[sunrise]

I have a family member who began taking Ativan 3 weeks ago, and it is really helping him. But he is worried about becoming dependent (=addicted?) on the drug. What are signs that you are addicted to Ativan (or another benzo)? How does it feel? Is it mental symptoms, physical, or both? Do you get a headache, or the shakes, feel cranky, or what? How long can you take it without becoming addicted? Weeks? Months? Years?

[Pughead]

How often does he take it? If it's several times a day (3-4 times), then the chance of addiction goes up. I don't know for myself, but I would assume that anxiety increases. There could be psychological and physical symptoms, sort of like nicotine withdrawal/addiction. I'm not citing any sources here, i'm just going off what my pdoc told me.

I take benzos at night for sleeping or for "as needed" use. Because my usage of it is only once a day, I don't really run the risk of being addicted. Rather for me, it's more of a habit. Any "addiction" for me would be a psychological one...i.e. freaking out just because it's not there at night. And that type of "addiction" I do have. I'm being "weaned off" the benzos for this reason. It's not the ideal long-term solution for sleeping. If I don't have them when I go to bed I kind of psych myself out, but it's not a true addiction.

It can lead to addiction because you build a tolerance for it, and you have to take more and more to get the same effect. Hence, the risk of addiction increases.

So to answer your question about how long you could take it without becoming addicted, it depends on a lot of things. It depends on the amount prescribed, how often it is taken, the rate of which one's tolerance builds, etc.

But I can't say for sure what the symptoms are because I've never been through that situation. Each drug has its own withdrawal symptoms. I've only dealt with nicotine addiction and withdrawal. Those symptoms were anxiety, irritability, moodiness. Physical symptoms were mainly chest pains.

Check out wikipedia's entry for benzo withdrawal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodi...rawal_syndrome

[idontknow13]

I took a Benzo for 3 years, sleeping pills, never took more than prescribed, the doctor had told me they were non-addictive (I am a sober alcoholic). I did not research it but I should have. I became addicted psychologically and when I went into a deep depression I started investigating the whole thing and found out all Benzos are addictive and the sleeping pills I was taking should not be taken for more than 3 weeks, I had been taking them for 3 years. I decided to quit cold turkey and I went through HELL, most days could not get out of bed, had trouble walking, talking just functionning, it lasted for about 3 weeks...then I researched how to withdraw from Benzos and found out I should never have done it cold turkey but it was too late, I had gone through the worse! I found a site for Benzo withdrawal, cannot remember the site though!
I hope your family member finds out more about it and is very careful, should not be taken for a long period of time, I believe they do help but are highly addictive! Please be careful, it can also lead to severe problems with concentration, depression etc...
This was my experience with Benzos...worse than anything...worse than alcohol withdrawal (cold sweats, no sleeping, shaking) I never would take them again on a regular basis, I would rather not sleep for weeks than taking it again.

[idontknow13]

Here is the link http://benzowithdrawal.com/forum/
I am sorry I wrote so much but I do not want anyone to go through what I went through.

[Pughead]

Originally Posted by idontknow13

Here is the link http://benzowithdrawal.com/forum/
I am sorry I wrote so much but I do not want anyone to go through what I went through.

Are you kidding?! You should see some of my posts. If you can get through them, I would be very impressed!

Thanks for the link to that site. I've been doing some more research and I think that any dependence I have on xanax would be entirely psychological. I only take it at night and the half-life is short.

OP might want to read up on the particular benzo in question. They are all different.

[Pughead]

Well, my thoughts have betrayed me! I couldn't get to sleep last night. First it was 1.5 mg. An hour later another mg, another hour later one more mg, and another hour later another!
So, over 4mg to knock me out. I blame it on the short half-life and also psyching myself out.

So for me, I am definitely going to have to overcome that psychological dependence. If I don't "believe" that I can get to sleep without it, then I truly will not be able to get to sleep without it.

[sunrise]

Thank you for that link, idontknow13, and to both you and Pughead for your replies. I will read up on Ativan. I know that Ativan has a very short half life, perhaps the shortest of the benzos? I don't know if that is good or bad. He is prescribed two 1 mg tablets a day (every day), and he found that he does better if he cuts each one in half and takes them more frequently--to spread them through the day. From what I have read, I don't think that is a really high dose. They are really helping him but he has this fear of becoming dependent, not just on the medication but on his doctor, who he is worried could suddenly decide not to prescribe this anymore and then he would be left high and dry. Or he is worried if he becomes dependent, his doctor might go out of town and again, he would be stuck with no medication. He's really worried about these logistical things. But he is doing so much better on the medication.

He doesn't have long left to live (maybe less than a year?), so I even don't see that it is so bad if he becomes addicted. Why not have less anxiety when you are near the end of your life? But I think he is worried about how he would feel if he was addicted and then the supply of the medication was stopped. That it would be hell. From what you wrote, idontknow13, it sounds like it can be hell indeed.

