Ativan (lorazepam) addiction?
Question by Nikki: Ativan (lorazepam) addiction?
I was prescribed .5 mg ativan for anxiety and falling asleep at night. I tried it the night before last and I was lying in bed for about 10 minutes and closed my eyes started to doze off and all of a sudden out of nowhere I jerked awake and started panicking…I had chills but I was sweating and I couldn’t stop moving my legs. I felt scared for no reason. Mind you, I wasn’t having an anxiety attack when I took the ativan, I just wanted to see if it would make me tired.
The weird feeling brought on by the ativan lasted only about 15 minutes and I fell asleep. Best quality of sleep I’ve had in a long time. I only got about 5.5-6 hrs but it was great. I felt relaxed all day. But even though I had that adverse effect at first, I couldn’t stop thinking about how I couldn’t wait to take it again.
I got home around 10 the next night, feeling great, no anxiety and tried to fall asleep, didn’t take ativan, didn’t think I needed it.
I guess that was a mistake.
I fell asleep for about an hour and jerked awake, scared and worrying out about some totally stupid things. I felt shakey and physically gross.
That’s not normal for me.
Was it because I didn’t take the ativan again? Is this what I get to look forward to with this drug, even on such a small dose?
Anyone experience an anxiety attack right after taking ativan like I did?
thanks for your time and insight,
Best answer:
Answer by Maggie Devine
I’ve been on Ativan before and never had that happen. It doesn’t affect me much. I don’t know why this is happening to you, it seems quite unusual. perhaps talk to your doctor about this and trying another anti anxiety medication like xanax, buspar, or klonopin?
Answer by endophasy
Your initial adverse reaction sounds a little odd, but maybe it was anxiety of the “unknown”, say from the anticipation of the effects. When it started to kick in your body may have went into a fight or flight mode because of the chemical change in your brain. Being anxiety prone you may have just wigged out a little, however, it is possible that this is not the drug for you and you may need to talk to your doctor. In fact, I would highly advise discussing this with them.
It is very easy to develop a dependence on this drug, as with any variation of benzodiazepenes. One of the dangers is that once you get enough in your system, your body will rely on them to keep you from experiencing anxiety or sleeplessness. What can happen is when you do not take a dosage your body will rebound into a worse anxiety and withdrawal. Benzo withdrawal can be very dangerous, leading to the possibility of seizures and even death. At this stage I doubt you will come close to any of that, but down the road if you get really hooked on these, trying to stop cold turkey can put you in a very bad situation.
The first time I was given ativan (1mg) was for alcohol withdrawal. It took me maybe an hour to finally calm down. I always get nervous taking a medication that I have not had before on top of being completely paranoid from the alcohol withdrawal. The nurse told me I needed to “work with the pill”, and after she said that I realized I was causing myself to be anxious and nervous. After trying to calm down and control my breathing I did start to really feel a lot better. I was sent home with a small prescription to help me with anxiety and panic episodes due to alcohol withdrawal for the coming days. I became easily addicted, because it kept me calm and was basically filling in the space to need to drink. After my medication ran out (about a week in a half) I was experiencing some withdrawal symptoms from the ativan, so I would sometimes get slight anxiety attacks for a few days, or just a general feeling of unease and sickness. It mellowed out after maybe 4-5 days.
I do not think this drug should be given to people with sleeping problems before trying as many ways as possible to naturally get on a healthy sleep routine. As for the anxiety, it is a great medication if you are having a panic attack, but not good for daily use. You should only use it if you absolutely need to, otherwise yes, you will get yourself into quite a hole.
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