Posted by krisdance83 on November 27, 2004, at 0:56:36
Hi there everyone,
I posted a while back because I had been taking Ativan for a while and was worried about how long it would take to develop tolernace.
I was hoping that I would be one of the "lucky ones" and continue to have the same dose work for me for a long while.
Well, it's true what they say on that Ashton website, a person really can become tolerant extremely QUICKLY.
I was taking 0.5mg of Ativan daily for two months. I felt great for a while but very quickly I began feeling dizzy and uncomfortable if I missed a day (I was taking it as needed, so I did skip days here and there). Then it got to the point where I would take the pill and I would barely feel any better and even on one pill a day I was so unbelievably uncomfortable from the physical symptoms. Since it would be relieved for about an hour when I did take it, I painfully waited for the next dose and sometimes didn't make it a full 24 hours. My doctor said that I had developed tolerance withdrawl and that I would have to increase the dose to feel better. I decided that if I increased the dose it would only be more horrible when I became tolerant on the higher dose so I decided to taper off. Right now I'm on 1/4 of a 0.5mg tab per day. I went down slow but the first 6 days or so were nearly UNBEARABLE!!
I really don't understand how some people can take the same dose for YEARS and be fine with it and that I could be on the LOWEST POSSIBLE DOSE once/day and have such HORRIBLE symptoms.
Now, not that I want to start taking it again but in the instance that I have a horrible panic attack once I'm off the med, is it safe to take one pill if I do need it without jumping right back into the horrible withdrawal symptoms from one pill. Is that possible? Or would I have to take it for weeks to build up the tolerance again? I'm just worried that if I ever feel like taking one pill again like to fly on a plane or something, that I will jump right back into that horrible state.
One I'm completely off of the med, will the 0.5mg dose go back to being as effective as it was when I first started or am I doomed for life?
Sorry, these are probably very weird questions but I'm very curious. This med was great for me for two months and then a MONSTER for about two weeks. I want to avoid that situation completely in the future. Honestly I doubt I'll ever take it again because I hate it for what happened, but I'm just curious. And I know that everyone is different.
Thanks for any responses. Everyone be well.
poster:krisdance83
thread:420782
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041123/msgs/420782.html