Ativan is only making my anxiety worse!

[catheryn]

Since my doc's office has screwed up my psychiatry referral 4 times (they've been sending it to the wrong office since januaray 10th!), I've been forced to go back on ativan for my anxiety which is spiraling out of control. I've been going through A LOT of stress lately with certain things going on in my life, and thought ativan would help until I get in to see my psychiatrist. This time I was put on 1mgs tablets instead of the .5mgs like last time (which didn't do a whole lot).

Well, every time I take one I only feel tired and kind of drunk/stoned and my anxiety is even worse. The only thing it does is get rid of that barrier between what I would consider appropriate when I'm sober and when I'm not sober (things like sharing information with others I would like to keep private).

I don't know what to do, really. Should I keep taking the ativan? I tried splitting it up in .5mg doses and it still makes me feel stoned and the anxiety is still worse. But without it I'm having overt anxiety attacks. I'm taking it at night when I need to so I can actually get some sleep (it's working well for that)...but I just don't know what to do during the day.

Sorry for the long post, but, has anyone ever experienced this? Are there any other anti anxiety meRAB like ativan that will work quickly on anxiety that won't mess with you so much? I'm completely and totally at my wits end here.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[spungy]

Can't your doctor prescribe you SSRI's ??
I couln't take Ativan either...had the same problems with it.
I have been on Celexa for 7 years and it has helped extreamly...unfortunately ..I tried to get off them because of the weight gain...and am back to having anxiety attacks again.

 

[catheryn]

Hey, spungy, thanks for your reply.

My doc has me on wellbutrin (which is useless/making my anxiety worse) and as far as she's concerned her job is finished. She doesn't even believe in ARAB to begin with and hates the fact that I want to be back on them. On top of that she won't make an actual decision regarding care -- she just pulls the old "well you'll have to see a specialist"...mean while it's taking 12 months to see some of the specialists she's sending me to. I've got my psych referral (finally after 3 months) for next week, and as I can also never get an appointment to see my family doc I had no choice but to seek out an ativan prescription...but it's just not helping and making some things worse.

I have an appointment with a new counselor tomorrow...third one in three months. I'm getting pretty sick and tired of call this crap. I just want to feel happy and normal.