Josh, Thanks for your story & your support. Panic really is awful--I never had any idea how bad it could be, but some of my panic attacks were lasting more than 2 hours (vomiting, etc). I do not have any problems with addiction, so I am hoping that being careful will help things. This week I started taking .5 mg 2x/day, but today I only took .5 mg once in the morning (and I didn't have any problems this afternoon and evening).

I'm really sorry to hear how bad your panic attacks are. I hope that you get some relief soon, and I'm glad that you're willing to share your story about how easy it is to start relying on these pills.

I started going to therapy and doing deep breathing and meditation exercises 1-2x a day (at lunch and before bed). In the evenings I take Melatonin for sleep instead of Ativan, and that is working so far. I'm hoping that soon the Prozac will kick in so I can ditch the Ativan. I'm also planning on not taking Ativan during weekends (a kind of "drug holiday") and just using other coping skills. Thanks again for your story--it didn't scare me off--I'm still going to need the Ativan for a little while (without it I'm not keeping any food down b/c I'm so anxious), but I will be careful with it.