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has anyones benzos ever seem like they just stop working?

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panic buss

Greenlighter
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
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6
i have severe panic disorder and depression and ive been on disbility and meds for 7 years now...im prescribed lorazepam 2mg 4 times a day and for a while that has been my saving grace...lately though even though im now seeing a psychologist as well as psychiatrist i am having all day panic attacks and have to force myself to eaat as well as i feel unable to leave my house...i know the meds take time to kick in but 2+ hours for them to work is pure tortue...anyone else having this problem...my quality of life is at an all time low
 
Moved from Homeless - I was going to move to other drugs but as these meds are taken for a medical condition I thought this section would offer more help.
 
I've not had this problem myself since my dose of Ativan is much lower than yours (1mg 2x daily) and then only PRN. But my rehab roomie was in the exact same situation as yours. He had been scripted 8mg Ativan daily also for severe anxiety. He checked himself into rehab when his situation became intolerable. I don't know specifically what they were medically doing for him in rehab, but what I do know is that they started tapering him down (I don't know what he was taking in place of the Ativan, probably another benzo with a longer half life) in the 30 or so days he was inpatient, with the taper continued through a PHP (partial hospitalization), then an IOP (intensive outpatient). I assume he's still seeing a psychiatrist on an outpatient basis, as this was about eight months ago. He lost trust in the psychiatrist that put him in that situation. But getting back to your situation, it sounds to me like you need a higher level of care than just simply seeing a therapist and psychiatrist on a routine outpatient basis.
 
Benzos will stop working for you just like any other drug. Only thing you can do is take less when you don't need them and take extra when you do. Taking extra will fuck your tolerance though so its really a catch 22 your fucked either way. You might need a quicker acting benzo perhaps Xanax xr so you can chew part of your dose and swallow the other that's what I did in your situation.
 
Ativan has a pretty short half life and caused bad rebound anxiety in me for the short time I was taking it. I've heard other people say similar things as far as the rebound anxiety. You'd probably be better off with a benzo with a longer half life if you choose to go that route. I definitely wouldn't recommend upping the dosage tho because once that dose ends up not being effective you'll just end up with an even higher dosage and a higher dependence. Also I agree with Weekend... Unfortunately it seems most psychiatric drugs (or drugs in general) that aren't even benzos lose their effectiveness eventually and the patient ends up having to change medications. As someone who's been prescribed xanax for somewhere around 4 years I can say benzos are definitely a double edge sword. Knowing what I know now I would recommend exhausting every other option before going that route. On one hand xanax keeps me more or less at base level, but on the other hand I'm physically dependent. If I ever want to go off of it I'm looking at a potentially very long taper.
 
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its not the dependence im worried about its the damn things not working period and reducing me to a quivering mass in my bed
 
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