Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

No Problem going on about your problems. Sounds that your symptoms are fairly normal considering. Ativan is one of the horrible drugs and I am lost why they dish them out in the USA. 1mg of Ativan is equivalent to 10mg of Diazepam so looks like you are taking up to 20mg of Valium (Diazepam]. Your problem in my opinion is you are messing about with your dosages and that is not good, worse when you take Ativan as its effects are short acting meaning you soon need another. Valium on the other hand is a long acting drug, take one and it lasts all day. Ativan I am sure without looking it up is short acting and worse being a 1 mg pill a nightmare to get off as 1mg cannot be tapered down into smaller doses. As 1mg of Ativan equals 10mg of Valium it is far better taking Valium as the medication can be tapered with lower dose tablets, plus your intake is constant and long lasting during the day.
Don't worry about your driving it is normal, had the same problem myself on Tuesday after leaving hospital with my wife.
Remember you will get over it with time and things will improve, black as they seem now.
Sorry a rushed post, wife has hospital tomorrow and it may not be good news.
Stop playing with the doses of that horrible stuff and try and get put on one dose of long acting benzodiazipine, not as much as 20mg of Diazepam/ 2mg Ativan.

My opinion only. Try Reading "Benzo Org Uk", including "Benzodiazepines How they Work" Prof Heather Ashton.

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

I read your post to me very carefully (twice) and I want to thank you. I think you're right, I'm playing with my dosages. I'm trying to resist taking too much, but the more I take, the more I need. After a few hours of taking the ativan, there goes my head again, it starts spinning (a typical symptom of anxiety because my brain is one of those evil things that I know is totally against me and I can't shut it off) and I need another 0.5 mg to calm it down.

I will definitely read the article you suggested because if I could take one pill (no more than 2) and have it last all day, that would be more awesome to me than you know. I just want this anxiety controlled without having to resort to the other types of anxiety meds that I can't take anyway without them making me feel very sick.

You've been a dear, with your suggestions and advice and you've made me feel better. I'm going to talk to my doctor soon about the valium and other benzo alternatives. I actually did one time ask her if I could try the Klonopin, and she said sure, I can do that, but ONLY if you turn over what ativan you have left. She wasn't going to write me a script for another benzo unless I gave her the remainder of my ativan. I chickened out and said no because I was terrified that the klonopin may not work like the ativan does and then I'd be stuck in anxiety land with nothing to save me.

I'm very sorry about your wife and that good news may not be given. Would you mind keeping me informed? Either through the forums here or private message? I'd like to know how the two of you are doing. If you don't feel like discussing it, however, I'll completely understand. But for what it's worth... again... thank you.

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

http://www.benzo.org.uk/index.htm

Klonopin....no way

Halcion, Xanax.....no way

.................

Klonopin - more deadly than coke" - Stevie Nicks, 2009 (video clip). More Quotations »»
"It is more difficult to withdraw people from benzodiazepines than it is from heroin. It just seems that the dependency is so ingrained and the withdrawal symptoms you get are so intolerable that people have a great deal of problem coming off. The other aspect is that with heroin, usually the withdrawal is over within a week or so. With benzodiazepines, a proportion of patients go on to long term withdrawal and they have very unpleasant symptoms for month after month, and I get letters from people saying you can go on for two years or more. Some of the tranquilliser groups can document people who still have symptoms ten years after stopping." - Professor Malcolm H Lader, Royal Maudesley Hospital, BBC Radio 4, Face The Facts, March 16, 1999. More Quotations »»

"The biggest drug-addiction problem in the world doesn't involve heroin, cocaine or marijuana. In fact, it doesn't involve an illegal drug at all. The world's biggest drug-addiction problem is posed by a group of drugs, the benzodiazepines, which are widely prescribed by doctors and taken by countless millions of perfectly ordinary people around the world... Drug-addiction experts claim that getting people off the benzodiazepines is more difficult than getting addicts off heroin... For several years now pressure-groups have been fighting to help addicted individuals break free from their pharmacological chains. But the fight has been a forlorn one. As fast as one individual breaks free from one of the benzodiazepines another patient somewhere else becomes addicted. I believe that the main reason for this is that doctors are addicted to prescribing benzodiazepines just as much as patients are hooked on taking them. I don't think that the problem can ever be solved by gentle persuasion or by trying to wean patients off these drugs. I think that the only genuine long-term solution is to be aware of these drugs and to avoid them like the plague. The uses of the benzodiazepines are modest and relatively insignificant. We can do without them. I don't think that the benzodiazepine problem will be solved until patients around the world unite and make it clear that they are not prepared to accept prescriptions for these dangerous products." - Dr Vernon Coleman

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

Yeah, I'm glad I didn't go the klonopin route, after doing some more reading up on it. But really, none of them are good. Yet, at the same time, I call my little white ativan pills my "white gold" because without them I'd be a mess.

