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Lorazepam stopped working partly

Messages
95
Hey,

i’m taking 1mg Lorazepam 2 times a week. If done that for the last 1 1/2 years without noticing any signs of tolerance.

Two weeks ago, 4 days after I got my second covid vaccine, Lorazepam all of a sudden doesn’t seems to work properly anymore. I still get benefits from it but way less then before.

Is that usual for a Tolerance? Or could the vaccine be the reason for that? Any ideas?

Appreciate any input, since those two days a week are basically what keeps me alive and connected to the outside world (I’m not even able to post this without Lor.). :(


Canned
 

Cinders66

Senior Member
Messages
494
Hey,

i’m taking 1mg Lorazepam 2 times a week. If done that for the last 1 1/2 years without noticing any signs of tolerance.

Two weeks ago, 4 days after I got my second covid vaccine, Lorazepam all of a sudden doesn’t seems to work properly anymore. I still get benefits from it but way less then before.

Is that usual for a Tolerance? Or could the vaccine be the reason for that? Any ideas?

Appreciate any input, since those two days a week are basically what keeps me alive and connected to the outside world (I’m not even able to post this without Lor.). :(


Canned
Hi sympathies. are you reporting benefits from lorazepam as some do Clonazapam or activan? I can’t get Benzo prescribed but use the medication zopiclone and get similar boosts and likewise it’s the only way I function meaningfully. I have noticed gradual reduction in efficacy over years and am doing worse generally since vax but can’t be sure it’s direct cause. I hope your response returns
 
Messages
95
i sympathies. are you reporting benefits from lorazepam as some do Clonazapam or activan? I can’t get Benzo prescribed but use the medication zopiclone and get similar boosts and likewise it’s the only way I function meaningfully. I have noticed gradual reduction in efficacy over years and am doing worse generally since vax but can’t be sure it’s direct cause. I hope your response returns

Hey, thank you for your response! Yes I do. I believe that Ativan is a brand name for Lorazepam. I also get benefits from zopiclone.
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
Hey,

i’m taking 1mg Lorazepam 2 times a week. If done that for the last 1 1/2 years without noticing any signs of tolerance.

Two weeks ago, 4 days after I got my second covid vaccine, Lorazepam all of a sudden doesn’t seems to work properly anymore. I still get benefits from it but way less then before.

Is that usual for a Tolerance? Or could the vaccine be the reason for that? Any ideas?

Appreciate any input, since those two days a week are basically what keeps me alive and connected to the outside world (I’m not even able to post this without Lor.). :(


Canned

I go through periods where my sleep stack doesnt work and i think its a tolerence issue, but in a few days time its back to normal and i realise it was a mini crash or hiccup.
I also take an antihistamine with my zopiclone. But also going through a rough patch, i have an assortment of antihistamines and a few different bezos i alternate, not as much as i use to do but believe this help.
My big hitter when insomnia was bad and use it sparringly to avoid tolerance is seroquel 25-50mg. Its like a reset button gor my brain. Then i can go back to my normal sleep meds. Seroquel i may take twice per week for 2 weeks and then not need it for 6 weeks. A good dose of lyrica can do the same. I think its like when your computer plays up, you rip the cord out and start again👍

But i think in your case your just have a mini crash, maybe a spike in neuroinflammation. Worth trying a different benzo or an alternative for a few week. Eg use doxylamine for 2 weeks🤔 just a thought

good luck👍
 

YippeeKi YOW !!

Senior Member
Messages
16,047
Location
Second star to the right ...
@Canned
I wouldn't think one would develop any tolerance if only taken 2 out 7 days in a week.
Sadly, you totally can, especially over a 1 1/2 year period. The sensitization is slower, but generally inevitable, because your GABA receptors take a hit every time you dose, and those add up until suddenly, you've down-regulated almost all of them, making higher doses of exogenous GABA replacement with benzos inevitable.


Or it could be residual neuro-inflammation from COVID. Who knows. But that same residual neuro-inflammation could be having a similar sort of sensitizing effect on your nervous system.

Ativan/lorazepam is a pretty potent benzo, with 1 mg equaling about 5 mgs of Valium. On top of that, lorazepam has an infinitely shorter half-life, meaning that you build up tolerance very quickly. Why Drs prescribe that instead of plain old Valium/diazepam would be a mystery if it weren't for the sneaky system of rewards Drs receive for prescribing the far more potentially dangerous and damaging Ativan or Xanax.
It's possible that the vaccine might temporarily increase the dose needed.
Like @Pyrrhus , I have no real idea.


But the popularly held belief that intermittent dosing with strong benzos with short half-lives is safe or safer is really dangerous.

As is the belief that you can just switch whatever benzo you're taking for another, different one and start all over again. A benzo is a benzo, and the only real differences are their potency and half-lives. Pharma companies keep reinventing the wheel, and each new iteration is worse, and generally more dangerous, than the one that went before.

I mean, if you could invent a product that would rapidly become a life-and-death necessity, thereby producing a steadily increasing cash flow, it would be hard to resist. And Pharma isnt known for particularly strong resistance when it comes to $$$$$ ....

The most recently touted one, Z-drugs, are a truly cynical move, and being marketed as NOT benzos. Z-drugs are benzos with very slightly different chemical structures, but the same predictable effects, pathways, and dangers.

