Sporadic use of Ativan

[[Ha...]]

I have used ativan off and on for years. The last month starting August 21 i used Ativan 10 times this month. I feel that my anxiety gets worse ever 2 days and sometimes take one. Could i be addicted already. .05 doesn't seem to work much til i take 1mg. and if i am how do i come off totally/ do i need to taper it slowly? Is there anything else for the extreme anxiety? thank you for any advice. 

[[Pa...]]

It's very possible your body has grown dependent on the Ativan, I've seen it happen in as little as 10 days.  Using the drug sporadically isn't a protection of becoming dependent and the fact that you feel anxious after a couple of days is an indicator.

 

I don't know of any drugs that will help extreme anxiety but I do know that benzo tolerance and withdrawal takes normal anxiety to the extreme, so your best defense against extreme anxiety would be to taper from the drug and recover from your use.  Either that or stay on the drug, take it daily and increase the dose when your body becomes tolerant to that dose, an unsustainable situation in my view.

 

To answer your question, a slow taper is the best way to get off of these drugs, it allows us to remain functional in our lives.