Qualitest Lorazepam Is Discontinued - Any Alternatives?
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I was advised by Par Pharmaceutical that Qualitest lorazepam 1mg had been discontinued and no longer distributed. Is this true? Qualitest lorazepam was the only sedative that works for me. Watson, Actavis causes serious side effects (panic attack, more anxiety, dehydration, asthma, heart pounding, can't sleep) with no effectiveness. (no calming effect) Ativan works but it's too expensive ($2500 for 30 ea lorazepam 1mg) and my insurance does not cover it and most pharmacies do not deal with brand Ativan and most insurance do not want to pay it. I heard leading pharma is not effective and some other manufacturers as they cut down 20% of inactive ingredients. I called 30 pharmacies and most of them carry Actavis or leading while Walgreens carry Sandoz and CVS carry Greenland and one local pharmacy carry Mylan and one has cardinal health. The thing is, with regards to lorazepam you're only allowed to transfer the prescription once. So when patients can't take some brand (manufacturer) they have to wait until my next refill for another brand. Lorazepam is the only sedative that works. I take it due to side effects (anxiety, myxedema, over-activation of sympathetic nerve) from levothyroxine as I am thyroidless after surgery. Ativan, lorazepam is the only drug that works to relieve the symptoms that make it possible for me to sleep a little. Xanax, clonazepam, and other stuff do not work, causing side effects such as asthma. Do you have any recommendation of other manufacturer lorazepam that you have taken and works well or ok? Have you ever taken Lorazepam 1mg from Sandoz, Greenland, Mylan, Leading pharma or Cardinal health? How does it work? Are they ok in terms of effectiveness and side effects? I can't take Actavis/Watson for reasons mentioned above. I got ill as I got more anxiety so could not sleep.

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Re: David (# 2)

https:/­/­www.cambridge.org/­core/­journals/­the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/­article/­benzodiazepines-its-time-to-return-to-the-evidence/­B4DBF992E78EBCC53DC15930829B79E6

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Re: Katy (# 7)

Teva is all that works for me and they stopped making it May 18. My pharmacy is supplying Accord and it is horrible. I suffer really bad anxiety and constant panic. What others have you tried. I hate to keep calling all the pharmacies all the time. We should not have to do this.

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Re: Murphy OHSU Portland Oregon (# 4)

NAME BRAND, is $2,500.00 a bottle now for 60 pills. Trust me, I've checked it out at CVS where I live in Florida. Your talking about GENERIC, being that cheap.

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Re: Dayle (# 6)

Anxiety disorder for over 17 years, and my beloved Mom died a few days ago, so now I'm really stressed. I loved the Qualitest, it really helped, but Leading Pharma, makes me feel horrible. I like that Lorezapam makes me kind of chill/numb & I need that. I don't feel high from it, but this "replacement" doesn't compare to Qualitest. Can't believe they stopped making the one that worked for me...

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Re: Marcus (# 10)

I have same symptoms on Mylan. It makes me very sleepy and tired.
Also heart pounding.
When I took Watson, I got panic attack, fever, asthma, internal tremor, insomnia with no calming effect (just side effects).

Every generic Ativan works differently.
And they are less effective than brand Ativan.

Ativan and lorazepam causes asthma depending on dose and people.
My doctor told me it causes asthma.

They also stimulate sympathetic nerves according to what I read.
Lorazepam(Ativan) can cause myxedema if you are hypothyroid.

I heard that generic lorazepam can cause seizure and more anxiety.

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Re: Murphy OHSU Portland Oregon (# 4)

It is brand Ativan which is expensive. I researched it.
Rite Aid also told me so, but they said they can't order brand Ativan nor carry one.
Generic lorazepam is cheap.

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Re: Dayle (# 6)

I take Ativan due to side effect of levothyroxine that I have to take since thyroid surgery. Levothyroxine keeps high adrenaline and adrenal fatigue causing paralysis (gets me stiff), asthma, anxiety, heart pounding, chest pain, bad blood circulation, blood constriction, muscle tension, nyxedema, overly activated sympathetic nerve. After 6 years I suffer from all the side effects. So Can't sleep. Ativan relieves side effect of levo such as paralysis and anxiety so makes me sleep.
I know the side effects of Ativan so try to take one time at night.

I try not to take it for 10 months but could not sleep so my health condition was worsened and immunity was lowered and got sicker.

Xanax, clonazepam, cymbalta do not work except side effect of asthma and dehydration causing more anxiety.

I take lorazepam not because of psychological problem. When I quit levo for a while, I was able to quit lorazepam but I hot seriously hypothyroid that threatened my life as I am thyroidless so I had to take resume levo and NDT(like armour) causes side effects as well so I have no alternatives.

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I am having the exact same issues after having been switched from Qualitest lorazepam to Mylan lorazepam.

It is eery to me how similar the negative effects are to the ones I've had.

