Does anyone know how to wean off ativan?

Question

i have been taking 1mg/day at bedtime since january. i want to stop taking it, but i know i need to wean off properly. i dont have medical insurance, so i cant get help from my dr.

how do i wean off and for how long?

Answer 1

Lisa, I'm a nurse, so I'll take this one.

Stopping any drug abruptly is a bad idea. I appreciate that you want to stop it. If you really want to wean yourself from it, Go from taking 1mg to 0.5mg a night. Cut the pill in half, in other words.Once you do that for a week or so, cut the pill in half again. That would be 0.25 mg. Do that for about a week then switch to 0.25 every other day for a week, then stop.

Another idea is to do this and instead of stopping altogether, take something else. Replace your ativan pill with an aspirin. (I mean go through the whole process above, but at the end rather than stopping and not taking something again, take and aspirin).

I think that before you do any of this you should explore the reason that you want to stop taking Ativan in the first place.........Why were you prescribed it? Is that condition gone? If you are taking it for anxiety, there are other meds out there that can help.

Good luck!

(and of course, if you could go see a Dr about it, DO!)

Answer 2

You may not have medical insurance, but you can call the Dr. that prescribed the Ativan for you and ask them the proper way to wean yourself from it.

I would NOT take anyones answer here, I would call the Dr.

~~Lisa