You might want to talk with your Dr about switching to Valium (very expensive) or diazepam (the generic, much cheaper) at a slightly higher conversion rate than the equivalent Ativan you're taking. It's a 5-to-1 conversion, so for every mg of Ativan you're taking, you'd need 5 mgs of diazepam. The main advantage is that the half-life of Valium is about 72-plus hours, while the half life of Ativan ranges from 6 hours to 14 hours, depending on which source is reporting. Pharma says 12-14 hours, other sources say 6 hrs. Go know.

So you'll need less frequent Valium doses, which will last a lot longer, giving you at least one good-function day and one good night's sleep, possibly more.

Expect resistance. Drs dont like to be second-guessed, especially when it might impact more than just their egos.
 

Learner1

Senior Member
Messages
6,305
Location
Pacific Northwest
@YippeeKi YOW !!
Thank you for pointing out the dangers of benzos. In general, I agree with your comments

You asked why a doctor would prescribe Ativan (lorazepam). As you pointed out, it has a short half life. I get a little bit, IV, before each IVIG infusion, as a mast cell stabilizer. It knocks me flat for about 3 hours, and has greatly reduced the mast cell activation symptoms. I never take it aside from this as I have no anxiety, etc.

I raised concerns about addiction, tolerance, etc. and was assured that doing this every 3-4 weeks was going to be ok. Do you have any evidence that it's not?
 
Messages
95
Hey @YippeeKi YOW !! . Thank you very much for your input. I will talk to my doctor about this.

I think the strange thing about the tolerance is, that it appeared all of a sudden. I thought it would rather build up slowly over time. Anyway.. I might do a 1-2 week break and see if that has any effect and maybe try another benzo.
 

YippeeKi YOW !!

Senior Member
Messages
16,047
Location
Second star to the right ...
I might do a 1-2 week break and see if that has any effect
I dont think it will. Once you build up tolerance, you also create a syndrome called "kindling", which is a sensitization of your neuro-transmitters and GABA system which will precipitate tolerace really quickly ....
and maybe try another benzo.
As in my post to you above, another benzo, unless it's like Valium/diazepam and has a hellaciously long half-life, will just produce the same experience again, only faster. Like I said, a benzo is a benzo, by whatever other name they choose to call it.


Harsh but true ....

While the tolerance may have seemed to have appeared suddenly, it had probably been building for quite a while, and the effects of the Ativan were diminishing ever so slightly with every dose but in such small initial increments that it was invisible. Until it wasn't.

There's still the possibility that this is some sort of weird reaction to viral inflammation, but just in case .....
 
Messages
95
While the tolerance may have seemed to have appeared suddenly, it had probably been building for quite a while, and the effects of the Ativan were diminishing ever so slightly with every dose but in such small initial increments that it was invisible. Until it wasn't.

Mhh possible :(. But 3 weeks ago I managed to get downstairs and lay in the garden for 30 min. While on Ativan. Without crashing. That was the first time since I became bedbound (1 1/2 years). This illness is so frustrating...
 

YippeeKi YOW !!

Senior Member
Messages
16,047
Location
Second star to the right ...
get a little bit, IV, before each IVIG infusion, as a mast cell stabilizer. It knocks me flat for about 3 hours, and has greatly reduced the mast cell activation symptoms. I never take it aside from this as I have no anxiety, etc.
Ativan, Xanax, and Valium are standard pre-op treatments, to calm nerves and ease the patient into the first stage of anaesthesia. Used that way, I would think that there's close to zero chance of addiction or tolerance issues, but I'm not a medical practitioner, so who knows. My gut reaction is no.
Do you have any evidence that it's not?
As I said, this is a very standard pre-op protocol that's been used forever, which doesn't necessarily mean that it's safe, as we all have learned at some point or another regarding some of the practices that are calmly regarded as standard operating procedure in the medical community.


But honestly, as far as I can figure, unless you're getting IV infusions every week, and they're using unusually and unnecessarily high doses of a pre-treatment benzo, I'd say that the odds are as close to a zero guarantee as life is willing to offer.

So fear not, and onward and upward :rocket::rocket::rocket: !!!
 
Messages
48
I dont think it will. Once you build up tolerance, you also create a syndrome called "kindling", which is a sensitization of your neuro-transmitters and GABA system which will precipitate tolerace really quickly ....

As in my post to you above, another benzo, unless it's like Valium/diazepam and has a hellaciously long half-life, will just produce the same experience again, only faster. Like I said, a benzo is a benzo, by whatever other name they choose to call it.

Harsh but true ....

While the tolerance may have seemed to have appeared suddenly, it had probably been building for quite a while, and the effects of the Ativan were diminishing ever so slightly with every dose but in such small initial increments that it was invisible. Until it wasn't.

There's still the possibility that this is some sort of weird reaction to viral inflammation, but just in case .....

Sorry for the late reply to this thread, but do you have any evidence of SSIRs also causing a "kindling" effect in the brain? Is it just benzos/alcohol that has that effect?

My problems started a few weeks into trying to go back on Lexapro, after quitting it 3 months prior, at a higher dosage than what the reinstatement dosage was. Could I have had neurotoxicity? I never had any side effects from Lexapro, until possibly during the attempted reinstatement.