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Mental Health ativan making me depressed

A

agnesangst

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 9, 2022
Messages
25
ativan is making me depressed and interfering with prozac uplifting.anybody else have this experience? im going to ask nurse for xanax instead.
 
Hi and welcome to Bluelight!
It kinda makes sense, since benzodiapines are depressants. Do you really NEED a benzo for your anxiety? Not judging at all, it's just that sometimes antidepressants like prozac can actually help with anxiety too, so you might find that if you cut out the benzo, you won't even need it.
 
^I do agree with my fellow moderator for sure. SSRIs can cause anxiety at first, but they end up being really useful for it. It can take two months or so for an antidepressant to do this, though.

How long have you been on Prozac for?

Benzos can be useful for acute anxiety, but they do tend to cause depression or other adverse effects when taken daily. For as-needed purposes, they seem to be much more effective.

Other options for anxiety do exist, though! Buspirone can work for anxiety without the dependence potential of benzos. Sometimes a low dose of abilify, or seroquel, can help anxiety. CBD, theanine, and adaptogens also present some utility.

Do you use any other substances, prescribed or otherwise?

Have you thought about meditation? There are a bunch of guided ones on Youtube.

I would be careful about xanax. It can cause a lot of dependence. But, alas, I am no doctor!
 
I agree and have also had significant depression from benzos, especially when taken every single day.

If ativan makes you depressed, xanax is likely going to do that as well. You should probably look into less potent benzos like lorazepam before xanax if depression is an issue.

I would suggest lowering your dose first and/or don't take it daily, see if that helps.

Benzos are also one of those things that should be taken only if you truly cannot function without them, they will always make things worse in the long run when taken daily and can be devastating on peoples lives and bodies in the end.

I was a talented basketball player as a teenager, but when I was scripted xanax at 17 it completely ruined my ability to play basketball. Benzos are quite hardcore drugs and can do very powerful things to the body in a negative way.
 
agnesangst said:
ativan is making me depressed and interfering with prozac uplifting.anybody else have this experience? im going to ask nurse for xanax instead.
Click to expand...

That's because benzo's increase the GABA in your brain and GABA effectively "washes out" serotonin from your brain (the reason why alcoholics are often depressed and why they advise you not to drink on anti-depressants).
I would try and taper off if you can. If you really need to anxiety meds, I strongly recommend asking your doctor about switching to to Xanax as it's one of the only benzo's that can actually HELP with depression rather than worsening it.
 
Negentropic said:
I agree and have also had significant depression from benzos, especially when taken every single day.

If ativan makes you depressed, xanax is likely going to do that as well. You should probably look into less potent benzos like lorazepam before xanax if depression is an issue.

I would suggest lowering your dose first and/or don't take it daily, see if that helps.

Benzos are also one of those things that should be taken only if you truly cannot function without them, they will always make things worse in the long run when taken daily and can be devastating on peoples lives and bodies in the end.

I was a talented basketball player as a teenager, but when I was scripted xanax at 17 it completely ruined my ability to play basketball. Benzos are quite hardcore drugs and can do very powerful things to the body in a negative way.
Click to expand...
xanax doesnt do this( to me anyway). it was originally marketed as a 'mood uplifter' or something.ativan is a metabolite of valium.i would think xanax would have made your life difficult as a young male as they washed out your system too soon. also as you were in a stage where your brain was not fully grown.they should not have given this to you.im not taking any more ativan at all.i was not taking hardly any anyway.very low amount.clonazepam did not make me prounfoundly depressed either.im sorry for the loss of your talent.i have abilities and it is very distressing when they are interfered with.many people do not understand this.so you dont get sympathy.
 
AlphaMethylPhenyl said:
^I do agree with my fellow moderator for sure. SSRIs can cause anxiety at first, but they end up being really useful for it. It can take two months or so for an antidepressant to do this, though.

How long have you been on Prozac for?

Benzos can be useful for acute anxiety, but they do tend to cause depression or other adverse effects when taken daily. For as-needed purposes, they seem to be much more effective.

Other options for anxiety do exist, though! Buspirone can work for anxiety without the dependence potential of benzos. Sometimes a low dose of abilify, or seroquel, can help anxiety. CBD, theanine, and adaptogens also present some utility.

Do you use any other substances, prescribed or otherwise?

Have you thought about meditation? There are a bunch of guided ones on Youtube.

I would be careful about xanax. It can cause a lot of dependence. But, alas, I am no doctor!
Click to expand...
is this in reponse to my post?
 
n3ophy7e said:
Hi and welcome to Bluelight!
It kinda makes sense, since benzodiapines are depressants. Do you really NEED a benzo for your anxiety? Not judging at all, it's just that sometimes antidepressants like prozac can actually help with anxiety too, so you might find that if you cut out the benzo, you won't even need it.
Click to expand...
is this in response to my post??
 
agnesangst said:
xanax doesnt do this( to me anyway). it was originally marketed as a 'mood uplifter' or something.ativan is a metabolite of valium.i would think xanax would have made your life difficult as a young male as they washed out your system too soon. also as you were in a stage where your brain was not fully grown.they should not have given this to you.im not taking any more ativan at all.i was not taking hardly any anyway.very low amount.clonazepam did not make me prounfoundly depressed either.im sorry for the loss of your talent.i have abilities and it is very distressing when they are interfered with.many people do not understand this.so you dont get sympathy.
Click to expand...

