Side Effects Of Lorazepam

Lorazepam is a prescription medication that belongs to a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines. It is frequently used to treat anxiety, and doctors may also prescribe it for sleep issues, alcohol withdrawal, and active seizures. Patients receiving chemotherapy typically use lorazepam to reduce the nausea and vomiting that could occur during their treatment, and the medication is used during surgical procedures to block memory formation and sedate patients on mechanical ventilators. Lorazepam should not be used during pregnancy, and it is not safe for use in individuals who have narrow-angle glaucoma, severe respiratory insufficiency, or myasthenia gravis. Before lorazepam is prescribed, patients should let their healthcare team know if they have epilepsy, respiratory conditions, liver disease, kidney issues, or a history of depression. Lorazepam can be taken with or without food, and patients who use it for anxiety relief should take the largest dose before bedtime.

Some of the potential side effects associated with lorazepam are outlined below.

Drowsiness

Patients who take this medication often report drowsiness, and individuals over fifty years old may experience prolonged sedation when lorazepam is used during surgery. Patients may find they are tired during the day, and the drowsiness might make them unable to participate in daily activities as well as they otherwise would. Since each patient will experience drowsiness differently, it is especially important for patients to avoid driving, operating heavy machinery, or performing other potentially dangerous tasks during their first few days or weeks of using this medicine. This will help patients learn how lorazepam impacts their energy levels, and they can plan ways to minimize this impact or get help with driving and other tasks as needed. To minimize drowsiness, it could be beneficial to split the prescribed daily dose of lorazepam into several smaller doses throughout the day. Taking the largest dose just before bedtime could reduce the disruption this medication might create in the patient's daily activities. Patients who are difficult to wake should be taken to an emergency room to be evaluated, and any instances of increasing drowsiness while on lorazepam should be reported to the patient's doctors immediately.

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