Lorazapam side effects

[Guest guest]

I have just concluded ny firts ablation procedure three weeks ago and

it has stopped my bouts of twice daily high heart rates{ 160-220} Its

like a miracle.I have suffered from this for years.My problem now

lies wit my addiction to Lorazapam which I have been on for two years

to relieve the anxiety and depression that afib has caused.I was not

a good mental for the defib and was not told of its effects on my

dailylife.I take 8 mg's per day and sleep a lot and have no energy.

Does any one else have this problem and what can I do. Lorazapam is

highly addictive and boy am I hooked.I know I would feel better if I

could get off all these drugs. Al

[Guest guest]

> I have just concluded ny firts ablation procedure three weeks ago

and

> it has stopped my bouts of twice daily high heart rates{ 160-220}

Its

> like a miracle.I have suffered from this for years.My problem now

> lies wit my addiction to Lorazapam which I have been on for two

years

> to relieve the anxiety and depression that afib has

caused....Lorazapam is

> highly addictive and boy am I hooked.I know I would feel better if

I

> could get off all these drugs. Al

Al,

I was prescribed Ativan, also a benzodiazapan(sp?) like lorazapam. I

can't warn people enough about benzos. I found the group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/benzo/

to be very helpful in terms of advice and support when withdrawing.

The key for me was to decrease the amount very very very slowly.

They have guidelines in the group. Usually docs tell you to withdraw

faster, but then you get horrendous side effects, potentially fatal.

Even with the slow withdrawal, the side effects are not good. But

they beat being addicted. I was on 1 mg a day, which is supposedly a

very low dose. It took me three months to taper to zero, and about

six months after that for all the side effects to go completely away.