Gridley

[Rosetta]

Gridley,

 

I wish you did not have change your benzo!  Thinking of you and hoping it all goes smoothly.  Rosetta

[Gridley]

10 hours ago, Rosetta said:

hoping it all goes smoothly. 

Thanks, Rosetta.  I had a few bumps yesterday but this morning I'm better.  

[Carmie]

On 8/23/2019 at 1:12 AM, Gridley said:

 

Thanks for your kind words, Carmie.  

 

Donkeys are very sweet and love attention.  Sometimes I see them thundering by farther up the mountain chasing each other.  They love dust baths, carrots and being petted on the snout.

 

Hi Gridley, 

 

I’ll make sure next time I’m going to see donkeys I’ll take carrots and pet them on the snout. 🥕🥕🥕😄 Animals are amazing to watch, they’re a great distraction when going through withdrawals as they bring a smile to our faces. 

 

Sending hugs🤗

[Rabe]

Hi Gridley...hoping your crossover is going ok.  It is amazing to me how these meds are just DC'd or changed with no thought and to consequences.  Something is real wrong with that picture.  My doctor is now writing a prescription for the most of the new Clonazepam I crossed over to that can be taken at time....three 2mg tablets a day.  Im sure th pharmacy wonders what the heck is going on, but then I send them to the compounding pharmacy and they are holding them there to build a stock bottle of them for me....the pharmacist actually was the one that suggested it because it has no dyes and is close to my last one as far as fillers.  Just wanted to share that for what its worth.  Take care Gridley!  💜

[Gridley]

14 hours ago, Rabe said:

Take care Gridley!

Thanks for stopping by, Rabe.  That's a good idea, building up an inventory.  I have to do that down here with the Lorazepam because sometimes the supply chain doesn't work down here and things get scarce.

 

Crossover is going well.  I have a little ramp up of symptoms the first day or two of the next stage then it settles down.  I;'m at 1/4 old, 3/4 with a few days to go until it's all new.  Then I'll wait a bit and then re-start my Lexapro taper.

 

 

[Simmering]

When tapering Ativan, should you try and save some up, in case your pharmacy switches brands on you? That is the idea I get from your signature. Only Watson brand has been "effective" for me, as I taper I guess I should prepare for crossing over, didn't even consider that. Thank you.

[Gridley]

1 hour ago, Simmering said:

When tapering Ativan, should you try and save some up, in case your pharmacy switches brands on you? That is the idea I get from your signature. Only Watson brand has been "effective" for me, as I taper I guess I should prepare for crossing over, didn't even consider that. Thank you.

 

Saving some up is definitely a good idea, building up an inventory of your brand as much as possible.

 

Another reason to stock up on the old pills is that you never know when your source will dry up.  If you have a good stock, you can make a slow transition to the new, which will minimize symptoms.  I miscalculated and though I'm confident i will stabilize, it's unpleasant in the meantime.  I didn't have enough of the old and am having a tough time at the moment in my transition.  

 

So I'd suggest you stock up with enough your old effective brand to allow you to taper 3/4 old, 1/4 new for one week, 1/2 old 1/2 new for one week, 1/4 old, 3/4 new for one week. You could set this inventory aside in a reserve place.  Stock up more if possible.   I didn't have enough of the old brand to do this, so now am experiencing symptoms I might've avoided.

 

Edited September 9, 2019 by Gridley

[Giulietta]

Every time I get a new bottle of medication I swap out a few pills of the new bottle for a few of the new bottle and break the tablets - and spread them over a few days. Whether it is useful or not I don't know. I have a small reserve of lorazepam (ativan) and I find that this disintegrates rapidly.  I keep this in a dry place and in a zip lock bag to minimize this.

 

For supply chain issues - which I mentioned earlier - I have an agreed to plan B with my MD. If my local pharmacy can't fill my clonazepam script - I can go the hospital ER and they would give me a few to hold me over. The prescribing MD told me yesterday that he could call  a script to the hospital pharmacy to get it filled. This is my plan B after not being able to get my clonazepam filled by the pharmacy (major chain in the New England area). The hospital is not nearby  and $12 to park for 1 hour. But it is a plan B.

[Gridley]

1 hour ago, Guilietta said:

Whether it is useful or not I don't know.

Probably a good idea in case there's any variance from bottle to bottle--can't hurt.

 

Good work on Plan B.