I was never going to be a professional athlete, that's not really my point

I was just giving you a reasonable warning about long term benzo use and their negative side effects, that's all, comes along with being a harm reduction forum :)

and yes, all the posts were responding to you

best of luck friend, and welcome to BL
 
Negentropic said:
I was never going to be a professional athlete, that's not really my point

I was just giving you a reasonable warning about long term benzo use and their negative side effects, that's all, comes along with being a harm reduction forum :)

and yes, all the posts were responding to you

best of luck friend, and welcome to BL
Click to expand...
i simply replied to your response as it was the only one that answered my question at all.im still looking for people who have taken lorazepam and had a negative reaction.i do not need any warning about long term benzo use( or any other reponse that is not an answer to my question).i am not new to this site although 'welcomes' are always 'welcome'.i just dont come very often and forget my user name and password.i came here this past month as i was dxed with migraines and it has a nice blue background as well as sometimes interesting posts.i come about every 5 years; but might be more now if something of interest.:)
 
agnesangst said:
looking for people who have taken lorazepam and had a negative reaction.if i discuss prozac with you,im afraid of even more digression.sorry.
Click to expand...
Hi, yes my post was in reply to yours :)
I was merely using prozac as an example, not wanting to refer to it specifically.
Yes I have taken benzos such as lorazepam and experienced depression. It certainly COULD cause or exacerbate depression.
If you chose to speak to your doctor about this I am 100% sure it would not be the first time they'd heard of lorazepam causing depression.
 
n3ophy7e said:
Hi, yes my post was in reply to yours :)
I was merely using prozac as an example, not wanting to refer to it specifically.
Yes I have taken benzos such as lorazepam and experienced depression. It certainly COULD cause or exacerbate depression.
If you chose to speak to your doctor about this I am 100% sure it would not be the first time they'd heard of lorazepam causing depression.
Click to expand...
ok.thank you.i have not had nearly the depressive effect of other benzos that ive had to lorazepam.it being a matabolite of valium in concentrated form might have some quirks of its own.
 
agnesangst said:
ok.thank you.i have not had nearly the depressive effect of other benzos that ive had to lorazepam.it being a matabolite of valium in concentrated form might have some quirks of its own.
Click to expand...
Perhaps it might, yes. Do you have any situational/circumstantial causes for your depression? Or do you think it's purely a nueurochemical thing?
 
i have had an enormous amount of stress and have been dxed with ptsd.i was given lorazepam to help prevent migraines that i was getting from this.however...the reaction to ativan was remarkable;im sure i would have become depressed no matter what my situation.very chemical.
 
ChemicallyEnhanced said:
That's because benzo's increase the GABA in your brain and GABA effectively "washes out" serotonin from your brain (the reason why alcoholics are often depressed and why they advise you not to drink on anti-depressants).
I would try and taper off if you can. If you really need to anxiety meds, I strongly recommend asking your doctor about switching to to Xanax as it's one of the only benzo's that can actually HELP with depression rather than worsening it.
Click to expand...
Not doubting you at all,

But in what ways would alprazolam help depression that other benzos wouldn't? I'm curious.
 
DeathIndustrial88 said:
Not doubting you at all,

But in what ways would alprazolam help depression that other benzos wouldn't? I'm curious.
Click to expand...

Someone else on here can definitely explain this better than me, but it's something about the makeup of the benzo type (I think related to it being a tri-something) that makes that type uniquely able to actually improve depression. It's not just alprazolam, but all benzo's of that type, but I don't think there are many and, so far as I know, Alprazolam is the only common one.
It was Captain Heroin that explained it to me, but I don't remember the details and sadly he's no longer with us. There'll def. be someone here who DOES know, though.
 
ChemicallyEnhanced said:
Someone else on here can definitely explain this better than me, but it's something about the makeup of the benzo type (I think related to it being a tri-something) that makes that type uniquely able to actually improve depression. It's not just alprazolam, but all benzo's of that type, but I don't think there are many and, so far as I know, Alprazolam is the only common one.
It was Captain Heroin that explained it to me, but I don't remember the details and sadly he's no longer with us. There'll def. be someone here who DOES know, though.
Click to expand...
Thanks! I will have to look into this.

I take clonazepam and some times wonder if it makes my depression worse.
But most doctors are unwilling to switch to xanax as they think it's "more addictive" & if you ask, it's "drug seeking".
 
DeathIndustrial88 said:
Thanks! I will have to look into this.

I take clonazepam and some times wonder if it makes my depression worse.
But most doctors are unwilling to switch to xanax as they think it's "more addictive" & if you ask, it's "drug seeking".
Click to expand...

I think they tend to try and only use Xanax for more severe cases (especially with panic attacks) or when other benzo's like Klonopin and Valium haven't worked.
I would try, though, as like I say, most benzo's "wash" serotonin out of your brain which WOULD worsen depression. Alcohol has the same effect on Serotonin as benzo's btw.
 
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