I'll still look into the valium as an alternative, though.

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

My knees are playing up; I try not to take painkillers. Ibuprofen works for me but upsets my stomach. Any ideas anyone? My daughter has a severe back problem and is on
co codomol with 30g of codeine. This worries me.

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

That made me smile Linda, your pills are not your friends they have become your crutch. Worse after a short period of time they stop working as the brain opens more receptors to replace the balance the pills have closed. This in turn causes the person to want to take more and there lies the problem which can lead to worse addiction. I would suggest to join Benzo Org and perhaps ask advice, I suspect they will give the same opinion as myself. Get on a long acting benzo that can be better managed and stop torturing your brain with changing levels, not easy on yours.
Still this is not your fault at all, you are as normal as the multi-millions world-wide who have been trapped on the poison due to the greed of the pharmaceutical companies . In early days they gave pills free to Hospitals knowing people would be hooked. In every war torn country they have peddled the poison , such countries as the Middle East where only men are allowed treatment for the addiction and not woman as that is seen as a slur.

Not much changes in life where money is concerned.

Still you could be on Xanax or Rohypnol, same drugs but even more nasty. Not forgetting Mogadon, same drug for sleep help, how many caught out with that?

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

Interesting Country Girl, and if the dose is 8 times a day that is 240mg per day.

So the real question is do they help or are they being taken as there is nothing else, a psychological crutch?

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

I'm in the same boat. I have a lot of body pain, but I'm afraid to take codeine or other painkillers, especially steroids.

Well, the thing is, I'm not sure how I understand that a drug that stays in your system longer is any less addictive than the ones you have to keep popping in order to get results. I mean, if you're essentially ingesting the same amount of drug, just in fewer doses, wouldn't the end result be the same for each one?

Today I've only had 1 mg, which I took very early this morning and I don't really feel the weirdness in my head that I get when I go too long in between pills. Some days it's worse than others and today it isn't bothering me that bad. It's odd, but a good thing, that since you and I began talking about this, I'm more 'aware' of how much I'm taking and how often. So you've helped me already!

I did some reading, as you suggested, on the different types of benzos and, in most cases, they say you shouldn't worry too much as long as you can get away with feeling okay on the recommended dosage. But if you find yourself popping more and more pills because your tolerance levels are changing then yeah, you're in trouble. See, I fight the anxiety sometimes. When I start feeling anxious or panicky, I'll sometimes try and distract myself and/or calm myself in other ways instead of reaching for a pill. So ever since starting Ativan years ago, I've done what I can to keep control over it instead of letting the pills control ME.

However, over just the last couple of years, my dependency on the Ativan has become a little more intense. Could I 'survive' without it if it was taken away from me right now? Probably not. Because you're right, it's my crutch, whether I need it every day or not. I never leave the house without it. I'd rather leave the house without my phone than my Ativan.

So tell me, doc, am I going crazy?

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

Hi Linda, no you are not going crazy. However if people think Benzo addiction is for weak minded idiots and that it does not need respect and does not mean SERIOUS side effects if stopped read this link.

http://www.benzo.org.uk/peartbio.htm

Your Ativan 1mg is not the worst of the bunch, some in fact have been banned from further prescribing.
The problem as I remember it, is that the short acting pills bind the brain sensors down in a more severe manner than 20-24 hour ones. The 24 hour ones in the UK are now reduced down mainly to the Diazepam , the tablet of choice for long term dependant users. I assume the short acting are still used in opps etc as they sedate but are also muscle relaxants , hence given for pain and sports injury, with moderation.
So girl, believe it or not Diazepam/Valium is by far the best drug to be on for the reasons I have stated.
Yes I know USA Docs prescribe the short acting like sweets but don't ask me why.
Anyway I have been taking Long Acting for 52 years, before you were born and they ain't worrying me none, plus the dose remains constant and they stopped working 50 years ago, until that is you stop taking them . They remain dormant like Ebola.
Sort your dose out, split it if needed, take it at the same time, don't increase it and try and find the courage to change. Yes I know your fear, employment, frightened and responsibilities to cope with. Fun life ain't it.

Then we have your legs, aches and pains, and mine, sweet life.

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

Gabapentin and Naproxen are miracle workers for me, I take them and then I can go and play tennis for a couple of hours without so much as a twinge!