Ativan Withdrawal...please help!!

[Cass98]

I had a bad reaction to Zithromycin About 4 months ago (shortness of breath, rapid heart beat, dystonic muscle reactions.) Sent me to urgent care and the Dr. said it would go away in a few days, take some allergy meds. Zithromycin after effects oddly gave me a permanent anxiety problem where I felt like I couldn’t eat without having a panic attack and this constant clearing throat thing directly after eating anything. I never had anxiety in my life before the Zpack reaction. I lost 30 lbs in 2 months! I swallowed fine, but within 30 seconds I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I had an endoscopy which came out somewhat normal, but the feeling continued. I’ve even been on PPIs for a couple months, 80mg a day, no help. My doctor prescribed Ativan and I started taking it after dinner, ( 2 .5mgs=1 mg) once a day for 1 month. I recently tried stopping it cold turkey and no one told me that was a no no I experienced horrible withdrawal symptoms almost instantly after my body realized the dose was missing. I experienced trembling, crawling skin, chest pain and tightness, rapid heartbeat. I still feel this way and it’s been almost constantly for a couple weeks now. I went back on it for a few days and tried to taper, but I felt no different so I stopped it again. I think I may have tapered too quickly. I started to taper again starting at just one .5mg pill for a few days and planning on tapering down by .25 of the pill every few days. Through this all I’m still feeling miserable 24 hours a day My doctor is absolutely no help and said I shouldn’t be having withdrawal since I wasn’t on it that long, but I KNOW my body is sensitive to any pills and I definitely am having withdrawal. I still feel like my heart is constantly racing. I can feel my heart beating in my back. My blood pressure is normal most of the time, but my heart rate is never below 82 resting. My skin is crawling with irritability. I was only on Ativan for a month and such a low dose. It’s crazy how fast my body became addicted to it! Please please please if anyone has been through Ativan withdrawal and successfully self detoxed I would REALLY appreciate a few pointers. I just feel lost and so uncomfortable. Is this feeling all normal, even when tapering. I have insomnia with this crawling feeling every single night. Will this ever end? What’s the best taper dose? This addiction was an honest accident and now I feel stuck. I want to be completely comfortable without having to take any drugs. I just need pointers and hope. Thank you!

[Bkin]

I think your best bet would be to get in touch with these people:-

ukat.co.uk/benzodiazepines/...

Good luck, hope you get your symptoms calmed very soon.

[Cass98 in reply to Bkin]

Thank you.

[cofdrop-UK]

You could also contact No Panic, a longstanding and reputable site.

Good luck.

Cx

[Hellodolly]

I’m sorry about what you are going through. I don’t know why your GP is in denial - people get addicted to benzodiazepines very quickly. It’s difficult to come off but you can do it. I see that someone has given you a link and they can help.

All the feelings are totally normal. Ativan is powerful. It works very quickly in your system, then the body starts relying on it to calm down. If you come off it cold turkey you get all the withdrawals you are talking about very intensely.

Take the lowest dose you can and taper slowly. Try and do a bit of meditation every day which will help the body calm down a bit. Calm/ headspace/ insight timer. Things like acupuncture can help too. If you can, go out for walks.

Best of luck - post how you are doing.

[Hellodolly]

Also

benzo.org.uk/support.htm

[jackdup]

Benzos are very difficult to get off of and it irritates me that doctors give them our so freely and without any warning to unsuspecting patients who take them in good faith not expecting what many people experience. Most if not all Benzos are supposed to be prescribed fir short term use only, generally 7-10 days as they are highly addictive.

I wish you luck getting off of them and pray the withdrawal symptoms will subside soon.

[Cass98 in reply to jackdup]

Thank you. I really am sensitive to any pills. I want to be off them so badly and just feel normal. I appreciate your words.

[Hidden]

I’ve some experience of benzo addiction with two family members. That dose, once a day for a month, is very short term & no gp could anticipate you’d have problems safely coming off. I don’t think tapering would be considered necessary after a month. Are you 100% certain this is a physiological rather than psychological reaction? The symptoms you describe are also typical of anxiety, which your body has recently been primed to by your reaction to azithromycin. Obviously I’m just speculating, but perhaps you’re psychologically dependent on the idea you need these drugs. It can happen with sleeping meds too. Don’t think I’m trivialising your experience, I’m not, I know this reaction is just as real and painful. With my family members, the only thing which worked was tapering really really slowly ie half the dose for 3 weeks, then half that for 3 weeks etc (I think they were both physiologically AND psychologically addicted.) You’d have to use a pill cutter, though I’ve just looked it up & you can get Ativan in liquid form so you could use a dropper & do it really slowly. 1ml = 1mg so you could measure how many drops that is and then reduce yourself over time

[Cass98 in reply to Hidden]

My body is extremely sensitive to any medications. I have microcytic anemia and also beta thalassemia trait so maybe it has something to do with my sensitivity. I’m not quite sure. I feel like all of this started with the Zithromycin for sure 100%. I had a very bad reaction to it( along with what I think was extreme anxiety). I’ve never had anxiety problems in my life before then. The Ativan helped me feel like I could breathe after eating, that’s the only reason I took it. I stopped cold turkey at first not expecting withdrawal symptoms because I was unaware of that happening. I didn’t know something was wrong until it happened. My heart rate is constantly high, blood pressure fine, chest pain, skin crawling, trembling. I just want it to stop. Hopefully if I somewhat taper it will help, but it hasn’t so far

[Hidden in reply to Cass98]

I can tell you’re really suffering. I really do recommend you try the liquid and dropper system, it’s the only way to cut down really slowly. This way, it’ll take a while to get off them but hopefully you won’t have these horrible withdrawal symptoms. Your gp doesn’t seem to have taken your extreme sensitivity into account.

[Cass98 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you. I will look into it!

[Ergendl]

I had real problems with prescribed benzo addiction in early adulthood. I used an adapted version of the 12 step program to come off them, in the company of some friends who also had issues with prescribed drugs. The doctors used to give benzos out like smarties in the early 1970s and kept saying they weren't addictive. It took Esther Rantzen highlighting the problem on That's Life! in the early 1980s for them to start taking notice.