Hi I am taking ativan 1 mg for last 5 days I am taking half medicine a day. I want to stop the medicine but don't know how to stop this addicted medicine. Please help.

Question

Dear Purvi, 
You are NOT addicted to ativan - only 5 days, not increased the dose, no salience and i hope you are fulfilling all your responsibilities. Since it is only 5 days, you can stop it suddenly with no withdrawal. Whatever symptoms that you experience after stopping are due to untreated anxiety. Learn a non medical method of managing anxiety.

Saranya Devanathan · Accepted Answer

Dear Purvi, 
You are NOT addicted to ativan - only 5 days, not increased the dose, no salience and i hope you are fulfilling all your responsibilities. Since it is only 5 days, you can stop it suddenly with no withdrawal. Whatever symptoms that you experience after stopping are due to untreated anxiety. Learn a non medical method of managing anxiety.

Rachna Mishra · Answer

Accept that it is going to be difficult and you will not come out of it in an overnight - depression & anxiety are very poorly researched areas in the field of medicine. There is no definitive cure to this illness. Apart from that, depression is under-estimated. You will usually find people telling you to "not be depressed" or "ease down a bit" or "stay happy" when in reality it is very difficult, or rather, impossible to "not be depressed" or "to ease down" or "be happy" there is a very little chance that medication will be able to help you in which case you're lucky, else you'll have to resort to treating it all by yourself. Follow a healthy diet - eat healthy and do not under-estimate the power of unhealthy food. Unhealthy food plays an important role in depression. You don't see the effects of smoking right away but a few years down the line you realize you're in deep trouble and so it is with unhealthy eating practices. Following a healthy diet is extremely important and also a difficult one but it pays off. Exercise daily: ride a bicycle or go swimming or play tennis or jog or practice yoga; there are thousand other things you can do to keep yourself fit. Building muscles by gymming is not the only way to be physically fit. Regular exercise has been proven to reduce stress, ward off anxiety and feelings of depression, boost self-esteem and last but not the lease is it improves sleep. Keep healthy relationships: you do not want to hang around people who make you feel less worthy. Stay away, no matter what, stay away from negative people. There is a saying "you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with" which is absolutely true. Hang out with people who inspire you, who accept you for who you are, who are good at heart. Stay away from alcohol and drugs: alcohol and drugs are nothing but depressants. They'll make you feel better till you're intoxicated but once the alcohol/drug is out of your body you're going to feel more depressed than before and there's a pretty good chance that you'll want to resort to alcohol/drugs again to wash that feeling out. I have been addicted to alcohol and believe me when I tell you, it is the worst thing that can happen to you. Create a long term goal and break it into tiny milestones: the saying "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Sums it all up. Work towards your goal with thorough dedication. Books: you're on quora and I don't think you need to be told about the benefits of reading. Persistence: without persistence you'll never ever achieve any goals in life. Things go wrong all the time but you should not give up no matter what. As happens with depression something as trivial as missing out your morning workout will make you feel extremely bad. Things will be worse when things go really bad like having a break up or getting into an altercation with your best friend or getting fired, you'll have to be damn strong. Do not give up. It is going to be very difficult but keep trying until you succeed.