Ativan and ativan

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.

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.

I have recently experience high bp that my doctor said was due to anxiety. He prescribed .5mg Ativan. It helped in the beginning but I have now noticed that in only 2 weeks I am having extreme anxiety when it wears off. Last night I woke out of a dead sleep in what the ER doctor said was a panic attack. He then gave me a double dose of Ativan in the ER. This sent my heart rate skyrocketing and caused a major panic attack in the hospital. I have never had these before I started Ativan. Has this happened to anyone? Now they put me on Valium to counteract the anxiety from Ativan. The ER doctor now thinks the high bp was from the new birth control pill I started. I think I am going to quit taking any meds.

loss of sleep, nausea, diarrhea