Has this happened to anyone else re: ativan?

November 13, 2022 1:57 AM

I had a weird experience on ativan. I'm fine now but I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else?

I used to take a small dose of ativan daily. I started on different meds and felt much less need for it, and now I take it as needed (please, no advice or commentary or talk on how dangerous weaning off of benzos is: clearly I was a success story and I'm fine, and the process was very easy for me personally!). However, I had occasion to take an ativan again after a break - to help me sleep, in a situation where I absolutely needed to be able to sleep - and it was a bit more than usual. The next day I was mega depressed, irritable, sensitive, and moody. It felt a bit like being drunk, or having PMS, like it was being caused by a chemical reaction outside of me to some extent and not my actual baseline mood. It was kind of scary! So I'm wondering if this has ever happened to anyone else. I know ativan can be a depressant, and I'm guessing the length of time since I last took it is what made it so potent?

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)

Could it have been the combination of the ativan with whatever the other med is that you’re now taking? That sounds like the main thing that’s changed since last time you took it.
posted by penguin pie at 5:01 AM on November 13, 2022

I believe your final assessment is probably accurate (I am medical).
posted by chiquitita at 5:04 AM on November 13, 2022

"Paradoxical reaction" will be a helpful search term. Clinically well-documented, and it's been a while since I was involved in that side of pharma but it's likely there's information about this in the product insert (which you can Google and will be available online from the manufacturer and from FDA if you don't have the hard copy that came with your prescription).
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 5:25 AM on November 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

Something similar happened to me when I took it to try to sleep (though I wasn't able to fall asleep, and I just felt very unusually depressed while I lay there). I also think the amount matters- in the past when I've occasionally taken it I took a fraction of the smallest pill.
posted by pinochiette at 7:09 AM on November 13, 2022

Paradoxical reaction won't be useful here, atavan primarily has paradoxical reactions that are activating (atavan is used in patients with catatonia because of this).

You may have had some tolerance which is now gone if you were taking it regularly in the past. It could be that your new medications don't interact well together.

Either way depressed mood or feeling drunk would be in the normal side effect profile for this type of med. Your guess is likely correct.
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:57 AM on November 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

I don't know, although I'll say that on two separate occasions, I had unusual reactions to drugs that I had previously taken without any issue. I once took two aspirin for a headache and then suffered pretty severe gastric upset. Another time, I took daytime cold medicine for a mild cold, and I felt like my head expanded in size, and I had brain fog. So I dunno... weird things happen sometimes.
posted by akk2014 at 10:18 AM on November 13, 2022

Is it possible that you might have sleep apnea? (Are you overweight or have a short or thick neck?) Ativan and other sedatives will make sleep apnea worse, depriving one of sleep.
posted by neuron at 5:50 PM on November 16, 2022