Hey Biz,
Well I know right where your coming from being a recovering alcoholic myself. I would like to make some quick points to answer your questions directly.
i'm an alcoholic, always have been.
Excellent that you admitted this to everyone, more then that, you have admitted it to yourself. To that my hats off to you as you know that this is the proverbial "First Step" in the AA program.
i have been prescribed lorazepam for withdrawals, trouble is i have been drinking while taking the ativan. for the last 6 days i have been taking 1mg ativan with about 14-16 drinks. honestly the ativan makes the alcohol feel like it used to way back when, it feels good......and my hangovers have been a little woozy, but no anxiety.
As death said this is mostly due to the lorazepam. Ativan is used to treat anxiety as well to treat a person going through alcohol and believe it or not, other Benzo addictions. You certainly should not be drinking while on them for obvious reasons which you already know, as well, these were prescribed to you with the intent of helping you off of the alcohol safely, and with less pain. I don't think I should have to tell you that taking a medication outside of the Dr's orders is not only the wrong thing to do, but your setting your self up for larger problems. Also, if you really do need a Benzo to help you off the alcohol, if you go to the same Dr, he will probably figure out that your abusing them and or continuing to drink and can and will stop writing you a script for it. You really need to be careful here are you are playing with fire and you win get burned eventually.
of course, my addictive mind says this is a good thing, but i only have 12mgs of ativan left.i have to quit. am i in for more severe WD having taken the ativan the last 6 days? should i be seeing a doctor? i plan to stop the alcohol completely tom and then taper the ativan over 3-4 days, sound good or no?
Of coarse your brain does, as did mine
Your in excellent company as far as that goes
. Now, as for the WD's (from alcohol) being more severe now that you've been taking the Ativan for the last 6 days, it's likely no, but then again is that it all depends on how tolerant you are to both the Benzo and alcohol, and more importantly, how much of the ativan you took over those 6 days. Either way, you would be getting the same treatment or one very similar as Benzo's are given to ease the pain and the health risks (which can be deadly) of coming off the alcohol. Ativan is given for acute WD's (&DT's) from alcohol and the idea would be that you quit drinking cold turkey and then start on a Benzo (Ativan, or other Benzo) taper which should be done over a 4-7 day taper period. The time frame again is gauged on how much you drank and how often.
Also, my other thought is why put off till tomorrow what you can do today? You already have your meds, and your saying you only have 3-4 days of Ativan taper, that amount of Ativan is just on the cusp of how long it may take you to get past the WD's. Your really kinda cutting it close. However the good new is you've made a commitment to yourself to quit drinking which I have my hat off to you for making this important step. I would have preferred that you would have said that you were starting your taper as of your writing of this, but this will make due for now
Take it slow, take it "one day at a time", and you should have no worries, keeping yourself from falling back is the hard part.
I hope I have answered your questions.. If not or need more explanations please update this thread with whatever your looking for.
All the best!
Pain
