Aa
Ativan concern
I have been on ativan 1 mg for a little over a year for anxiety, i take 1 every evening with 1 tylenol or advil pm..I ran out yesterday and missed last nights dose. didnt sleep well at all...nightmares, numb hands and feet, horrible...and today very tired disoriented and dizzy..got the rx filled today. but i want to discontinue the ativan but i understand it can cause problems of withdrawl..one night was bad enough. any advise?
Oh dear, I'm so sorry for your loss, that's very tragic. My deepest sympathies to you, hon.
thank you for the condolences...i hope you are able to work out your issues with ativan...and safely...its all so scary! i sure dont want to see of another life cut short because of lack of knowlege...thank god for forums like these!
1st i wanna say that im SO SORRY to hear of your sister that passed away....theres never an easy way to cope!!! but ive been takin ativan 2mg every day for bout a yr now....but here lately i have been abusing it. i will cut em in 1/2 n take em through out the day also. i also went 2 days without any and couldnt sleep, bad headaches, n alot of shaking. i have bad depression n anxiety...so i really need the meds tho. but when i read peoples withdrawls with paxil (40mg) n ativans....im startin to second guess my meds.
thank for yalls input...i will discuss this with my dr. Im all to familiar with addiction to any rx meds and can be FATAL! My sweet sister PASSED AWAY 8 years ago at age 40..6 months to get toxicology report and it discovered she was on a mild antidepressant and took methadone..bad combination and she was unaware...she had battled addiction to pain meds and got methadone off the street to treat her own addicion...she didnt have large amounts of ANY drug in her body at the time...but the combination killed her. ANY meds at ANY amount is a serious issue...i dont see how some ppl stay alive when i hear all the large amounts of rx drugs they abuse! i dont experience anxiety during the day as often...i usually feel pretty good..but night time is tough..even ativan alone doesnt keep me asleep..i take 1 tylenol or advil PM to help it along. im currently working with a chiropractic physician to control hashimotos disease and im feeling better than EVER...however, night time is the issue. thanks again for your concern
You need to talk to your doctor. If you want to stop taking this, then you'll need to taper off of it with your doctor's help (as mentioned above). Are you taking it for sleep or anxiety? Sounds like the way you take it, it's more for sleep?
Benzodiazepines can be amazing meds for the treatment of anxiety, but there are some considerations. When taking a shorter acting benzo, like Ativan, or Xanax, it's REALLY best to take them as a rescue med, or "as needed", which means you would take them when you felt an increase in your anxiety, but you wouldn't automatically take it every day. The reason for this is because, when taken regularly, tolerance builds. Tolerance is when your system becomes used to the drug, and requires more of it to maintain the same level of effectiveness. The other obvious problem with taking benzos regularly is dependency, as you're discovering. You've become dependent on it, where you will suffer w/d's without it. That's different than an addiction, but it still can be bothersome.
Definitely have a discussion with your doc...if the Ativan was originally Rx'd for anxiety, ask him if it would be more appropriate to be used PRN or "as needed" (like I explained above)? If it helps you, that's great, but it may actually be MORE helpful if you don't take it regularly. If you want off all together, ask your doc for a taper plan. Just be aware that it's common to experience some rebound anxiety after discontinuing anxiolytic meds. You also may have some rebound insomnia, being that you were taking it at bedtime.
Don't make any changes without seeing your doc first. I'll be anxious to hear what the doc says!
Benzodiazepines can be amazing meds for the treatment of anxiety, but there are some considerations. When taking a shorter acting benzo, like Ativan, or Xanax, it's REALLY best to take them as a rescue med, or "as needed", which means you would take them when you felt an increase in your anxiety, but you wouldn't automatically take it every day. The reason for this is because, when taken regularly, tolerance builds. Tolerance is when your system becomes used to the drug, and requires more of it to maintain the same level of effectiveness. The other obvious problem with taking benzos regularly is dependency, as you're discovering. You've become dependent on it, where you will suffer w/d's without it. That's different than an addiction, but it still can be bothersome.
Definitely have a discussion with your doc...if the Ativan was originally Rx'd for anxiety, ask him if it would be more appropriate to be used PRN or "as needed" (like I explained above)? If it helps you, that's great, but it may actually be MORE helpful if you don't take it regularly. If you want off all together, ask your doc for a taper plan. Just be aware that it's common to experience some rebound anxiety after discontinuing anxiolytic meds. You also may have some rebound insomnia, being that you were taking it at bedtime.
Don't make any changes without seeing your doc first. I'll be anxious to hear what the doc says!
You cannot suddenly stop Ativan and Xanax, as it can cause siezures. You don't want this. So you will need to taper it down. Get with your doc and discuss a tapering schedule to get you off of it. If you are on the Ativan for a legitimate reason, why do you want to get off of it if it is helping you? It doesn't seem like you are abusing it or misusing it. Just wondering.
I personally haven't had any Experiance with Ativan but I am sure someone ere can help you! Have you talked to your doctor about concerns and help? I read a little on Ativan and it says it does cause withdrawls with some symptoms including insomnia and anxiety. Going through withdrawals is a long process and is really draining but can be done. Like I said I haven't had any experiancwith Ativan in particular but someone will come along and hopefully be able to give you some more help then I can.
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