Posted by med_empowered on March 23, 2005, at 4:18:11
In reply to Is this benzo trouble in my life, posted by lgmg on March 23, 2005, at 1:27:26
hey! I personally like Ativan more than xanax or valium or librium, and about as much as Klonopin (although Klonopin does last longer). My anxiety never really responded to anti-depressants or things like Neurontin all that well, so benzos were necessary for a while. ANYWAY, I personally think the way you're taking the Ativan is *ideal*--the goal of benzo treatment, really, is to use the minimum dose only when necessary, and even when you take it, the idea is to "lighten your load," just like you said in your post--not eliminate your the anxiety completely (the *few* people I've known who truly abused benzos tended to try to use the meds to completely wipe away their anxiety; BIG mistake). Benzos are always a little tricky to withdraw from completely, *if* you've either been taking them heavily or on a more or less daily basis for a while. My Klonopin taper wasn't *HELL*, but it wasn't fun either; basically, I needed a sleeping pill now and then for the insomnia, and some Midrin or Asprin for the occasional headaches. No big deal. The way you're taking Ativan, I doubt you'll have any major problems when you want to taper off...my recommendation would be to keep track of how much you take and how often you take it for a week or two before you see your doc, and then given her/him that info and ask for a tapering schedule (these are SOOOO easy to set up; my doc drew up a 2-month taper for me in about 2 minutes). Try to stick to the schedule as best you can, but do be prepared for some minor problems--insomnia, headaches, nausea, some anxiety, etc. Your doc should help you out with all that. Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:474405
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050322/msgs/474431.html