[krzyk101]

I have a form of OCD and other anxiety disorders and it is in my opinion that benzos including ativan have a befit to a person with an anxiety disorder especially excessive worry. If used as prescribed, under the care of a pshyscian I have not had any problems with the clonazapam I take in regards to addiction.

I believe any drug with the possibility of addiction or abuse can be considered to cause one to become physically dependent on the drug, however, in most cases when stopping these medications as you stated will most likely not occur in your loved ones case, the doctor would reduce the dose very gradually in order to not created very uncomfortable withdrawals. I feel that the benzo's get such a bad reputation in regards to people using them to get high or abusing them when not prescribed to them.

I find nothing wrong taking medications that can be habit forming. As long as you take them under the care of a psyschian. I feel there is a difference between physical dependence and physical addiction.

The say that my Doctors explain it to me in regards to the habit forming medications is that : The Benefit of the Medication Outweighs the Risk of taking it.

I hope that he is less anxious and more comfortable on the ativan. Peace and Best regards to you and yours, kk101

[splitimage]

I have a love hate relationship with benzo's. I was on Ativan for about 3 years. It started as "as needed" then moved to daily, adn then pretty soon I was abusing them. When I was up to taking 8 mg a day, I fessed up to my Dr., and we weaned me off them. One of the things that makes Ativan one of the more addictive benzo's is it's short half life, and how fast acting it is, you get an immediate effect, which makes you crave more, and I built up a tolerance pretty fast. But then I'm really tollerant of this class of drugs.

After the abuse history, plus the fact that I'm an alcoholic, in recovery, I figured I'd never be prescribed another benzo in my life. But they're the only thing that I've found that takes the edge off of my hyperarousal from PTSD. Luckily my old and new pdoc are willing to work with me. I'm now on clonazapam, 1 mg 3X daily and 2 mg at night. This keeps the level of the drug steady in my blood stream and keeps my hyperarousal in check. Also because it's slow acting it doesn't give me a rush, so I've had no problem with wanting to abuse it. Some days if I'm feeling comparatively calm, I don't take the full 3 mg, just 1 mg in the morning. To an extent I do feel like I'm psychologically dependent on it, because i know it's there. But I've never experienced any withdrawl from it when I've missed taking it.

But if your relative does decide to go off of it, it should definitely be done with a Dr.'s supervision as one of the risks of withdrawl is seizures.

--splitimage

[Pughead]

I can see how Ativan can be addicting. I've had it "as needed" before and it really relieves anxiety, rather than just sedating. I find xanax to be more sedating than anything. Ativan felt more like a "feel-good" drug to me.

[Pughead]

Well, I'm goin' back to 3mg at night!! I just can't sleep and if I do it's real messed up, I spend the last two hours of sleep in and out, with really weird dreams. I really need the big "knock out punch" i think. If it works I'll just stay there until my new mix of depakote and lamictal stabilizes...if it does. All this talk about short half-lives is psyching me out. I start digging into this stuff, researching like mad, and then I tend to get hypocondriatic (if that's a word). That's my nature: to understand and fully comprehend everything - and that includes knowing everything about myself.

I wish I had ativan though...it the more pleasurable effects that I described above.

[yutzman]

From what my Psych tells me, addiction starts basically with the first dose, because tolerance starts to build with every one, so you need more and more. By the time you reach the max dose withdraw is almost inevitable. My Psych won't give me bezos because of my high addiction risk (alcoholic), so I take Buspar 50mg and it curbs the edge of anxiety pretty good, but it did take a while to kick in......now I'm ok............with Buspar no risk of withdraw................

[amante]

I take Ambien, and I take 12.5mg. each night, when I don't take it, I can't sleep without horrific nightmares, so I don't know if that's an addiction or something else.

[Pughead]

So Amante, it sounds like you and I are indeed addicted on a physical level, but the cause of those symptoms I believe is psychological. Our sleep patterns are disrupted when we don't take our meds, so we end up having crappy sleep, weird dreams, wakefulness, nightmares, etc. And then we end up being dependent on the meds in order to have good quality sleep.

They are more than "habit forming." It messes with your mind when you sleep without them. There's much more to it than just a habit.

[1flagwriter]

I was on Klonopin three times a day for years and weaned off of it in just a couple of weeks with no side effect. I never got addicted, but I can tell you that Klonopin is one of the strongest in the Benzo family and Ativan is one of the weakest.

I think you should weigh the benefits of the medicine against the side effects and before doing anything, I would discuss with prescriber.

Having said all that, I did notice that my Klonopin was SO helpful after coming off! I missed it badly!!! My pdoc gave me a non-benzo alternative. It's called Nuerontin. Pdocs use it as an off-label for anxiety. It works too. It's a non-benzo, and no addictive properties.

If you are interested in a non-addictive alternative, Nuerontin is the way to go. Click here to see what other users say about it: http://www.revolutionhealth.com/drug...y-disorder-gad

Good luck!