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Is this Ativan withdrawals?

Posted by SJP on October 03, 2005 at 04:24:31:

Long story short, I'm a career insomniac. Been taking 5-10 mg Ambiem and 25 mg Elavil every night for about 4 years. Had a rough summer and started taking some Restoril but not every night, didn't work that great for me. Dr. gave me Ativan but I didn't use it until a month ago when I got sick and was desperate for some sleep. Took 1mg for a week. I started being very sensitive to noise which would start in the early afternoon. I reduced to 1/2 mg at night and the noise sensitivity got worse. I decided to try the other 1/2 mg during the day and sure enough, that took care of it. I realized I was becoming addicted to Ativan so I quit taking it but it has been almost unbearable. I have been taking 1/4 mg to try to taper and curb the withdrawals. Is this possible? Addiction in that little time. It's been 2 weeks since I stopped taking halves and I feel crummy all day. This is wicked stuff, my Dr. should have warned me.

Also I did a very quick taper and quit the Elavil about a month before starting the Ativan. That also had some withdrawals. And I was having noise sensitivity around that time but looking back, I think it was due to stopping Restoril.

Kicker is I've started sleep restriction and have been sleeping 6 - 6 1/2 hours a night and feeling rested but that is overshadowed by the Ativan withdrawals. I have been using 5mg Ambien nightly and am trying to taper that off as well. Dont' no if that is affecting anything but I'm not quite ready to go cold turkey on the sleep meds. Can't wait to be clean of all this.


Thanks in advance.
Scott

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