I think what Krissie is saying is that it's okay to take Ativan if you only take it occasionally, "like when you need to talk for long periods sometimes" but that if you take it all the time, it can cause nasty withdrawal symptoms when you try to get off of it. "Pro re nata" or "PRN" is a medical term for "as the situation arises" and used by doctors on prescriptions to mean "take as needed".
Withdrawal symptoms from benzodiazepines is supposed to be the worst of all drugs (harder than heroin and other opiates) and can actually cause seizures and death, so withdrawal from those type of drugs must be slowly tapered. As long as the dosage hasn't been increased a lot because of tolerance, Valium is supposed to be one of the easier ones to get off of and Klonopin and Xanax are supposed to some of the hardest.
I also gave up all caffeine and it does help with the spasms. I only drank one cup of coffee in the morning, but I used to drink iced tea all day long. Now, I drink decaffeinated coffee and tea. A friend of mine was hooked on caffeine, like 1-2 pots every morning. To cut down, she started substituting a little of the regular coffee with decaffeinated coffee and then kept adjusting the recipe until it was all decaffeinated. Starbucks and other places will also give you half regular and half decaf while you're "adjusting" your caffeine.
If you search in the archives, you'll find all sorts of good posts about medications and the different ones that have helped some people. The most common element is that what works for one person usually doesn't work for others and if you do find something that works, it usually quits working over time. It's one of the things that makes SD so frustrating.
Good luck!
Lori
AB/SD and VCD - since 2003
Dallas
