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As mentioned before as is the case with all benzodiazepines, in case of prolonged and overuse of any of them, and especially Lorazepam who is stronger and more addictive then some of the others. Therefore precautions are required if Lorazepam was taken for a large period and the patient needs to come off it , like a slow reduction in the dosage, over a period of a few weeks, depending on how long the patient has been using Lorazepam and how much of an addiction he or she has developed. In addition, another good option for patients who have been using Lorazepam for a long time is switching to the same of diazepam, and after a period of adjustment, lowering the dose of diazepam. Since diazepam has a longer presence in the blood, switching to it means that the patient will feel the dose reductions less gradually. This might be a better option for some patients and is worth considering.
When a patient is using Lorazepam and he stops the dosage too fast, it is possible that symptoms of physical withdrawal or anxiety can appear which look like barbiturate and alcohol withdrawal syndromes. Similar to other benzo-drugs, Lorazepam might lead to the patient becoming addicted and this is known as benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome. Generally the more time you use and the more you take Lorazepam the higher the possibility of this syndrome developing, also its intensity will be higher. In some extreme cases, withdrawal syndrome can be developed from normal doses and after shorter use, but even if it does, it can never be as severe as when abused for a long period of time. If this is observed the treatment should be aborted as soon as possible, but not abruptly but by lowering the dose over time. Sometimes the “rebound effect” will be similar to the patients original diagnose but improved and possibly hard to diagnose. Sometimes the syndrome properties can be anywhere from medium anxiety or sleeplessness to more serious ones such as psychotic or seizing attacks. The possibility of appearance and intensity of symptoms are increased with prolonged use, higher dosage and rapid stopping of treatment. Fast acting benzos like Lorazepam can more often lead to these symptoms and they are usually more severe when comparing to some others drugs from the same group, who has slower reaction time and longer presence in blood.
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In some cases, withdrawal syndrome has been observed even after taking completely normal and low doses of Lorazepam for seven days. These include increased anxiety, depression, tension, sleeplessness, restlessness, increased irritability, tension, confusion, dizziness, depersonalization, oversensitivity to external effects like smell, sound, light, and other senses, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite, hallucinations, seizures, tremors, stomachaches, delirium, sweating, increased heart rate, memory loss, increased temperature, and agitation. Usually the human body needs one to one and half day to completely metabolize and remove any Lorazepam from itself. Keep this in mind with all the other good things about Lorazepam.
