Posted by Fred23 on June 24, 2004, at 18:30:17
Another problem may creep up before I can do that name brand (Wyeth) Ativan vs. the generic lorazepam (Mylan) test.
The bottle from the pharmacy has the instructions for the 0.5 mg tablets: "Take 1 tablet 3 times a day as needed for anxiety," Qty: 60, Days Supply: 20, Refills: 5.
That implies a rate of 1.5 mg/day, which is a very low, conservative, starting point.
Most of the guides I've seen say that "for anxiety, most patients require an initial dose of 2 to 3 mg/day given b.i.d or t.i.d."
I'm slowly going from needing 1.0 mg, 1.25 mg, 1.50 mg, to now 2.0 mg mg/day, so I'll be using them at a faster rate than prescribed, and need to refill sooner than the 20 days. Is the pharmacy bound by that 20 days supply noted on the label? Or just the total limit on the number of refills?
It seems I'm going to need at least the 2.0 mg/day, which still is a comparatively small dose, but I don't yet know what the final number will be. My first thought was that the 5 refills would give me enough time to determine that number before having to talk to the doctor about the proper ongoing amount. But if I use them faster than the stated rate, and can't refill when needed, I'll lose the buildup needed to find the amount to keep over that effect threshhold.
What is also throwing off my testing is that the lorazepam I'm taking is not half the strength of Xanax, and has a much shorter half life, contrary to the charts, which makes me wonder if the generic is as good as it should be.
poster:Fred23
thread:359938
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040621/msgs/359938.html