Ativan and anxiety

This medication literally might have saved my life. After a death of a close family member I literally feel like I went crazy. I would pace, be restless, feel dead, not be able to sleep, no appetite, weight loss, cry randomly, cry uncontrollably, feel like i was going to die and had urges to commit myself to a hospital I was so scared.

My doc prescribed me 0.5 to take as needed. Well, for me that as needed is every day for the last few weeks. I can't do without it, though I would like to eventually, hopefully soon.

The only side effect I notice is that it makes me even more tired than I already am, but that's why they sometimes say take it at bedtime. Well, if you have anxiety, you know that it doesn't just come at bedtime, so it can be difficult to really want to do anything if you take it in the morning or during the day, but I found that if you take half then it's not as bad, so take half during the day, and half before bed time.

I had extreme anxiety so the dr. gave me .5 Ativan. i have been taking it for a month now 2 times a day. it worked great up until last Friday. Since then my heart has been pounding and i have extreme anxiety again, not as bad because i still am taking the meds but the rapid heart beat has taken over my life right now. I can't sleep, eat, concentrate on television. i barely go to work. I don't know what to do. Another doctor i went and saw told me that Ativan is only used temporary and that if you keep using it as a long term thing you are going to have to keep uping the doses and depend on it more and more until you go to the highest dose and it dosent help at all. Now I am scared about depending on them and not being able to get off them. PLEASE SOMEONE HELP. i need some help through this.
i am going to a therapist and all she can say is practice deep breathing so it doesn't really work 100% for me.

Im still on the fence about Ativan...I am taking a 1mg tab once a day along with my 100mg og zoloft. The ativan is for my dystonia, which is a result of certain surgeries i had to rid myself of cancer. The dystonia would flare up and become horrible (meaning my neck,left shoulder and left side of my back would twitch like crazy)and this eventually lead to the ligaments in my shoulder becoming so loose from the twitching that I have had to have two more surgeries to correct that problem. Since taking the ativan on a daily basis, I have has almost NO ticks or twitches. however, while i don't have as much anxiety, i do feel more depressed and my doctor upped my zoloft...

I have been taking lorazepam (generic for Ativan) for over a year. It helps me sleep and keeps me level from anxiety. I do find it difficult to sleep without it, but the reason I started is because I found it difficult to sleep. I don't crave it and or abuse it. I am very happy with it and at $6.00 for a 30 day supply, am grateful.