ativan

[minkey]

doc wants meto take 1 mg everyday at noone will that b ok or will it hook me?:unsure:

[LAURA48]

Hi

Your anxiety must be quite bad if he is offering Ativan - would think he would want you to take it for a few weeks only just for you to get some respite. You will not get addicted whilst under a doctor. Go ahead a take it.

Hope you feel better soon

Laura

[jb2112]

Minkey
Don't worry - take it - it's a good med and will help you. I've been using it for years - and have been able to stop it overnight in the past with no problem (3mg a day). It's better than many anti-D meds in my view.

[bernie1977]

Just make sure you take it under the guidance of your GP as long term use can cause addiction but I'm sure your GP will manage this. I get prescribed diazepam and only take them when my anxiety is really bad as I'm scared of getting addicted to them. I have tried several anti depressants but none have had any lasting effect and all have given me terrible gastric side effects, I don't have this problem with diazepam and lorazepam. As I said before I do take them with caution as I'm worried about becoming dependant.

[Magic]

My old GP gave me ativan, I never felt so good. The new Gps will not prescibe it.
I would take it under guidance as bernie says
good luckx

[tuesdayschild44]

I have been taking 1mg of atvian for a month now if I take half of that I wake up like at 4 and I can't get back to sleep. My anxiety is so high right now I am afraid of the meds.

[eve22]

that was the only thing that helped, take it!!

[Catherine S]

I took it years ago but doctor kept increasing the dose until I was on 5mg a day and after 18 months had problems coming off it. Tranquilizers have their place but only short term as they are addictive unlike antidepressants.

---------- Post added at 00:07 ---------- Previous post was at 00:06 ----------

But as with all meds, people react to them in different ways.

[tuesdayschild44]

The doctor was telling me to take half, but when I do, I wake up like 4 hours later and can't get back to sleep, So I take the whole thing. But I think the doc thinks there addictive so I need to stop taking them, but I need to sleep, Anxiety over meds,anxiety over staying asleep, does it ever end?

[Catherine S]

So is your doc giving them to help you sleep mostly? If its sleep you need then there better options than tranx to be honest.

[yenool]

The doctor was telling me to take half, but when I do, I wake up like 4 hours later and can't get back to sleep, So I take the whole thing. But I think the doc thinks there addictive so I need to stop taking them, but I need to sleep, Anxiety over meds,anxiety over staying asleep, does it ever end?

That would make sense because Ativan is only supposed to work for about 4 hours. Ativan is fast acting, it gets in and out of the body quite quickly. It is great for situational anxiety but probably not the best option for sleep.

Maybe you could ask your doctor about alternatives for sleep as there are loads and in the long term many of them are safer and better than Ativan. Mirtazapine, 'Trazodone, etc.

I think addictive is a term with negative association that is a bit over used.

What can happen with this type of medication is after a while the effect wears off and you need to increase the dose to get the same effect as before. This is tolerance. Also if you have been taking them for a long time your body becomes dependent on them and you need to reduce the dose slowly. I think this happens to about 4/10 people taking this type of medication long term.

Used cautiously Ativan is OK. Where the problem arises is if you find you need to keep increasing the dose to get the same effect. If that is happening it is time to speak to the doctor about an alternative.