My husband has been on lorazepam for over 2 years now. It really has helped to control his extreme anxiety attacks. I would rather see him calmer with some side effects, than see him in the terrible states that he gets into.
It really is pitiful to see him so terribly upset, anxious, wringing his hands and unable to keep his limbs still. When he lived at home I tried so hard to handle these attacks. I tried every ploy that I could. When he went into hospital it was the same, and now in the Nursing Home he has also had to have the drug in the mornings, afternoons and evenings. He was taken off the drug in the afternoons for some 5 months to see if he would manage but this mid day dose has had to be reinstated. Nothing can ease his pain except this drug.
I can't tell you of definate side effects he may have as it is very hard at his stage of dementia to be able to say but he does have periods when he is not in the real world and is telling me of events which are in his imagination. As I say, I really don't know if this is the drug or whether it is the stage of dementia he has reached. I think it is the dementia as when he had the period when one dose was cut out, he still displayed the same symptoms.
xx TinaT