ativan

What is Ativan?

Ativan is a benzodiazepine drug which contains lorazepam.

What symptoms does it treat?

Ativan is often used to treat symptoms of anxiety and as a sedative.

How is it taken?

Ativan comes in pill form.

REVIEWS OF ATIVAN

Review by Laurel

I take Benefiber every morning in my tea. I avoid insoluble fiber, especially on an empty stomach. For a couple of months I took probiotics several times a day in capsule form. Some places have capsules which are enteric-coated. I have good reason to believe that my internal flora was well and truly destroyed (a colonoscopy, followed by a virtual colonoscopy, then heavy duty antibiotics) when all this began, and I think it is much improved now.

I still take one capsule of Complete Digestive Enzymes from Webber Naturals with most meals. If the meal is fatty or rich (like Chinese food or fried chicken) I take a second capsule. For a month or two I also took L-Glutamine.

If, despite all this, an attack begins, I take 0.5mg Ativan sublingual. Usually the incipient attack ends within 10 minutes. I've never needed more than three of these, but if the attack was that bad, I'll be sleeping for the next couple of hours. The Ativan usually stops the escalating diarrhea/pain/fear cycle that in me leads to a full-blown vaso-vagal response (nausea/vomiting, profuse sweating, itching, passing out). I wonder if the people who take anti-depressants for IBS do so because it breaks this cycle.

I've not had a full-blown attack since last November (about six months now), just the very occasional episode of diarrhea. My last prescription for Ativan was six months ago, and it was for 30 tablets. I still have some left (big smile!). This is important because Ativan can be addictive, so I don't want to find myself where I was needing to take them on a daily basis.

My gastroenterologist took me off Metformin (diabetes medication), and I guess she was right, because over the months, with the other things I was doing, things improved, and when I tried going back on it the diarrhea started again. A year ago, I was feeling like this would go on forever, but now I almost never even think about it. My digestive enzymes are in my purse, as is the Ativan. And I'm good to go (pun not really intended).