Weaning Off Lorazepam

A little over a month ago I went to the ER and was given 1mg Lorazepam tablets for anxiety by the ER doctor and told to follow up with my primary care doctor. The instuctions were to take up to 3 pills per day for anxiety. Now I've never taken 3 pills a day. For the first week I took one pill a day, then for the next 3 weeks I started cutting the pill in half and only taking 0.5mg a day. I decided last week that I didn't want to take it any longer since my anxiety has gotten loads better and my husband and I want to start trying to have a baby.

So a few days ago I started cutting the 0.5mg in half and only taking one of those a day. So now I'm down to roughly 0.25mg a day. It's been horrible since I cut it down to this dosage. I'm assuming I'm going through withdrawal symptoms even though I've only been taking a small dose for a little over a month. My anxiety has doubled, my heart rate has increased (usually is in the 70's and is now in the high 80's to low 90's), I get brief periods of lightheadedness, nausea, headaches, zero energy, and my eyes just feel weird. Basically these are most of the symptoms I had before I started taking this medicine.

Has anyone else experienced these symptoms when weaning off their benzo? I was never able to follow up with my primary care doctor after the ER since she was out of the country. I've since found out that she isn't coming back so I had to find a new doctor. I have an appointment on Wednesday with the new doc and plan to discuss this and get her opinion. I just wanted to see if anyone else has had a similar experience....

Post Edited (LisaS84) : 3/23/2015 11:25:55 AM (GMT-6)

I agree completely...and was going to say the same. It is doubtful that you had a physical dependency and are currently having withdrawls per say...

...but rather, your benzo (even at a low dose) was keeping your anxiety in check, and now you are experiencing the mental and physical symptoms again, now that you are on negliable mg's.

I hope that you get some good insight from your appointment on Wednesday, and can discuss alternative options.

For now, try learning a couple of new coping skills to keep you feeling as relaxed as possible. (see the Resources)

Keep us posted on your progress.:)

S.C.

Hi Lisa

Yes I agree it is unlikely that you are experiencing withdrawal effects after only one month taking the benzo. I also agree that it's probably just your anxiety come back but the Buspar should help with this Keep us posted on your progress and I hope this new med works well for you.

Hibee

Larry,

Yes another reason my doctor and I both wanted to get rid of the Loraz. It's harmful when pregnant. I told her I was planning on waiting a couple months to make sure everything was out of my system before we started trying. She agreed that would be best.

Thanks S.C.! :)

Guess I won't be starting the Buspar until tomorrow. Pharmacy just called and said they had to order it and it would be in tomorrow evening. Just work on my coping skills if needed. :)

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update. I got my Buspar yesterday. Today has been my first full day on it. Besides some dizziness and lightheadedness for brief periods it seems to be helps my anxiety already. Most of the symptoms I was having have gone away or reduced drastically. Let's hope this continues.

i take buspar as needed and it works great for me. your dr is right to take you off the benzo as they are for temp use only and are EXTREMLY addicative. buspar is a great drug more people should try it. sadly it dosnt work for everyone

Great news Lisa!

Glad to hear you are having positive results on the new Rx! :)

So happy for you...and yes, may it continue!

Keep us posted.

S.C.

Thanks everyone! I'm starting to feel like myself again and I'm liking it! Only problem I have now is trouble sleeping but I read that that can be a side effect of the buspar. Hopefully that goes away soon.