ATIVAN Reviews (LORAZEPAM)Average Rating: 3.3 (709 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare ATIVAN with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Date added. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 |
More on ATIVAN: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR ATIVAN | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 5 | a little sleepy at times , but gave even more anti anxiety releif | an awesome drug for anxiety, have been on and off it for 2 years, no bad side effects. keeps racing thoughts at bay, so you are able to get on with the task at hand. The only problem is trying to get yr psychiatrist to give out the medicine, they seem to think its worse than heroin!!! this can be annoying and it is the only bad side effect i can think of.My advice is to get it through different doctors, and be honest about any side effects that u may have(as it will react differently with some people) For me even if there are bad health side effects , i would rather die 2-5 years early and have a life without anxiety than be a healthy wreck. | M | 30 | 2 years | 12/22/2008 | 4 | Anxiety, insomnia | None. | A wonderful medication. I have used it to deal with two "issues" over the past four years and am starting again after a few months off it. Half a .5mg tablet calms me down in about 20 mins. I don't feel drugged or loopy, just calm; a nice, natural, welcome feeling. After several months, I did develop a tolerance. Stopping was not as difficult as some here say it is. There are concerns, but my psychiatrist says at this low dosage not to worry. For me, this is not the evil drug many make it out to be. It is a welcome relief from anxiety. | M | 51 | | 11/28/2008 | 3 | insomnia and anxiety | addiction, memory problems | Works extremely well for anxiety and insomnia, however you'll have to keep increasing the doses as your body adjusts to the amount you are taking. When it wears off I feel more anxious than I had been before I took it. Highly addictive, be careful. I have very mixed feelings about this drug. I'm currently trying to switch to klonopin, which has a longer half life so you don't need to take it as often. | F | 19 | 15 months | 11/28/2008 | 1 | stress/gastrointestinal issues | no obvious feeling of being high or altered. less prone to anxiety and panic attacks and lessening of insomnia, very little effect on gastrointestinal problems. | took after hurrican katrina wiped me out and with it my job and marriage. doc did not tell me it was meant to be short-term and blithely refilled for 3 years. when i was unable to find him after he relocated i had no choice but to quit cold turkey not knowing how potentially dangerous this could be. it was like kicking heroin except with more psychological symptoms. my (redone) marriage almost ended again and after admitting the reason for my renewed anxiety to my boss she decided to fire me anyway. i fought the withdrawel symptoms with everything in me (including my faith) but only after almost 4 months has it begun to get better. i had almost all withdrawel problems (before i had seen what they were). do not take this drug without being extremely informed and do not consider it long-term. | F | 48 | 3 years | 11/28/2008 | 5 | anxiety,cardiac arrythmia | none noted | works in about 10/15 minutes when when palpatations are noted 1 or 2 .5 milligram doses / day | M | 69 | 14 months | 11/12/2008 | 5 | anxiety, rages | slight euphoria | I am taking .5mg up to twice a day. This has helped me so much. My rage is gone, and my mind has slowed down enough to evaluate what is making me anxious, instaed of having thoughts running around my brain like a rabid weasel on speed. | F | 33 | 45 days | 11/8/2008 | 4 | Anxiety Attacks | Tiredness, slight increase in Libido (which is good) nauseau if taking on empty stomach. Slurred speach if I take 3mg. Memory loss. | The addictiveness, but at this time - it benefits the anxiety attacks, and I can deal with that later. I'm taking it in combination with Celexa for mild depression. | F | 34 | 2 months | 11/3/2008 | 5 | severe panic attacks | none | This is my miracle drug- it is fast acting so its great for panic attacks- it also helps withdrawls from other medications. it just creates a strong calming effect. Be careful though- it can be addictive. | F | 29 | 2 years | 10/25/2008 | 1 | nocturnal seizures | I was taking 2mg of ativan at bedtime for 2 years because I had seizures when I slept.After being seizure-free for a while,I weaned myself off(I am a nurse,and knew I needed to) and have been unable to sleep,with terrible night sweats and headches.Please consider another medication,and be aware of the physical addiction when quitting. | F | 46 | 2 years | 10/25/2008 | 1 | Insomnia, anxiety | Severe depression, muscle weaknesses. | Confirm this is very insidious, addictive stuff. First used about 4 years ago for anxiety, but quit and did not use again until past summer. More recently started taking 0.5 mg at night prior to bed off and on for about 2 months for insomnia with no notable side effects. Started taking more frequently in Sept, and moved up to taking 1mg during day and 0.5 mg at night. Took about 2 weeks to realize I was getting hooked. Started having very high levels of anxiety when I did NOT take it. Stopped taking it completely and had about the worst week ever with horrible depression and what I think was probably borderline panic state. This absolutely was the scariest thing I have ever experienced and there is no way I would take this stuff again. | M | 54 | 2 months | 10/23/2008 | 4 | Panic Disorder | Euphoria; occasional disconnected feeling; blackouts; clumsiness. | Ativan helped me a great deal when I was first diagnosed with panic disorder, a little over a year ago. It worked very quickly and effectively, and I took 1.5 mg/day for the first month until my SSRI (Lexapro) started to kick in. I later lowered the dosage to 2x/day, but often took less. I eventually switched to Klonopin, but after several attempts to wean myself off I'm still taking about .5 mg/day (=1mg Ativan) 6 months later. I plan to switch to Valium soon so I can cut my dose further. A great drug but be careful, it is habit-forming and physically addictive. | M | 20 | 7 months | 10/22/2008 | 4 | OCD, GAD, PTSD | None, except additcion. | First, my history: I was diagnosed with anxiety disorders in 1990. I was given the usual SSRIs but had to come off of them because I couldn't tolerate the side effects. I was given Valium 1mg as needed for the next fifteen