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Taking Lorazepam For Anxiety And Got Addicted To Imovane. How To Stop Taking Imovane?

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Posted on Fri, 12 Apr 2013
Question: taking imovane for almost a year. Feeling very anxious, trying to get off the two 7.5 mg pills I take a day. Started taking lorazepam for anxiety during the day.I feel terrible What can I do to get off this awful drug?
what kind of withdrawl symptoms can I expect? I have decreased my dose of imovane from two 7.5mg tablets a day to one. I have been taking sublinguinal ativan 2 to 3 mg tablets during the day for anxiety. Am I approaching my addiction properly?
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Answered by Dr. Sundar Gnanavel (15 minutes later)
Hello.........
Thanks for your query. Imovane is zopiclone, a non-benzodiazepine sedative which is generally considered to be safe. Lorazepam is a benzodiapine group of sedative. Generally to taper off these sedatives, we calculate the equivalent dosage of clonazepam/diazepam which are longer acting sedatives and shift you to one of these drugs. Then we gradually taper you off at 25% per week i.e complete taper in a month. Contact a substance use specialist to start this process. Wish you good health.
Regards
Dr Sundar
Substance use specialist
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Sundar Gnanavel

Psychiatrist

Practicing since :2009

Answered : 632 Questions

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Taking Lorazepam For Anxiety And Got Addicted To Imovane. How To Stop Taking Imovane?

Hello.........
Thanks for your query. Imovane is zopiclone, a non-benzodiazepine sedative which is generally considered to be safe. Lorazepam is a benzodiapine group of sedative. Generally to taper off these sedatives, we calculate the equivalent dosage of clonazepam/diazepam which are longer acting sedatives and shift you to one of these drugs. Then we gradually taper you off at 25% per week i.e complete taper in a month. Contact a substance use specialist to start this process. Wish you good health.
Regards
Dr Sundar
Substance use specialist