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Suggest Treatment For Side Effects Of Buspar

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Posted on Wed, 26 Oct 2016
Question: Iam on buspar for anxiety and sleep problems. It is causing me to not sleep and be restless. My doctor switched from ativan for fear of addiction. what do I do?
YYYY@YYYY
doctor
Answered by Dr. Dr. Ashok Kumar Choudhary (18 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
It is ok to have bspar for anxiety but there should be no abrupt change

Detailed Answer:
Dear XXXX,
Thanks for using Healthcaremagic.

I read your query and understand your concerns.

When a patient presents with anxiety and sleep problem benzodiazepines (read ativan) are added to the definite treatment (read buspar). This is because buspar takes time to help the patient and before that ativan takes care of anxiety and sleep. Since ativan have the addiction potential it is withdrawal after a certain period (say 4-12 weeks) and definite treatment of anxiety continued.

In my view your doctor should not have discontinued ativan without giving enough time to buspar as buspar do not act from the day one of treatment. In this situation you need to see your doctor again and request him to prescribe ativan for certain period till buspar starts acting.

I hope this helps you.
If you have any further query, I would be glad to help you.
If not, you may close the discussion and if possible you may rate the answer for my future patients.
In future if you wish to contact me directly, you can use the below mentioned link:
http://doctor.healthcaremagic.com/doctors/dr-ashok-kumar/67386
Thanks and regards
Note: For further guidance on mental health, Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
Answered by
Dr.
Dr. Dr. Ashok Kumar Choudhary

Psychiatrist

Practicing since :2000

Answered : 3355 Questions

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Suggest Treatment For Side Effects Of Buspar

Brief Answer: It is ok to have bspar for anxiety but there should be no abrupt change Detailed Answer: Dear XXXX, Thanks for using Healthcaremagic. I read your query and understand your concerns. When a patient presents with anxiety and sleep problem benzodiazepines (read ativan) are added to the definite treatment (read buspar). This is because buspar takes time to help the patient and before that ativan takes care of anxiety and sleep. Since ativan have the addiction potential it is withdrawal after a certain period (say 4-12 weeks) and definite treatment of anxiety continued. In my view your doctor should not have discontinued ativan without giving enough time to buspar as buspar do not act from the day one of treatment. In this situation you need to see your doctor again and request him to prescribe ativan for certain period till buspar starts acting. I hope this helps you. If you have any further query, I would be glad to help you. If not, you may close the discussion and if possible you may rate the answer for my future patients. In future if you wish to contact me directly, you can use the below mentioned link: http://doctor.healthcaremagic.com/doctors/dr-ashok-kumar/67386 Thanks and regards