Ativan and heart

I took Ativan for a couple of weeks straight and for six weeks or so on and off. I went from taking a 1 mg SL to 2 mg one night and it made me feel like a zombie so I cut back to the 1 the next night. Then I started getting heart palpitations so I asked a pharmacist and she told me that they can cause that and to cut back to 0.5 mg for the next three nights and get off it which I did. Two days after taking my last dose I ended up in emergency with withdrawal symptoms ranging from numbness to a tightening of a band around my head. A week later I thought that I could go back to taking just 0.5 mg a night. Big mistake as it put me right back to square one. I haven't taken one since thankfully and never will again. It is the worst drug in the universe imo.

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.