ATIVAN IS NOT YOUR FRIEND

changes, for the BETTER!!!

He, as I have said suffered for almost 2 years from daily panic attacks. He read from the same doctor I found  out, that Kitt recommended that ativan causes a spike in your blood sugar and a rapid drop.

For my husband, it was the panic attacks. As soon as he stopped the ativan, guess what, the panic stopped!!!

For me, I too was taking ativan, for pain relief and anxiety. I found myself crying WAY too much. But I thought, well, I have things to feel bad about and I am an emotional person.

Guess what? The very next day that I cut my ativan dose in 1/2 by switching to 1/2 of valium, was the best and first day in a long time, with NO crying and it has been that way since.

We told our doctor, he didn't know. And all I can say is thank you Kitt for recommending the schedule to get off ativan by switching slowly to valium. It works.

Myself and husband are proof!!!

Blessings Kitt, Lynn and all who have given me such great support, advise and encouragement for some very DARK days. I blame it on ativan in our cases.

~Barbara~

debaser said...
Ativan may not be your friend, but it helps a lot of people.

Thing is, it's not made to take daily for any length of time. It's an "as-needed" drug, but doctors often prescribe it as a daily thing. That doesn't usually turn out well as it's half-life is so short that it lends itself to tolerance, which of course means the patient will need to increase their dose to maintain efficacy. That's not a good situation to be in.

It, like Xanax, is made to stop panic attacks, acute mania, etc. If a person is having a LOT of panic attacks, they should be on a long-acting BZ that will accumulate and maintain the disorder. I'm not a doctor but I can read, and I doubt there's many illiterate doctors out there so I can't figure out how these drugs keep being mis-prescribed. Ativan's fine if you have a panic attack every few days or something. It'll work really well for that. Let's say someone has a phobia of flying but they have to do so on a fairly regular basis for work. By definition they get really intense anxiety or even panic every time they have to fly. Ativan would be ideal to treat that unless you're the pilot (which would be kind or a weird career choice) or something and are on a plane several times a week.

It's not surprising at all that you're both doing well on the Valium. If I can risk making a blanket statement, any regular poster on this board probably has a daily battle with high anxiety or panic. And in that case, as long as depression isn't predominant, then if you're on a short-acting benzodiazepine you should consult with your doctor. Xanax, Ativan, Serax...re-evaluate. At least think about it.

Thanks for your reply. Yes, he was given it after his first panic attack and ssris didn't agree with him. But the doctor prescribing it never warned us to not take it long, many docs don't even know.

Here is another problem, I want to throw in or if needed will make it a separate thread.

He is hardly taking any valium and is falling asleep and has been unsteady on his feet!! Have you ever heard of this? Yet if he takes so little, yesterday for the first time did he feel a little panic type beginning symtoms, then took the valium and it left. He wants eventually to be off of it entirely.

Thanks for any replies.

It's only about 2 weeks that he's totally off ativan and we read that it can take very long to clear your body.

debaser said...
I don't know about the falling asleep when he doesn't take valium, but being unsteady on his feet could be a couple things:

1) it's a common side effect when first taking a benzo.
2) it's a withdrawal symptom

Since he's been on ativan it's my unprofessional and unqualified opinion that we can rule out #1. It's likely #2 that's giving him problems because he needs his Valium dose to be equivalent to what his ativan was. Even then there will be some withdrawal for some people, so that dose should be taken until his condition is stabilized. THEN a taper can begin.

You say he's hardly taking any Valium, but this confuses me. Why not? Again, he needs an equivalent dose to the ativan, stabilize on that dose, and then begin tapering. There's no other way to do it without causing a good deal of needless misery. The taper is indeed a long process and it needs to be adhered to strictly. NEVER go too fast. Better too slow than too fast.

Again, if he's using Valium to get off of Ativan, then he needs to be taking the Valium regularly. Consult a doctor. Any doctor worth his diploma will say the same thing, guaranteed. No skipping doses.

Yes, we know all of this, thank you though.

I and my husband think it is partly due to a withdrawal symptom.

He wasn't taking the equivilant because it was knocking him out!

I think it's a rare thing and that's how his body is reacting to the switch. He is very sensitive to the valium.

I just wanted to know if others experienced this.

I believe I told you in my earlier post all of this, that it felt like it was too much for him.

If you took it and were falling asleep at the drop of of hat, without even realizing it and couldn't walk straight, would you continue at that dose? I don't think I would, he felt terrible. So he tried less, it made total sense.

I think he is going through the hardest part now, which we read is after 2 weeks off of it.

But thanks for replying.

Blessings,

Barbara

peacesoul said...

debaser said...

Denim,

Yes, I would continue taking the equivalent Valium dose because that side effect will generally begin to dissipate within a few days. You have to allow your body to adjust to the new medication. The whole point of the Valium switch is to avoid what you're referring to as the hardest part.

Kitt,

I worded that really poorly. What I meant was is that once the taper off valium begins, only the patient can know when they're stabilized and can take the next step. Not even a doctor should tell them to cut to the next step before they're ready. Instead of saying "adhered to strictly" perhaps I should've said "a commitment to the taper is necessary". The time frame is going to vary by individual and will vary, of course. There's nothing in regard to a schedule that should be adhered to strictly.


I'm confused....Your comment to me in this thread goes against what you're stating here.

Maybe you can explain?!
https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=9&m=904817

Good Morning All,

I am a bit confused to, was it in my post as I may have written something that was confusing and if I did I apologize.

Thanks.

debaser said...
Denim,

Yes, I would continue taking the equivalent Valium dose because that side effect will generally begin to dissipate within a few days. You have to allow your body to adjust to the new medication. The whole point of the Valium switch is to avoid what you're referring to as the hardest part.

Kitt,

I worded that really poorly. What I meant was is that once the taper off valium begins, only the patient can know when they're stabilized and can take the next step. Not even a doctor should tell them to cut to the next step before they're ready. Instead of saying "adhered to strictly" perhaps I should've said "a commitment to the taper is necessary". The time frame is going to vary by individual and will vary, of course. There's nothing in regard to a schedule that should be adhered to strictly.