lorazepam withdrawl

[Kathy343]

I have been taking lorazepam 1.0 mg per day for about 3 years and I'm ready to be done taking it.  I'm a little concerned about withdrawl.  I started taking half for about three days and don't have any problem with it.  Is it safe to stop?

Thanks for your advice.

Kathy

[morbidlyeuphoric]

Talk to your Dr first and be very careful. And like they said, taper off slowly. It's a super addictive medication. I had only been on it for 6 months and didn't think I was addicted to it and I forgot to get a refill and my withdrawal symptoms from missing one dose the next day were terrible. I had to leave work, and I couldn't function. So I would advise against just outright stopping.

[amish1979]

As always you should take to your physician when deciding to taper off a benzodiazepine.  1.0 mg/day isn't a huge dose so you shouldn't have too many problems coming off of it as long as you don't go cold turkey.

I was at 1 mg/day for about 2 months so I didn't have the long-term use that you did, although I had been taking it "as needed" for a couple years prior.  I had no problems coming off of that 1 mg/day by cutting them in half and taking that daily for 2 weeks, and then taking the 1/2 every other day for another two weeks.

Of course, individual results may vary.  Your taper may take long and may involve more increments than that.

[barfer]

I would be inclined to reduce very slowly.  Can you cut it in 1/4s?  Ryan is a great one to ask about this.  He is very knowledgeable.