Can Ativan (lorazepam) cause depersonalization, strange thoughts?

I've been here for awhile on the Crohn's forum, but this is my first anxiety post. I've suffered with anxiety for most of my life, but it became bad enough over the past year that I finally decided to consult a psychiatrist about 5 weeks ago, for the first time ever. He prescribed me Ativan (lorazepam), just 1mg at bedtime, to help with my insomnia and anxiety. It worked great for the first few weeks, no problems at all, and I noticed a big improvement in my mood and my ability to concentrate. Then, suddenly yesterday, I experienced what I think was an episode of depersonalization, for the first time in my life. It's really hard to describe how it felt, but it was basically like I was detached from myself and my own mind...like a part of me was sane and another part of me was drifting off into numbness and strange, kind of scary thoughts. I felt like I was going crazy...the sane half of me was trying to get me to snap out of it, but I couldn't reign myself in. I went through a couple bouts of this, each lasting a few hours, and then finally I felt back to normal suddenly. My first reaction was that it must be the medicine, because although I know that anxiety can cause depersonalization, I've personally never experienced anything like that, and I haven't even been feeling anxious anymore lately. And frankly, I'd rather feel anxious than have that feeling again, like I wasn't even in control of myself or my own thoughts. I eventually started feeling better before bed, and I didn't take the lorazepam last night, because my first instint was that it was doing this to me, and I want to stop taking it. Then I called my psychiatrist today, but he is out of town, so I got the on-call doctor. Even though I felt fine all day today, having not taken my meds as scheduled last night after the episode, she seemed convinced that it was my anxiety, and not the lorazepam that gave me the awful weird feelings, and suggested that I should take MORE lorazepam if I start feeling that way again. I'm not convinced though....I really want to get off the drug now, but I've heard that you have to gradually taper off if you've taken it for a long duration. Is 1mg/day for 5 weeks considered a long duration, or can I safely go off it cold turkey? I won't be able to contact my own Dr. until next week probably, and I'm not too confident in this other doctor's opinion...so basically I'm scared to take my meds, and scared not to...not sure which will be worse for me. I'm afraid something bad will happen to me or I won't snap back out of it if I start feeling that way again.

I took my regular dose last night as the on-call doc recommended, but I'm not enjoying how I feel today again.  Something isn't sitting well with me with this medicine.  I slept fine, but I just feel so numb right now, uncomfortably so.  This is my first attempt at a med, and I understand that it's helping my anxiety some, but I feel like it's swinging me too far in the opposite direction, just erasing me of any emotion at all.  Is there anything else I can take which won't have this drastic effect?

You know you're a mess when concerns about your anxiety med are causing you more anxiety, right?  

Thanks for the warm welcome.  I'll definitely keep posting.  I'm pretty new to the whole Crohn's thing, so I've posted a couple things over there too.  To answer your question, the only med I take for the Crohn's is Pentasa...no painkillers or any other CNS depressant stuff.  I'm lucky that my Crohn's is relatively mild, but I have had some other weird medical issues which they haven't fully explained yet...I definitely have some type of kidney issues, but they're not certain what yet.  They think it's probably IgA nephropathy (which apparently is also auto-immune and can arise as secondary to the Crohn's), but it hasn't gotten bad enough yet that they want to go so far as to biopsy my kidneys to find out for sure.  But the uncertainty definitely doesn't do anything for my anxiety.  I'm always hyper-sensitive about changes in how I'm feeling, both physically and mentally, because of the medical problems and the supervening anxiety, so I think I'm still just a little uncomfortable with the sensation of my emotions being medicated.  I definitely don't like feeling like I'm not in control of myself or how I'm feeling...

Do any of you have any experience with Lexapro?  I've heard from a couple friends it's also good for anxiety, but might not wash me out quite as much as the Ativan is seeming to do...

I know the feeling. I had a horrible time with Ativan.
I took it for about 20 days and experienced some bad withdrawal symptoms by the way no help from the doctors they kept telling me that I was depressed and should take more pills. Anyway, what you could be experiencing is interdose withdrawals I had these and that's why I quit taking Ativan. If I were you I would taper just to be safe, I wish I did.
Best of luck