Lorazepam
Pronunciation:lor-A-ze-pam
Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number:846-49-1
Formal Names:Ativan, Temesta
Type:Depressant (benzodiazepine class).Seepage 21
Federal Schedule Listing:Schedule IV (DEA no. 2885)
USA Availability:Prescription
Pregnancy Category:D
Uses.This antianxiety drug is also known for its sedative properties and is
used to promote sleep and to fight convulsions. The substance is given to treat
status epilepticus, a dangerous condition in which people have one epileptic
seizure after another, back-to-back. It can reduce and sometimes even elimi-
nate vomiting from cancer chemotherapy. Lorazepam has been used to treat
LSDandmethamphetamineoverdose and has been a standard medicine to
help alcoholics through thealcoholwithdrawal syndrome. Recreational sed-
ative users report euphoria from lorazepam. When given experimentally in
combination with other drugs, it has helped reduce depression. In contrast,
experimentation using motion picture excerpts to evoke particular emotions
found that lorazepam may reduce happy feelings and increase unhappy ones.
One study found that lorazepam worked as well asalprazolamfor treating
panic attacks, and a case report tells of success in treating mania. Lorazepam
has been used to cure both catatonia (in which people are frozen in place) and
akathisia (compulsive moving around). Patients being prepared for surgery
receive the drug to calm them and to cloud their memory of the event.
Lorazepam is 5 times stronger thandiazepamand 15 times stronger than
oxazepam, and one experiment showed that lorazepam is 370 to 783 times
stronger thanmeprobamatein producing some effects, ranging from de-
graded performance in tests to amount of liking for one drug or the other.
Relatively little research seems to be done on whether members of different
races respond differently to the same drug. This type of uncommon study has
been done with lorazepam. The work found that although doses lasted about
as long in young Americans as in young Japanese, a dose lasted about 20%
longer in elderly Japanese than in elderly Americans—and a dose lasted about
20% longer in elderly Americans than in young Americans, so the difference
became quite noticeable in Japanese subjects. (“American” and “Japanese” are