Insomnia Forum Posting

Posted by leological on February 07, 2002 at 12:26:24:

In Reply to: Re: Valium vs. Ativan posted by Roger on February 01, 2002 at 10:17:06:

Hi. Just saw the post and thought I might be able to help a bit on the question.
Ativan is a newer type of benzo than Valium, and it is known to have a shorter half-life, meaning it stays active in your body for a shorter period of time per dose than does the Valium; also, Ativan is known to bind more tightly to the GABA receptors and, I think, to more of them than Valium.
This seems to hold true for people who switch from Ativan to Valium for withdrawal purposes (it being possibly better to be on a longer half-life drug so there's not so much up-and-down withdrawal activity and because it's easier to get pill dosages that are easier to cut up while withdrawing than the usual dosages of Ativan, 1mg and 2mg pills). People sometimes notice they get help with sleep on the Valium, for example, but not so much help for other symptoms such as anxiety that they got from Ativan or Xanax.
One thing I would think is possibly better about Valium than Ativan is that since it supposedly binds less tightly to the GABA receptors, it's possible that it might be easier to withdraw from since the GABA receptors may not be quite as reliant on the drug to even operate as they are for Ativan with prolonged use. At least that's my understanding, but I must always say that both of these drugs have caused many people years of pain as the aforementioned website's links reveal, and even my pharmacist says that benzos are the hardest drugs to withdraw from--him seeing firsthand the difficulty with his own brother having endured the same long battle that I now find myself in.
Please be careful and God be with you,
Leonard

Follow Ups:

---