Odd reaction to Ativan

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Thanks KathySilverstein, I was very concerned about becoming addicted to Ativan but those worries are not relevant any longer. My husband's insurance forces us to use a certain medical group. The last time I posted we had a resident Dr. as our primary care physician but he finished his residency the end of July 2011. Now we are dealing with a new resident Dr. that absolutely hates Ativan and won't renew my RX, which has to be renewed every 90 days. Wants me to try different anti-depressant drugs until I find one that lessens my anxiety. I refused. Sent me to a psychologist that he worships. She was rude to both me and my husband and doesn't believe I have Asperger's or anxiety. Didn't believe a lot of things I told her. She convinced the baby Dr. that I need a psych eval because she doesn't like the results of my assessment, which was done by a board certified neuropsychologist. Our insurance won't pay for testing. The last assessment cost thousands. I refuse to go through another assessment. It took days of testing and I hated every minute of it. Why should I go through the misery and the large expense? Before taking Ativan I stayed inside for up to 2 weeks at a time because I couldn't cope with going out in public. I'm not sure what I'm going to do now.

ocdgirl123,

Your report is not surprising at all. I had to use ativan as a sleep aid one time when I had to take prednisone. This stuff will knock you out. I do not get how people will use ativan for anxiety. It would seriously mess me up if I took it during the day. There are reports out that taking ativan will cause long term brain damage now. Brain damage is honestly the least of your worries if you take it for a while, as addiction and overdosing are the biggest adverse reactions from ativan.

I went to the hospital once for seizure-like events that turned out to be dysautonomia. However they for some reason decided to give me 4mg pills of Ativan.
I was told after the first one that I told someone not to walk on the carpet "because it's people."

This is a very serious problem, and has not been documented well enough to prevent disasters in the Autism/AS community. With that said, I was given a mild sedative (possibly Ativan) by IV, for a would-be sleeping EEG test when I was 9 years old, and had a very VERY bad experience. Potentially fatal in fact! Until then, I had no history of physically out-of-control behavior, but as the sedative began to work, I freaked out and tore off the strap tying my arm to the table, destroyed the IV pole and table, jumped up and shoved everyone aside, and bloodied my hands trying to rip open an elevator door. Had I succeeded, I'd have likely fallen down the shaft from the 8th floor. That memory of 36 years ago, has stopped me from EVER accepting any kind of anesthetic for any medical procedure (other than Novocaine-type local anesthetics). I've had abdominal surgery without anything but a local numbing shot for the holes they poked, and I was fine fully awake and tolerated the whole thing just fine without any sedatives. And it was the first time in that surgeon's career that he had heard of anyone refusing anesthetic, and I had a rough time coercing him into agreeing to it. The fear of the sedatives is SO MUCH worse for me than the fear of watching knives and tools being used on me, if that puts it in perspective. As a powerlifter by sport, and being that I'm very determined and strong by nature, I respect the fact that at my age and size now, I could do a lot of damage to myself and those around me, if I were to be influenced by any drug which puts me in an altered state; no matter how tame or mild the drug may be considered to be.

Then there is the account of the 12-year-old girl with autism in California, who had been in an accident, and was given some kind of sedative by the ER staff. She dislocated both shoulders breaking restraints, and then without intent, killed a nurse by somehow ensnaring the broken straps and IV tubes around the nurse's neck. I guess the nurse was trying to wrestle the girl back onto the table, or something. Very frightening to me, and ultimately sad for the family of the nurse, and for the rest of the little girl's life through no fault of her own; albeit on her conscience.

PLEASE; any physicians who may read this, PLEASE know that there is something very bizarre and unknown regarding autism + certain anesthetics and sedatives. Coffee or even Adderall put me to sleep, which is also, as I am told, very bizarre. Use care in prescribing or administering these things, as there could be very deadly and unexpected consequences.

Charles