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Originally Posted by toriana  How does atavan work? |
First off, I'm NOT a doctor, just someone with a lot of history with psychiatric drugs who does a lot of research. So take what I say with that in mind.
The entire class of drugs, benzodiazepines, work similarly. They are all central nervous system depressants. Here's a link to a general overview of the drugs.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dru...ation/DR602809 It specifically addresses valium initially, but generally gives a lot of useful information.
Atavan works similarly to Xanax, only it takes longer to enter and leave your system, making it potentially less addictive, and also more affective over a longer period of time. Doses of each of the benzos depends on the drug--a good pyschiatrist will know how much to give you of one based on how much you took of another.
The problems are that they all tend to be very sedating, and they can all be addictive if used regularly for long enough. The risk of addiction is particularly high in people with alcohol problems, since they work on similar recepters in the brain.
That said, they can play an important role for patients. I am currently using ativan daily because it makes the horrifying suicidal images and thoughts go away. My psychiatrist thinks that once I get the full affect of adjusting my mood stabilizer they will go away, but that may take a month (I'm bipolar).
They're fairly good drugs for occasional panic attacks, but personally I would be concerned about using them for general anxiety issues. Other drugs that are commonly used include the SSRI's (prozak, lexapro, etc.), Cymbalta, Wellbutrin, and those are more appropriate for daily use.
A gyn really shouldn't be prescribing psychiatric drugs except in the case of an emergency--you really should ask for a referal to a psychiatrist assuming that's financially a possibility.
I know this is long, but I hope you find some of it helpful.