Medication Having An Increased Effect

[Auburngirl]

Hi there,

I've heard of benzos having a decreased effect as your body gets used to them. I take one occasionally for panic attacks, and have found recently that it seems to hit me harder than before. I now feel really floppy and need to go right to bed after taking one. Before it did make me sleepy but not as dramatically.

Has anyone else encountered this? I'm thinking I'll take half a pill next time instead of a whole one and see if that makes a difference.

 

[linasmom]

Do you notice that the panic attacks aren't as bad as they used to be?

I'm wondering if you're feeling an increase effect because your body doesn't have to come down as drastically as before - leaving you feeling more tired as opposed to more relaxed.

 

[Auburngirl]

I was wondering about that too, I'm not sure. My ability to judge severity, etc. is not very good.

I'm also finding alcohol has more of an effect than before.

 

[catjudo]

I've used benzos for probably about 12 years. Sometimes I need A LOT of benzos, sometimes only a little on occasion and then there are long stretches of time that I can go without any at all. I've always been 100% honest with my psychiatrist about how much I was using. There was only ever one time a couple of years ago when he became slightly concerned about how much I was having to use but given everything that was going on in my life at the time he was not at all surprised. At that time we just switched to a different benzo and because it was different from what I was used to I was able to use less of it. After life settled down a bit I was able to go back to my usual benzo at a reasonable dose and as life continued to settle down I didn't need it anymore for awhile.

Earlier this year I found myself needing to once again rely on benzos but they were having a much stronger effect on me than they'd ever had before. Taking the same medication I'd used for a long time but only a fraction of the dose was knocking me out. It got to the point that I avoided using the benzo even when I really needed it because I had to make sure I was alert enough to care for my daughter...not a problem I'd ever had before. Even my psychiatrist was not sure why they were having a stronger effect on me. I'm still avoiding them as much as possible and only using the smallest of doses when I absolutely have to and when I know I can sleep for awhile. I know this doesn't really help much except to say that yes, I've experienced the same sort of situation.

 

[cec]

Auburngirl

Just one thought about medications having a larger impact. Aging impacts the rate of metabolizing and discreation of medications as does health issues. Just wondering if you might have experience health changes that could account for the increased affect?

Timely post for me as I just started taking Ativan, and it is having no affect on my anxiety whatsoever. Just makes me feel a little drowsy. It didn't occur to me that this isn't a problem with the med, but with the level of my anxiety, thus the amount of medication, which is 1mg.

Paul

 

[Auburngirl]

Hi Paul, I've only been taking the benzo for about six months and I'm in my thirties and have had no other medical issues change or weight change, etc. in this period.

Crockettc- this sounds sort of like my situation. I'll try a half dose next time and see how I react to that. The way I'm reacting now is as you describe - I'm completely knocked out.