Ativan doseage and nausea

[Fran2015]

I was prescribed .50 ativan(lorazapam) every 8 hours as needed for anxiety since the week of Thanksgiving. They made me too groggy so the Dr said I could cut them in half. I began taking .25 every 4 hours. My anxiety at the time was out of the blue and out of control. Attacks sometimes lasting  less than an hour and sometimes all day. I was getting some relief for about 2 or 3 weeks. I then began to feel some breakthrough anxiety symptoms even staying on this dosage routine- shortness of breath, shaking and horrible nausea. I took my dose to .25 every 3 hours instead of 4 and it helped. Mind you I wake up at night and have to continue the schedule or I feel sick. This has all been going on for almost 6 weeks now. I have been back to see my Dr several times and he got upset with me and told me I was taking too much. Tried to put me on paxil and I didn't eat or sleep for almost 3 days. He then prescribed Lexapro 10 mg taking half a pill the first week. Told me I didn't need to taper off the Ativan because my body wouldn't need it anymore and to just stop taking it. I was high as a kite for a day after the first dose. I couldn't take that either because I have to work, so I stayed on my Ativan. I made an appointment with a psychiatrist but can't get in until later in January. Until then my current issue is severe nausea and digestive issues. I feel hungry and want to eat but at the same time feel full like nothing is digesting. Is the nausea because of the way I'm taking the ativan? Is the ativan not as effective anymore so maybe it's my anxiety causing it? I'm miserable and don't know what to do. I'm taking tons of antacids and have anti nausea meds but they only help temporarily. I tried to extent my dosage back to every 4 hours and then 5 etc. But made me feel worse. Maybe i should have increased slightly before extending the time I take the dosage? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, the severe nausea and not being able to eat is taking its toll and I can't find a way out...

[Paxiled]

The above is good advice, but don't stop Paxil or Lexapro cold turkey either -- they also have to be slowly tapered off of, especially Paxil.  These are difficult drugs to use safely, and you need a doctor who knows them well.  You also need to do your own homework so you can tell if you're getting bad advice.  Good luck.

[LRon]

For what it's worth, .25 mg of Ativan is a very low dose. A standard dose is a 1mg tablet as needed, with the option of taking half if that's all you feel is necessary. So you've been taking half of a half dose. I agree with Paxilled that your GP doesn't seem well-versed in how much Ativan is right. I'm not a doc but I've taken my share of Ativan so I know how it works. My non-expert opinion is stop the Paxil and Lexapro, and take only the Ativan as needed. 1 mg for when things are rough, .5 mg when it's not so rough. Get some counseling to find out what's causing your anxiety in the first place, and learn some strategies for reducing or eliminating the problem. The ultimate goal should be to reduce or eliminate altogether your need for meds, it possible. Good luck!

[Paxiled]

First, you need a different doctor.  It's always problematic to treat mental illness with a general doc rather than a psychiatrist you talk to first and believe isn't a clown -- psychiatrists can be pretty bad too.  Any doctor who tells you it's okay to just stop Ativan, and uses Paxil as the first antidepressant to try, is a doctor to leave behind.  Terrible advice and probably malpractice about the Ativan.  It needs to be tapered off slowly no matter what else you do.  But I'd also say, I don't think you've exhausted possible physiological reasons for this -- particularly if you have severe nausea as you say.  You could have any number of difficult to diagnose conditions that might be causing this, from celiac disease to simple dairy allergy to all sorts of possibilities that need to be eliminated before you know you have a mental disorder.  Again, you need a better doctor as a first step.