Monday, September 04, 2006

Lorazepam Addiction...

Of course I've been taking Lorazepam for a long time. I'm taking 3 mg at night as a sleep aid. Now is seems that my addiction needs more. I'm starting to wake up sooner than I should.

My wife weaned herself off of Clonopin a few weeks ago and has been sleeping good ever since.

I'm not ready to beat this addicition as of yet. I'm going to wait until after our vacation next month and then start the slow process of detoxing.

I plan on following a typical detox regiment, by cutting the dosage a small percentage at a time, do that for a few weeks, then cut again, then repeat.

So for now, I'm supplementing my addiction with 1mg of clonopin. Clonopin works for 8 hrs verses the 4 hrs for Lorazepam ( Ativan). It really helps and I am sleeping soundly again.

I know it before you all say it- "don't take other peoples medications". I am very fimilar with all the drugs in our household. So I'm going to use whats avaiable for now. Gotta do whata gotta do .

12 comments:

Maggs said...

I wondered where you have been! Just be careful weaning.

Unknown said...

I was on Celexa for a while. I lost my job do to downsizing and thus my insurabce went too. I couldn't afford my meds anymore. So, when I ran out that was it. I crashed hard. I felt like I had the flu for like a month straight.

Anonymous said...

Oh man, I love k-pins ... Definitely makes the day a lot more relaxing, for me about .5 mg in the morning and same at night. The only thing is, at night it doesn't do much to help me sleep really. On top of that I take 1000mg Depakote, still though nothing quite makes you really sleepy like a couple beers. Well, I've heard about various things like seroquil etc, but I'm not sure ... And the things like Ambien, ah .. well, don't really want to be sleepwalking and that kind of thing. Any ideas?

BlondeBrony said...

Be careful.
Have you ever wondered why we feel the need to self medicate?

Anonymous said...

I'm coming off of Ativan right now and I'm having a much harder time with it than anyone knows.

Anonymous said...

oh sweet SWEET Lorazepam.....I know better than to look at the stuff....I could very easily just be on it for the rest of my life....fell in love with it pre-surgery at 9 years old...had it again in emergency in high school...oh yes, my first love....oh sweet sweet Lorazepam. Apparently one of the most addictive drugs that ever existed...and if u have bipolar...lol...good luck in getting off the stuff.

Anonymous said...

I've been taking lorazepam for 15 years, usually 1 mg at night or 2 mg if i'm in a manic episode or just have trouble sleeping... is there any harm in just staying on it?

Anonymous said...

My p-doc doesn't seem to have any plans to take me off ativan.

I take 1mg 3x a day, and now ambien for sleep. I am sleeping better with it, vivid dreams, but man in the morning it looks like I have been ninja fighting the covers all night.

Anonymous said...

well im 15 and i stole a lorazepam from my aunts medical cabinet i took one its 1 mg im currently on it, i smoked pot last night wonder whatll happen today since its still in my system and i just took this stuff, i feel fine will i die if i keep taking it? can i handle another one today or should i wait for another day?

Anonymous said...

Check out Valerian Root for a sleep aid. It's natural as it sounds so there's no rick addiction or dependency and it's supposed to work well for bipolar patients. I found it on the net for about 10 dollars (100 capsules). I'm bipolar and I always seem to get to sleep. Most of the time I'm okay, but whenever a lot of things are going through my head, because I was dumb enough to take a nap during the day or I got to bed at an odd hour I just take one and I'm alseep in a couple minutes. I took it after reading about it in a "The bipolar handbook."

Anonymous said...

Re Valerian Root

Just because something is natural does not mean it cannot become addictive. A lot of the time addiction is just a compulsive habit. If you were to take a placebo pill for 4 years every morning at 8 am and tried to stop cold turkey. Some people can experience real withdrawl symptoms.

My point is that anything has the potential to become an addiction. Vitamins for instance. Your body would notice the missing power boost it got when you took them. Quit taking vitamins cold turkey and some people act in the same manner as a opiate addict, running to the cabinet in panic because they fear not getting through the day without them. Or night in the case of a sleep aid.

steve said...

I could never get to sleep as long as I have remembered. I'll get to bed around 2 and fall asleep around 5 or 6 and I wouldn't call it sleep anyway. I have been taking
Ambien for 2-3 months and sleep fine. Much better than other medicines I've used for insomnia. No hangover the next day just groggy for 30 minutes or so.