Suffering From Anxiety Causing Sleep Problems. Taking Medicines. Worried About Side Effects. Solution?

Hi there, thanks for asking. As you mentioned, lorazepam or ativan cannot be taken for more than 3 or 4 weeks since they cause addiction. The best way to deal with anxiety is to ask a psychiatrist to prescribe a medication which is not addictive and can improve the underlying cause of anxiety, or set for some talk sessions to address the anxiety. Sometimes a medication from the class of Z drugs is also prescribed to address the sleep problem and they have just very little tendency to cause dependency. Best wishes.

Hello
Welcome to HCM

It is true that lorazepam or ativan is addicting. It has high abuse potential and it may make you dependent. It also causes rebound insomnia when stopped abruptly. You have started taking it for anxiety and problem of insomnia. There are a lot of other drugs which can be taken for anxiety and which will help in sleep too. Medicines like Paroxetine which is a good anti anxiety drug, it also causes sedation and help in inducing sleep. But for this you have to visit your psychiatrist for expert opinion. Relaxation exercises, improving sleep hygiene will also help you.

Thanks
Dr. Seikhoo Bishnoi, MD

hi there, thanks for asking. Lorazepam (or ativan) is anti anxiety medication but it should be taken for at most one month. As you mentioned it may cause dependency. When somebody has anxiety, she should tell her doctor to see what kind of anxiety she has and which medication is suitable for her. Some medications from the class of SSRI will probably help a lot and will not cause dependency. When anxiety is treated, insomnia will be manageable with some methods like relaxation technics, bed restriction, stimulus control, etc that you can ask from your doctor about. Best wishes.