i recently started taking .05 of ativan twice a day for anxiety and panic attacks. i have been reading alot on the net about how addicting it is. all i feel is tired when i take it, can someone explain to me how it is addicting? I use to have a problem with ultram and do not want to go thru that again. thanks.

There are better long term, non addicting drugs for anxiety. Ativan is Ok for short term use, a month or two, without any serious withdrawals when its stopped, but after that it gets pretty addicting. I took it regularly for 6 months. I started with 1 mg 2 or 3 times a day and then went up to 2 mg 2 times a day. A few times a week I'd take 4 or 6 mg. When I stopped taking it I had about a week of bad insomnia. I'd sleep for two hours then wake up and toss and turn for 1 or 2 hours and repeat the whole cycle again throughout the night, and that was while taking ambien! I had the sweats and man did I want more Ativan! My anxiety came back but not much worse than it was before taking Ativan, i just liked being on ativan better than being anxious and stressed out (imagine that!). At one point I ran out of it and and at the same time stopped drinking yet again ( I am a recovering alcoholic) and had a siezure about 4 days after my last drink and about 3 days after the last ativan dose. Withdrawal from either booze or Ativan can cause seizures the so combination probably contributed to mine. The other thing I didnt like about Ativan is I have many memory gaps while taking it. Amnesia is a side effect, on the street Ativan is refered to as Milk of Amnesia, a very appropriate name.

My Pdoc prescribed seroquel (500mg) when she took me off Ativan. It works very well for me and I dont get much anxiety anymore. It has the added benefit of being a mood stabalizer (thats what its for anyway...Bipolar disorder). I take 100 mg in the morning (no sleepiness) and 400 mg at night which totally zonks me out. I sleep so sound that when I sleep during the day (I work graveyard) I can leave the bedroom door open, which opens out into the living room, and I don't hear my 7 boys at all, and, believe you me, from the time they get up to the time they go to sleep they are at maximum volume. A 747 could crash through the bedroom ceiling and I wouldn't hear it. Course that might be a bad thing if the house ever catches on fire.

I don't know how .5 mg will affect you as far as addiction goes but you should probably be carefull. Like most addicts I end up taking anything that makes you feel good in excess and have a high tolerance for most of it and usually end up taking way more than I should, so it doesn't take long before I want it all the time which makes withdrawals all the more painfull.