AboutJason Bhan Expertise Insights into and general advice on the diagnosis, management and care to children and adolescents with behavior disorders, mood disorders, drug addiction, or social adjustment disorders.
I will not give specific treatment recommendations or perform online consultations.
Experience I am a board certified Family Physician with a special interest in pediatric and adolescent health. I have experience with pediatric and adolescent mood disorders (including ADD, ADHD, depression, Autism, and Autism spectrum disorders.
Organizations American Medical Association
American Academy of Family Physicians
Education/Credentials MD - 2000
Board Certification ACFP (American College of Family Physicians) - 2003
Expert: Jason Bhan Date: 2/13/2008 Subject: difference?
Question What is the difference between Lorazepam and oxazepam??
Thank you very much for your time and help.
Yona
Answer Yona,
I will first highlight their similarities. Both Lorazepam and Oxazepam are in the class of medications know as Sedative/Hypnotics. Theses are a group of medications that are generally used as 1) Anxiolytics (for anxiety or panic disorders), 2) Hypnotics (for sleep) and 3) Anticonvulsants (to stop seizures). Both of these (and many others in the class) carry the potential for tolerance (over time, one needs a higher and higher dosage to achieve the same effect) and addiction (there is a significant and dangerous withdrawal from the drug if taken for some time and then abruptly discontinued.) Both drugs can be dangerous if taken to excess and fatal if mixed with alcohol.
These drugs are often used to treat panic attacks and anxiety disorders. They are in fact 'depressants' and similar in effect to alcohol. They should be used with caution, and in theory, not for long term. Because of their alcohol-like effect, they are often used to treat people who are withdrawing from alcohol, experiencing agitation due to drugs or psychiatric illness.
To your question, the difference between Lorazepam and Oxazepam is basically the half-life, or more simply, the duration of action - how long the drug stays in your body - which is sometimes, but not always related to how long the drugs effects last. Lorazepam, depending on the person has a half-life of about 10-20 hours. Oxazepam has a half-life of about 4-15 hours. So one might expect Oxazepam to be used in a situation where there was a need for a quick, and short term need for a medicine to suppress anxiety (panic attack). Lorazepam, with its longer duration of action might be seen in use when one might want to suppress an ongoing, or multiple, recurrent issues with anxiety. The Lorazepam might be taken 1-3 times a day to suppress or prevent symptoms while the Oxazepam might only be taken on an as-needed basis for anxiety. The milligram dosing of the drugs are quite different. One (1) milligram of Lorazepam is equal to twenty (20) milligrams of Oxazepam. This does not mean that one is or more/less effective than the other. This difference reflects something called 'potency' which is taken in consideration when companies determine the milligram dosage of a drug.
That being said, there are many providers that will use these and others in the class (alprazolam, clonazepam, etc) interchangeably.
