Your doctor may occasionally change your dose to make sure you get the best results from this medication.

Tolerance to benzodiazepine effects develops with regular use. It is not known whether Ativan passes into breast milk or if it could harm a nursing baby. Benzodiazepine treatment should be discontinued as soon as possible via a slow and gradual dose reduction regimen. Call your doctor at once if you have any of these serious side effects:* confusion, depressed mood, thoughts of suicide or hurting yourself; * hyperactivity, agitation, hostility; * hallucinations; or * feeling light-headed, fainting. This explains why one lorazepam dose, despite lorazepam's shorter serum half-life, has more prolonged peak effects than an equivalent diazepam dose. Keep the medication in a secure place where others cannot get to it. Patients at first experience drastic relief from anxiety and sleeplessness, but symptoms gradually return, relatively soon in the case of insomnia but more slowly in the case of anxiety symptoms. Among benzodiazepines, lorazepam has a relatively high addictive potential. The prolonged sedation from lorazepam may, however, be an acceptable trade-off for its reliable duration of effects, particularly if the patient needs to be transferred to another facility. This medication can increase the effects of alcohol.