TXoilman: Reinstate or not?

[mlrp]

Thanks for that clarification, Rhi. You (and the other mods) are so knowledgable - the information I've gleaned on SA  has been a God-send. I'm pretty sure it was here that I learned that lorazepam/ativan is considerably stronger than valium. If that's true, no wonder splitting a tiny .5 mg tab into separate doses makes a difference for me.

 

As I look more closely at TX's wife's history, it reminds me of my (and many others) situation - skipping doses (to taper Wellbutrin) because I didn't know any better.

 

I'm also learning the critical importance of keeping a symptom log - with AD w/d the devil is definitely in the details.

[TXOilman]

All,

 

My wife stopped the 0.05mg reinstatement after 17 days. Her last dose was 3 weeks ago today. The first week wasn't terrible, and some of the symptoms she was suffering from while on the drug diminished, but the last two weeks have been pure hell!!! She is fighting hard, but has many symptoms of Akathisia, severe pain in her joints and leg muscles, agitation/anxiety, very bad shaking all over, and she can't stop dwelling on why she decided to RI and all the reasons she should not have. She obviously had a serious adverse reaction and should have stopped immediately, but she didn't and now feels her life is ebbing away. She has no confidence that even the best ER in the Dallas area could help her if she went there. After 2 weeks of extremely severe symptoms, any ideas on how long before they began to diminish?

[Petunia]

Its unlikely that a brief reinstatement of 0.05mg of lexapro has had any long term effect on the course of her withdrawal, that's if it had any effect at all.  It sounds like she is going through the normal windows and waves pattern of withdrawal, which is how most people experience withdrawal and recovery.

 

The windows and waves pattern of recovery

 

Its impossible to say how long it will take for you wife to recover from tapering too fast off 6 years of lexapro use.

 

 

She has always taken incredibly tiny amounts of the Ativan because she has always felt that her system didn't need much to "take the edge off". Wouldn't it be bizarre if some of these symptoms we have thought were totally related to Lexapro WD was actually related to Ativan "withdrawal".
 

 

Is your wife still using Ativan and Ambien on an irregular basis?  Irregular use of a benzo, no matter how small the amount, while in withdrawal can cause rebound anxiety once the drug wears off.  More regular use causes dependance and withdrawal if stopped, that would also need to be carefully tapered.

 

Here is the link to our symptoms and self care section, she may find some useful non-drug ideas to help manage symptoms as she recovers.  Especially read the topics pinned at the top.