Posted by Fred23 on October 9, 2004, at 10:13:35
In reply to Re: Help with anxiety/benzos: Xanax/Ativan? » Fred23, posted by cache-monkey on October 9, 2004, at 1:55:15
> Thanks for the input! For me I find that the lowest dose of Xanax (0.25 mg) immediate release has usually done the trick. (Although I took two at one point for my Cymbalta-induced freak out...)
> So I'm wondering how to translate that to Ativan. Could you tell me what dose and frequency worked for you with both Xanax and Ativan? That might help with the translation, although I suspect it varies from person to person.With Xanax "borrowed" from a friend who wasn't taking it, I found that simply one 0.5 mg dose after breakfast, along with a low dose of a doctor-prescribed beta-blocker, was "enough" for the whole day.
On the followup visit I asked my GP for a benzo to do for my mind what the beta-blocker was doing for my body. He (reluctantly) prescribed a low dose of Ativan, as the generic lorazepam.
It did not behave at all like something half the strength of Xanax, with approximately the same half-life, as the books and charts show.
On the first refill, I switched to real name brand Ativan, which at least had anxiolytic properties, and didn't just act like a sleeping pill. Then I found that the "duration of action" was much shorter than Xanax, so more than one dose per day was needed. And I found that Ativan was more like one *fourth* the effective strength of Xanax. E.g., to be equivalent to 0.5 mg of Xanax, at least 2.0 mg of Ativan is needed, but throughout the day, not all at once.
The typical *starting* dose range for Ativan is 2 - 3 mg per day, so if I've "worked up to" 2.0 mg after 3 months, I'm hoping that if I need it raised to 2.5 mg per day, my GP won't consider that the dreaded "escalation" that doctors are supposed to be on the alert for.
poster:Fred23
thread:399779
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041007/msgs/400689.html