I notice with the Mylan that I've had a very tight chest that comes and goes, but when it comes it feels like bronchospasm, and I've never had asthma before. I've also had a racing, pounding heart after taking it, to the point I've had to increase my beta blocker (to reduce my heart rate).

The Mylan seems like a different medication. It makes me quite tired, and at the same dose as the Qualitest I fall asleep--I try to fight to stay awake but I can't. And as I'm falling asleep I'll suddenly wake up in bed gasping for air.

It is very confounding.

I was already working with my psychiatrist on tapering the Ativan since I've been on it so many years and want to come off but having all these odd effects make it so much more difficult.

In looking at the inactive ingredients, it seems that Qualitest was very different from the others in that it used potato starch as the disintegrant whereas al the others use a type of plastic resin called polacrilin potassium. I'm not sure if that's why I have such a bad reaction or not.

Next month my pharmacy is going to try me on Major Pharma instead of Mylan but I don't know if it will help because they both have the same inactive ingredients.

It's very frustrating because the Ativan no longer helps with anxiety plus it's causing all sorts of awful effects. It forces me to fall back asleep, with a pounding heart, and then suddenly wake up gasping for air.

I found a few tablets left of my Qualitest I had left and tried that for one day and I felt back to normal. My family saw the difference right away even though I didn't tell them the change I had made.

From what I've read the factory that made Qualitest Ativan shut down or at least fired most of the workers so I doubt it's coming back.

It's already very scary to be dependent on a medication but this adds to the problem and makes me want to find a way to get off of it faster, but it's quite hard to do.

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Re: Dayle zHudson (# 8)

I understand that but this latest batch of Watson aren't helping my anxiety. I have been stuttering really badly and that usually only happens when I don't take my pill. I think they have been telling pharmacists lies about the content of the pills and the pharmacists tell us what they were told. I don't blame pharmacists but I do blame big pharma and all the lies they tell so they can get even more money out of us. Thank you for sharing your info with me, but I was told the same by my pharmacists.

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Re: Peanutsmom07 (# 5)

The same drug. Different manufactures will look different in color and size. The first time that happened to me I thought I got the wrong pills. That's when it was explained to me

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I recently picked up my generic klonopin and instead of the yellow pills they were different. I started having anxiety over the next few days and took it back to my local pharmacy and asked for the yellow ones. They treated me nice but like I was crazy. Now I know I’m not! So different generics can be different! Good to know.

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Re: Judi (# 1)

I have insurance for medications. I wouldn't be able to take any of mine if I didn't. I like Xanax. Don't take it anymore but years ago it saved my life. I was on it for about 6 years then gradually got off of it. What were you taking lorazepam for?

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Re: winjy (# 3)

I thought it was only me who noticed a difference in the manufacturers of Ativan. I was recently given Watson-lorazapem 1 mg and I have found that I can put them on my tongue and let them dissolve. No bad taste, no nothing. It had a taste of chalk a little bit but not much, this makes me think that the Watson are sugar pills and we're getting screwed because we have to take whatever brand the pharmacy gives us. I have no answer as to other brand names but would love to know a name of one that actually works. Good luck to all:)

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Re: winjy (# 3)

Are you insane? $2500 for 30 pills? What pharmacy is that? Walmart quoted me 14 bucks and Safeway was even less. Why the bs prices?

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Watson became Actavis?

Is Watson lorazepam the same as Actavis lorazepam?

I have taken Watson and it caused me serious side effects with no effectiveness. It did not work at all and caused panic attack, heart pounding, fever, asthma, dehydration, and insomnia. I returned it to Rite Aid. I used to take Qualitest which works OK though it is milder than brand Ativan. Qualitest is discontinued a few months ago and my pharmacy switched to Actavis. I think I heard that Actavis is Watson so I will have same result (side effect with no calming effect).

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When at a loss, there are a number of alternative ways to manage insomnia or anxiety disorders outside of Lorazepam (& benzodiazepines in general). However, not all of them are pharmaceutical-based and what works for some people may not work as well for others. So working closely with your doctor and allowing time for some degree of trial/error may be vital for long-term success (even among the different drug manufacturers that were mentioned).

I recently wrote an article here on "The Stark Reality Of Benzodiazepine Dependence & Availability" that you might be interested in checking out.

On a separate but related note, I find that the effects of Kratom (maeng da green or red bali) to be immensely beneficial for getting a deep night's rest as well as treating anxiety in general -just my opinion. Certain strains are more sedating or energizing than others, but after my experience with this miraculously versatile plant, I only wish I would've discovered it sooner.

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I'm having the same problem. I was taking Qualitest Lorazepam for years, and now it's been discontinued, and I'm freaking. I've tried others, but they don't make me feel as good. I can't believe that you can't buy the name brand anymore. I wouldn't mind if it was a few hundred dollars a bottle, BUT $2,000? That is insane & so unfair to people who really need it. I'm debating if I should just go for it anyway because the generic that is available STINKS!

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