, my girlfriend said iwas like a frightend dying little kitten there you go. So I had no choice but to get back on and taper it's to dangerous to just stop. I tapered from 20ml a day to half ml every couple of days over months and months then kept cutting that back as much as I could. When I finally stopped I had about 3 nights without sleep and some little sort of hallucinations nothing bad though and I couldn't believe it. I am young compared to your dad though so I would be very carefull. Going from 10 to 6 is a risk I would NOT have taken I'm surprised. But now he's on that just taper him slowley so he doesn't even notice. All the best Joey

[Sjoggie]

For what is worth, I was told to only drop ativan by .5 mg every month and a cardiac nurse said the best way was to cut a tablet of .5 mg by 1/4 a tablet every week.

With your dad's age he may need to go slower.

I think you might want to get another doctor's advice.

At his age does he need to completely come off the drug?  Obviously, he needs to reduce the dosage big time.

Good luck.

[abby10]

Those cuts are way too huge and don't have your poor dad go on campose! You father is at an age where the benzodiazepines are staying at higher levels in his blood. He needs to do a "cross over" to a long acting benzo - valium, and taper extremely slowly from there.

Google benzodiazepine withdrawal and see site benzo.org.uk (ashton manual) you will learn much more than most doctors you'll talk to. Find a benzo support site and get a taper plan that will fit your dad's needs. Tell him to NOT drink alcohol or he will not be able to taper off.

abby

[TroubledDude]

I hope you get some answers on this because I am very curious about the regiment for getting off Ativan. My Doctor prescribed these for me around ten years ago and ever since I have not had a day go by without it. My initial prescription was for two to three 1mg tablets per day and after ten years, my prescription remains at two to three 1mg tablets per day. I have read that getting off benzo's is a real bi#@% and usually involves a hospital stay. I'm not in any rush to get off these, however maybe I should be?

TD