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Ativan Withdrawal

Ok, so I went to my doctor's today and he told me that he didn't want me on Ativan anymore.  He instead wanted me to start taking Zoloft the next day.  I'm not really against this because I wanted to get off Ativan anyway.  I have been taking 1.5mg of Ativan three times a day for just about month now and asked my doctor if I should be weaned off it.  He said that I didn't need to be because I was not on it that long (about a month as mentioned before) and it was not that high of a dosage, plus I am taking 30mg of Atarax to help with my anxiety and he said that should be enough to counteract any possible problems.  Well here I am sitting awake at about 2:00 in the morning because I just woke up to what I guess was an anxiety attack/hot flash.  The weird thing is is that since I started having anxiety issues about a month ago I never had one like this.  My face became really hot and sweaty (not sure if it was red or not because it was dark) and obviously I became quite scared and panicky.  This all lasted about a good 10-15 minutes then subsided.  I consulted with my mom, who is a nurse, and she said that if I felt comfortable weaning down then to take an Ativan or she said I could take a Valium to help calm me down.  I'm not really sure what to do.  Part of me doesn't want to take another Ativan because I really don't want to be taking it anymore and don't want to have to deal with being on it longer. This leads me to my questions.  1) How long would it take for Ativan to leave my system after taking 1.5mg a day for a month? So far I have missed two doses, my afternoon and night time doses. 2) Was this late night anxiety attack/hot flash just a withdrawal symptom or was it a rush of the Ativan leaving my system (kinda of like alcohol does the morning after a night a heavy drinking)?  3) If it is Ativan withdrawal, should I expect more of these mini anxiety attacks/hot flashes or does it get better with time? 4) Is there ANYTHING I can take to help counteract these symptoms? Would Valium be a good thing to take as needed until this passes or can I assume the worst is over.  My rationale leads me to believe that as the days goes by the withdrawal symptoms will lessen. Any input would be greatly appreciated.  I'm now off to take a Valium and try to get some sleep.
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Avatar universal
If you would like help, you should start your own thread rather than posting to someone else's thread who was looking for advice too. Bonuses are that you will get more responses with your own thread, and they will all be directed at your issues.
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Avatar universal
You could have just been freaking yourself out after the hotflash causing you to have that panic attack. I just recently started having real bad anxiety and was put on ativan for a bit than put on lexapro which sucked. Now I gotta go back to doc to see if they can give me something else. It feels like this is gonna be a never ending cycle and nothing will help :(
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Avatar universal
P.S. Would exercise and drinking lots of water help speed up the Ativan leaving my system? I'm not sure if that makes any sense but thought I would just ask.
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