Ativan

[Taylor]

Hi all,

I was diagnosed with leukemia back on January 31st; thankfully it is a kind that I can just treat with oral medication (although that's a pain). Anyway after started my first real job and getting engaged and a few other things I started waking up at night with anxiety, whether it was an attack or just suddenly waking up and having insomnia.

Anyway, my oncologist, at my request, prescribed me some Ativan at 0.5mg, to take as needed with the intent of helping me sleep. This was back in May. I have been hesitant to take anything for my problems, so I have only taken three so far. The first one worked pretty well because I was about to go to sleep, the second one was in the middle of the night and I don't recall how well that worked, and I just took one at work for the first time today. I had a huge panic meltdown at work yesterday where I called an ambulance--I work for a big corporation so that was a bit embarrassing but I just couldn't help it because I was freaking out. So I want to take precautions until I begin seeing a therapist (which I do on Tuesday).

Anyway, I find Ativan kind of weird. When it first begins to work, my anxiety is definitely still there, but I feel super detatched from it. That's good--it's like my anxiety is a pool but I'm floating above it instead of swimming in it. It's still there, but I'm not involved. Eventually as I naturally calm down the anxiety feels like it goes away as the attack subsides.

However, whenever I have some anxiety or panic, my heart races. And even though I'm calming down, the Ativan doesn't help my heart rate to calm down. Do you think this is normal? I know Ativan works for the brain, not the heart, but I'm surprised that my heart rate won't go down once my mind relaxes a bit.

Also, since I'm only taking this for anxiety when it happens, and it's a small dose, does anyone have an opinion on if I got addicted if I only took, say, one a day? (dosage says once every 4-6 hours as needed).

Thank you!

[PheonixRising]

Ativan is my "go to" for when im having some bad symptoms. If the half didn't do it all the way, take another. One night, i ended up taking 2 mils in order to calm down. Dont take it all at once, take the .05. If that isnt cutting it in 15 minutes(and you have that weird feeling of not quiet calm), take another .05. Let them dissolve on the tongue, it works faster.

Hell they work so well for that i hardly even need it, just knowing i have them if i need them makes my anxiety much, much more controlled.

[Taylor]

Thanks for the reply PheonixRising.

So I have been more liberal with my usage of Ativan. I took three in the first three months I've had it, and in the last month I've probably taken four, so I've increased. I still only use it when I EXTREMELY HAVE TO, although I previously wasn't using it when I had to and I was just making myself misereable, especially before I learned some coping techniques. Now I just use them if something extreme happens and I lose control of it before I can stop it, or if I don't have time to stop it (if I'm busy at work and can't stop to do breathing), or if my will is too weak (like if I'm trying to sleep).

Anyway. Last Wednesday I took , one in the AM and one 10 hours later, due to a busy day I was having. Last night I took one because I couldn't sleep and calm down.

I don't think it's physically possible to develop a dependency on or resistance to Ativan if I'm only using one a week, which makes me feel better about using it as a last resort. But is this accurate? Even taking two a day last Wednesday didn't really make me feel different the next day. It's only 0.5mg after all, but I want to make sure.

Thanks!

[alankay]

I used ativan years ago and still take benzos for anxiety occasionally. No. The vast majority of folks would not even build tolerance(it working less well) taking 1 tab a week. I won't worry at all.