[Giulietta]

1 hour ago, Gridley said:

Good work on Plan B.

 

I will sleep better now....

 

The MD  looked somewhat surprised that clonazepam would not be available....but handled my information matter-of-factly.

[ChessieCat]

2 hours ago, Guilietta said:

I have a small reserve of lorazepam (ativan) and I find that this disintegrates rapidly.  I keep this in a dry place and in a zip lock bag to minimize this.

 

If you have some tablets which have a moisture capsule or packet, you could put that in too.

[Altostrata]

Great idea, @ChessieCat I reuse those packets, too.

[Giulietta]

Thanks, what a good idea.  Is the attached image the product you might suggest?

 

MDs aren't always so keen to prescribe more than the minimum number of tablets.

[Carmie]

Hi Gridley, 

 

Thinking of you. I hope your crossover is going okay.💚

[bubbles]

Hi Gridley

Hope you're doing well.

B

[Gridley]

My Lorazepam crossover has ironed itself out.  The updose (done because the new Ativan is somewhat weaker than the old generic) kicked in right on the fourth day, just when SA says a  dose change gets to get to full state in the blood.  Symptoms back to normal, transition now complete, I'll be able to restart my Lexapro taper midweek after a 5-week hold.

[brassmonkey]

Good to hear Gridley.  I'm so glad things are settling down and you can get on with it.

[Rosetta]

I'm happy to hear this!  Yea!  So nice to have that overwith.  I hope you have a lovely day. -Rosetta

[Dejavu]

Excellent, Gridley! Another hurdle cleared!

[Gridley]

Tomorrow I resume my Lexapro taper.  Because of the limitations of the scale and the unusually high ratio of active ingredient (ai) to pill weight (pw) of my brand (1:10), I'm going to have to change my taper schedule to remain under 10% per month.  My new taper schedule with be a 5% drop for one week, hold there for one week, drop another 5% and hold there for one week.  So tomorrow I'll be dropping from 17mgpw to 16mgpw, 1.8mgai to 1.6mgai.

 

I'll work in additional holds as necessary.

 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Gridley

[Frogie]

1 minute ago, Gridley said:

Tomorrow I resume my Lexapro taper.  Because of the limitations of the scale and the unusually high ratio of active ingredient (ai) to pill weight (pw) of my brand (1:10), I'm going to have to change my taper schedule to remain under 10% per month.  My new taper schedule with be a 5% drop for one week, hold there for one week, drop another 5% and there for one week.  So tomorrow I'll be dropping from 17mgpw to 16mgpw, 1.8mgai to 1.6mgai.

 

I'll work in additional holds as necessary.

 

Sounds like you are doing wonderful. You have everything straightened out and are on the right track.

 

 I’m very happy for you!

 

Take care,

 Frogie xx

[Gridley]

1 minute ago, Frogie said:

 I’m very happy for you!

Thanks for checking in, Frogie.  I hope everything is going well with the new house and everything else.

[Carmie]

Hi Gridley, 

 

Hope all goes well with your next taper. Who knew all the math we learnt at school would help us so much some day.😂 I’m hopeless at math, but by some miracle I seemed to have figured out all sorts of mathematical equations during tapering, even figuring out how to do a crossover last year. I amazed myself.😂😂 I got brassmonkey to double check it, just in case, but it was right. Yay!

 

How are all your animals doing? You live in such a beautiful country. 

 

Sending hugs to you🤗

[Gridley]

8 hours ago, Carmie said:

How are all your animals doing? You live in such a beautiful country. 

I loved elementary school arithmetic but when I got to junior high and algebra I was lost. I'm glad I realized I was tapering too fast.  I'm guessing I have about a year to go on the Lexapro, then after a break I'll start in on the Ativan.

 

The burros are pudgy and happy.  They bray when they see us as an encouragement to come up with carrots and broccoli and lettuce.  They don't do a lick of work, just frolic and run. This is the dry season ere, so the grass is not good and we have to supplement their food with vitamin-laden salt.

 

Humphrey, the Pekinese mix (I call him a giant Pekinese) got a clean bill of health last week when we took him to the Big City 5 hours away.  The vet feared he had incipient bladder stones but all is well.

[Frogie]

19 hours ago, Gridley said:

Thanks for checking in, Frogie.  I hope everything is going well with the new house and everything else.

