Lauren90: history with sertraline

[Lauren90]

9 hours ago, Shep said:

 

I would not go off Ativan while you are still on Sertraline. Please see:

 

Taking multiple psych drugs? Which drug to taper first?

 

Scroll down in the first post of that thread until you get to this part: "Benzos are addicting! Why not quit the benzo first?"

 

I would come all the way off the sertraline before you reduce the propranolol and the Ativan. You are especially in danger of kindling due to the off and on use of Ativan, as well as drinking alcohol. Please see:

 

Hypersensitivity and Kindling

Stay on propranolol, sure I can agree with that. But my reason for wanting to come

off the benzo is that I am almost off. I am on a minuscule dose. The total of .025mg Ativan a day. That’s the jump dose off of Ativan according to the Ashton manual. To me, knowing the dangers of staying on them long term, knowing that the withdrawal thus far from them has been minimal, I feel like it would be best to go ahead and get off of that. Otherwise I’ll be on a benzo for at least four more years at a microscopic dose while I taper the Sertraline, risking having complications coming fully off of it later down the road, which would compound my problems. In my mind, getting off now is future harm reduction. At .025 the benzo does nothing for me. It’s not a large enough dose to sedate me and help me get through an SSRI taper.

[Lauren90]

4 minutes ago, Lauren90 said:

Stay on propranolol, sure I can agree with that. But my reason for wanting to come

off the benzo is that I am almost off. I am on a minuscule dose. The total of .025mg Ativan a day. That’s the jump dose off of Ativan according to the Ashton manual. To me, knowing the dangers of staying on them long term, knowing that the withdrawal thus far from them has been minimal, I feel like it would be best to go ahead and get off of that. Otherwise I’ll be on a benzo for at least four more years at a microscopic dose while I taper the Sertraline, risking having complications coming fully off of it later down the road, which would compound my problems. In my mind, getting off now is future harm reduction. At .025 the benzo does nothing for me. It’s not a large enough dose to sedate me and help me get through an SSRI taper.

In addition to that, my doctor isn’t going to write me a script for a benzo four more years or however long it’s going to take me to get off of Sertraline. That’s for sure

[Erimus]

How you doing, Lauren?