Posted by owensmar on August 28, 2004, at 16:05:58
In reply to Re: Ambien or Ativan?, posted by Minnie-Haha on August 27, 2004, at 23:46:34
> > Please don't begin taking Ativan on an every night basis for insomnia. I got myself into terrible trouble that way. I didn't realize at first I was addicted but over the years, I kept having to increase the dose and increase the dose and the insomnia kept getting worse so I'd increase the dose again and still not be able to sleep. When I finally stopped it in 1986, I went through hell. It was months before I didn't startle at small noises. For weeks, I barely slept at all. For the first week or so, I thought I was dying. It was a horrible withdrawal. Admittedly I was on it for nine years and quit cold turkey.
> >
> > I guess my point is just that you build tolerance to it pretty quickly and withdrawal is really bad.
>
> Do you mind my asking what dose you started/ended on? (I am taking .50 mg per night, sometimes only .25.)
>I started at 1mg per night. By the end I was taking 10mg per night and still couldn't sleep.
In the beginning it was so attractive because I would take my little white pill at about 10 pm. Then for about 2-3 hours I would have all this wonderful energy and could get all kinds of stuff done. Then I would start to get tired and drowsy and could drop right off to sleep. That lasted a couple of years (with increasing doses).
I've abused a lot of different stuff in my life but I remember the horror of those last years on Ativan so vividly that I know I will never, ever, let myself abuse any benzodiazapine again.
Just be careful. If you find yourself looking forward to your dose at night or moving up the time you take it, or increasing it without telling your Dr., take it as a sign.
Marsha
poster:owensmar
thread:381490
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040825/msgs/383379.html