years or so. Didn't work very well. Finally the anxiety got so bad my doc put me on Xanax 1mg twice a day. Worked great until I had another episode of anxiety and was hospitalized. Was put on 2mg Ativan 7 times a day. Quickly reduced that to 2mg once a day with the same effect. Problem is, I was still taking the Xanax. So right now I'm taking 2mg Ativan during the day, and 1mg Xanax at dinner. Trying to stop the Ativan and was okay until another bout of anxiety hit. So here I am at 2mg Ativan and 1mg Xanax per day. That is drug abuse (neither of my docs know about it) but it happened by accident and I know I'm addicted. Okay, the good part: they work! Well, except for the most severe of anxiety episodes. But Ativan seems to even me out for the day, then Xanax takes m | M | 51 | 2 months | 10/19/2008 | 1 | For insomnia | This did not help my insomnia at all. I started out at .5mg and ended up building a tolerance to it. It is very physically addictive. I went from .5mg to 2.5mg in a period of a few months. Even at the higher dose, it did nothing to help my insomnia. Withdrawal was not easy, even on a gradual taper, since it has a very short half life. I had severe stomach cramps, ringing in the ears, and night sweats as the taper progressed downward. I've been off Ativan for 7 weeks now and am still having tinnitus and night sweats. Be aware that it should only be taken short term for sleep disorders. Apparently my doctor wasn't aware of that. I've found Valium to be much more effective, and the long half life makes it easier to taper off. | I wouldn't take this drug again. | F | 4 months | 10/17/2008 | 5 | severe anxiety | only occasional sweating and flushing | I was taking .5 mgs. twice a day, and then recently my 25 year old brother died and dr. said I could take three a day. This drug has allowed me to calm myself and focus. During grief it has allowed me to not cry continually. When I am feeling more in control, I do not take all doses, or skip it all together. I have no problems with this, and suffer no addictive or withdrawal problem. I do take this in conjuction with Effexor. | F | 37 | 6 months | 10/8/2008 | 1 | anxiety/depression | BE CAREFUL!! I am going into my second week in the hospital, psychiatric ward, for an agressive taper off of ativan...that says a lot | Please please be careful with this med....I always saw myself as a very bright together take care of everything person and now, here I am...with sweats, trouble talking at times, memory very bad, anxiety bouts as I can never remember, and all because I found a Dr that didn't mind prescibing it almost as much as I wanted it, I was up to 10 plus mg,s a day but it just wasn't working as it use to...suicidal thoughts were high, hence my asking my mom and son to take me in because the last thing I wanted to do was hurt my family but I could no longer cope...in reading other posts I see that I got myself pretty darn in doses compared to some and the side effects and withdrawel symptoms were/are enormous...but I'll make it! | F | 47 | 3 years | 10/6/2008 | 4 | Anxiety | Panic Attacks, Insomnia, Anxiety | Be VERY careful taking this medication. It is highly addictve. If you take it long term, be weary of how you stop taking it. The withdrawls are AWFUL. | F | 42 | 10 years | 10/1/2008 | 1 | anxiety | headaches, insomnia, achey body, tender breasts, overall feeling of flu like symptoms at times, among other things. | The hospital made a mistake and didn't send me home with any or a script, after about 30 hours, my skin and breasts were burning, I could barely talk, headaches, I was bumping into things and my heart was racing, thought I was having a heart attack. Can't even remember all the side effects. They put me back on it, and are weaning me off, but I still get some side effects, can't wait til I am off completely, will never take again. I've been on it about 7 weeks now. | F | 52 | | 9/17/2008 | 1 | panic attack | Complete memory loss. I did not know anything for a full week, did'nt know who my husband was, who my kids were or where i lived, i still dont remember that week people just tell me about how much i scared them, it was like one minute i was there and the next minute i was gone! | I know this drug works great for some people just be aware that this is a very rare but very possible side affect. This was about 5 months ago and to this day my memory is still not right...i get lost very eaisily i dont remember phone numbers and people come up to me and say they went to school with me but i dont know them i dont remember one day to the next and im only 25!!I have been to doctor after doctor and test afer test and they all say i've had the most extream allergic reaction to ativan you can have and yes while this is rare i think people have the right to know it can happen!! | F | 25 | 2 days | 9/15/2008 | 5 | GAD / Panic Attacks | None. | Love ativan. It's like taking a Tylenol for a headache. Within 20 minutes, I am less anxious and whatever was getting me all keyed up seems less intense and more manageable. The only problem is that over time, this medication begins to lose some of its effects and you have to increase your dose. So I keep it as a "fallback drug" - only to be used when the regular meds aren't working so I don't have to become increasingly dependent upon it. I have been taking this med off and on since 1996. | F | 32 | 12 years | 9/12/2008 | 4 | Severe Anxiety | I believe that this med might make me a bit sleepier at times. On the flip side, it helps me to focus so that I can "get things done." | I had anxiety every day. Sometimes several severe panic attacks in one day. My mind would just think and "re-think" about things that I had no control over. Being a single mom, I wanted to make everything "right" for my kids and I wanted them to be happy/content. I worked myself into an emotional tizzy with worry. I constantly felt bad/guilty about things that I really had no control over. I would continually try to think of how I could "fix" things. I believe this medication calms my mind down and helps me to realize that there are things that I can help fix in life and some things I just have to either let go of or accept the way things are at this time. Because my anxiety has been cut by atleast 75%, I now can say to myself, "things will be o.k. and will all work out in the end. Doctor/Nurse said it was safe to take a very low dose every day until I can work through some things. I am not worried about addiction, but I was worried about loosing my m | F | 48 | 7 days | 9/5/2008 |