Do not use Ativan without your doctor's consent if you are pregnant.

Clinical example: Diazepam has long been a drug of choice for status epilepticus: Its high lipid solubility means it gets absorbed with equal speed whether given intravenously, orally, or rectally (non-intravenous routes are convenient in non-hospital settings). * Surgical premedication – Informed consent that was given only after receiving lorazepam premedication could have its validity challenged later. * Liver or kidney failure – Lorazepam may be safer than most benzodiazepines in patients with impaired liver function. Similarly renal disease has minimal effects on lorazepam levels. The advantage of switching to diazepam is that dose reductions are felt less acutely, because of the longer half lives (20–200 hours) of diazepam and its active metabolites. Adverse effects are more common in the elderly, and they appear at lower doses than in younger patients. Lorazepam is high-potency and an intermediate-acting benzodiazepine and its uniqueness, advantages and disadvantages are largely explained by its pharmacokinetic properties (poor water and lipid solubility, high protein binding and non-oxidative metabolism to a pharmacologically inactive glucuronide form) and by its high relative potency (lorazepam 1 mg is equal in effect to diazepam 10 mg). edit InteractionsLorazepam is not usually fatal in overdose, but may cause fatal respiratory depression if taken in overdose with alcohol. 2. The tablets contain 0.