You are very welcome. I’m doing well. Went to our old property last weekend and cleaned out the barn. Don’t have to go back now! But have a mess we are trying to go through in the garage and trailer. I’ll get done in a couple of days and then we can relax 😊

 

Glad you are doing so well. And saw the donkeys 🐴(that’s as close as I could come to a picture of a donkey lol) are good, and of course wonderful news about your baby🐕

 

Take care,

 Frogie xx

[Carmie]

You made me laugh when you said the burros are pudgy and happy Gridley,😂

 

Glad to hear it. I lived in Spain briefly as a teenager and there were donkeys in the street. I have a photo of myself too when I was about four or so in Spain on a donkey with my brother. I came to Australia when I was about five, but went to Europe for two years as a teenager. I lived in Germany and Spain. 

 

Glad to hear Humphrey is doing well too. I think it’s lovely watching animals, it’s soothing to the soul, a great plus when going through withdrawals. That was a long drive to get him to the vet. Was that five hours each way? I drove up the Coast with a friend about a month or so ago to drop her mother off, it was a four hour drive each way. I love going on road trips. We were in the car for eight hours that day. There’s something about being on the road that I find extremely relaxing. I’m a massive fan of trains too. 

 

Give the burros some carrots for me🥕🥕🥕😃💚

[Gridley]

9 hours ago, Carmie said:

Was that five hours each way?

Yes, each way.  It takes that big because it's a very winding road in the Andes and sometimes you get behind a lumbering heavy truck that can barely make it up the mountain.  

 

We have a good vet in our tiny village, and he's pretty much available 24 hours a day.  At night if it's an emergency you just go to his house and yell and he'll come down.  But we go to Cuenca, where we used to live, if it's something specialized and requiring special equipment (like the sonogram or Humphrey's bladder--no bladder stone - yay!).  Humphrey and Yapa are beside me on the sofa as I write this and they are a comfort for sure.

 

It's great you have all those activities lined up!

[Rhiannon]

Hi Gridley-- As I've been wandering about the forum again in the past few weeks, it's been lovely to see the great work being done by the moderators. Thank you for all you do. It's been great getting to know you a bit from your thread and your posts. -- Rhi

[Gridley]

On 9/20/2019 at 1:06 PM, Rhiannon said:

t's been great getting to know you a bit from your thread and your posts. -- Rhi

It's great having you back!

[Gridley]

Update:  Some ramped up symptoms (anxiety, insomnia) following my new brand Ativan crossover, possibly exacerbated by my latest Lexapro drop to 1.6.  Will need to hold for a while at these low doses.

[Giulietta]

12 minutes ago, Gridley said:

Update:  Some ramped up symptoms (anxiety, insomnia) following my new brand Ativan crossover, possibly exacerbated by my latest Lexapro drop to 1.6.  Will need to hold for a while at these low doses.

 

Sorry to hear about your symptoms.  Hope you feel better soon as you hold and stabililze.

[wantrelief]

I am really sorry you have had an uptick in symptoms, Gridley.  Holding has helped you in the past when you've experienced increased symptoms so I am sure you will be feeling better soon.  My thoughts are with you.

[embd]

So sorry to hear that, Gridley! Insomnia is a lousy companion, which I know first-hand! Hoping you feel better soon...

[Gridley]

@Guilietta  @wantrelief @embd  Thanks for dropping by and your kind words.  The anxiety has abated somewhat and is limiting itself to early morning.  Once I get up things are better.  I managed to get back to sleep after early waking the last couple of nights, so that seems to be improving too.  Switching drug manufacturers can really throw you for a loop.  I'm holding for at least a week starting tomorrow at 1.6mg Lexapro and will see how I'm doing at that point.

 

Much healing and strength to all of you.

[Giulietta]

Hello Gridley,

 

It sounds like things may be turning the corner for you. I'm glad to know this. I have found that anxiety/cortisol spikes upon waking may be helped by getting up and moving around /walking as well. Insomnia varies - in spite of the weighted blanket and black out eye patch -and last night was a brief one awakeninig with tinnitus ('rining in the brain' aptly named....).

 

Changes in generic mfrs really do affect us - there is up to a 30% difference between generics permitted by law. Compared to brand name drugs - who knows what we're getting. Smart to hold for at least a week.

 

Best wishes,

Guilietta

 

[JackieDecides]

11 hours ago, Gridley said:

I managed to get back to sleep after early waking the last couple of nights, so that seems to be improving too.

 

that's great 🤗