AboutDr Alan Galbraith Expertise I can answer most questions on drugs, both medical and "recreational". Answers can be given in either technical or layperson terminology. My main areas of interest are psychiatric, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular drugs.
Experience I have been a university lecturer/head of department for almost thirty years, but am now retired. My research interests were alcohol, smoking and cardiovascular disease.
Organizations Institute of Biology, London.
Publications Principal author of "Fundamentals of Pharmacology" 4th Edition published in November 2003 by Pearson Education, Australia.
Question Hello. This is my first time ever using the allexperts.com site. I have simple question. I suffer from severe anxiety/panic attacks. I recently had to go to the emergency room because things were so bad I could not sleep or stop shaking. They gave me a shot of Ativan and a 30 day supply of 1 mg Ativan pills to take home with me. My psychiatrist has now switched me to Paxil (20 mg / day) since the other drug he had me on (Risperdal) apparently made things worse for me. I've only been taking the Paxil for a few days now at 10 mg to start out. I still get real shaky and scared feeling sometimes. My question is can I take the Ativan along with the Paxil or is that not a good idea? The Ativan really calms me down, but the Paxil isn't working yet. Please let me know. Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
Lloyd Foss
Answer Dear Lloyd
Unfortunately Paxil often takes 10-14 days to have its maximum clinical effect and it would be better if you can avioid taking the Ativan at the same time but if you really feel the need for it there is no absolute contraindication to taking it for the short term. The main problem with Ativan is that prolonged therapy can lead to undesirable effects eg confusion, memory lapses and addiction. Once the effect of Paxil kicks in say another 7 days and you have been still taking the Ativan try seriously to withdraw the Ativan and do this by decreasing the dose to one half tablet for no more than four days and then nil. I would think that the Paxil will have kicked in by then. Addiction to Paxil is not a problem.
All the best and I am sure that we can conquer your panic attacks relatively safely.
