If you are 18 or over, the doctor can prescribe lorazepam for you as a licensed medicine for anxiety or insomnia (sleep problems).
There is less research about its use and effectiveness in young people under 18. Even so, specialists might prescribe it ‘off-label’ if they believe it is the best medicine for you.
N.B. Lorazepam is a 'controlled drug', meaning there are special rules and laws regarding how it is supplied when prescribed.
Lorazepam is a benzodiazepine medicine. Benzodiazepines help to calm people if they are anxious or finding it difficult to sleep. It can also be called an anxiolytic medicine. Anxiolytic is a word used to refer to any medicine that treats anxiety.
Lorazepam works by binding to a receptor in the brain for a chemical messenger called Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) which has a calming effect. GABA usually binds to a receptor called GABA-A, found on nerve cells in the brain. When this happens, it inhibits the nerve cell from sending messages to other nerve cells. Lorazepam, like other benzodiazepines, also binds to the GABA-A receptor, but in a different position to GABA itself. When lorazepam binds to the GABA-A receptor, this makes it easier for GABA to do its job, increasing calming effects and helping to relieve anxiety.
Lorazepam is a controlled drug as it has the potential to be misused as a street drug. This means that:
This is because it has the potential to be misused as a street drug.
This means that:
Lorazepam starts to work very quickly in your body. You should get the calming effects from lorazepam in a few hours.
Lorazepam has not been shown to affect weight in most people.
It can affect the appetite, but this is rare (happens in up to one in 10,000 people).
Talk to your doctor about this if it worries you.
You may want to let your family and friends know you are taking lorazepam so they can support you and help you look out for side effects.
For guidance on this, check out our page on getting support with your medication.
Lorazepam is used to help people who cannot sleep, so you would expect it to make you feel sleepy.
Lorazepam can, however, make people feel sleepy during the day which can become a problem.
If lorazepam makes it more difficult for you to get to sleep, or gives you strange nightmares, you should go back to your doctor as soon as possible.
Alcohol
You can drink a small amount of alcohol while taking lorazepam, but having the two together is likely to make you very sleepy. This will be most noticeable during the early part of your treatment
Taking large amounts of alcohol and lorazepam together could affect your breathing especially if you have an existing lung problem.
If you need to drive a car, ride a bike, or use machines at work, taking alcohol and lorazepam together could be dangerous to yourself and other people.
Street drugs
It is very easy, and serious, to overdose with any combination of lorazepam and drugs.
Using cannabis with lorazepam will make sedative effects worse. You could go into a very deep sleep where you do not breathe properly and have difficulty waking up.
Cannabis and other drugs may have their own side effects on your mental health, like anxiety or psychosis. For more information, have a look at our drugs and alcohol page.
Using heroin or methadone with lorazepam will increase their combined sedative effects. You could go into a very deep sleep where you do not breathe properly and have difficulty waking up.
Using cocaine or other stimulants (like ecstasy, amfetamines, MDA, 6-APB) with lorazepam can lead to uncertain and dangerous effects.
Lorazepam does not mix well with some other medicines and drugs and may affect the way in which they work. Tell your doctor if you are taking any other medications including over-the-counter medicines for common illnesses and things you put on your skin.
Caffeine interferes with the way lorazepam works on your body, as it has the opposite effect to the medicine.
Try not to drink caffeine drinks (like coffee, cola or energy drinks) while you are taking lorazepam.
Caffeine can cause anxiety and sleep loss – stopping these drinks might help to improve your symptoms.
The tablets contain lactose and may not be suitable for you if you have problems eating some sugars or dairy (milk-based) products. The yellow 2.5mg tablets may also contain tartrazine (E102), a food additive that can cause allergic reactions. Check with your pharmacist if this is important.
The lorazepam oral solution is likely to contain alcohol but dose volumes will be small, so it should not significantly affect your blood alcohol levels.
The injection contains a very small amount of benzyl alcohol but this type of alcohol will not affect your blood alcohol levels.
Do not drive a car or ride a bike just after you start taking lorazepam.
Taking lorazepam may make you feel dizzy, sleepy or forgetful, and you may find it difficult to concentrate.
It may also cause blurred vision and muscle weakness.
This could affect you if you drive a car, ride a bike, or do anything else that needs a lot of focus.
If you are not sleeping well, this could also make driving dangerous for yourself and other people.
It might be best to stop doing these things for the first few days, until you know how it affects you.
Under new ‘drug driving’ laws introduced in 2015, you could be arrested if driving dangerously while taking lorazepam. However, the limit for the medication is higher than what a doctor would normally prescribe.
It is important to stick to the dose on the prescription, and to check that you can drive safely while taking it.
Pregnancy
Lorazepam can affect the developing baby, and cause symptoms in a newborn baby. For this reason, it is usually recommended to avoid taking lorazepam during pregnancy.
However, the risks to the developing baby from taking lorazepam will need to be weighed up against the risks of not taking lorazepam to your mental health.
Some studies suggest a low risk of possible mouth defects, but other studies didn’t find this.
If you and your doctor decide that you need to take lorazepam during the pregnancy, then this will be at the lowest dose that works for you and for the shortest period that is necessary. This is to minimise the amount of lorazepam that the developing baby is exposed to.
If you are taking lorazepam in the last few weeks of pregnancy, you should tell your midwife and doctor so that they can look out for symptoms in the newborn baby.
Post-natal
Your baby may be less active than other babies, have a low body temperature, be floppy, or have breathing or feeding difficulties for a while.
Your baby’s response to the cold might be affected for a while.
Your baby may develop withdrawal symptoms after birth.
Breastfeeding
Lorazepam is passed to the baby in breast milk in small amounts. It is not usually seen as a problem unless your baby was born early or has other health problems.
Breastfeeding can reduce any withdrawal symptoms the baby may have from lorazepam.
If your baby becomes restless, very sleepy or develops feeding problems, stop breastfeeding and quickly seek medical advice.
It is important that you remain well while you are bonding with your newborn baby. For this reason, you may need to keep taking some medicines on your doctor’s advice.
Sex
Lorazepam can have side effects that affect your sex life. These are rare but might include:
These effects should pass after the first couple of weeks on the medication. If they don’t and this is a problem for you, go back to your doctor.
The good effects of lorazepam may have a positive impact on your sex life as your symptoms settle, you sleep better, and you can concentrate on your relationships.
Fertility
There is no evidence that lorazepam affects fertility.
Lorazepam is not a banned substance in sport.
However, lorazepam has many side effects that might make you less able to take part in sports that need a lot of focus.
These side effects include feeling sleepy, blurred eyesight, being forgetful, muscle weakness and finding it difficult to concentrate.
The good effects of lorazepam may have a positive impact on your sporting performance as your symptoms settle, and you start to feel the benefits of the medication.
Try not to take lorazepam for the first time just before your exams.
You may feel forgetful, very sleepy, and find it difficult to concentrate when you start taking lorazepam.
You should talk to your doctor about any future exams if you are starting lorazepam. You might decide together to delay starting it until you have done them.
If they are more than a few days away, however, you might find that it is better to start lorazepam to improve your sleep and your ability to study.
Try not to drink caffeine drinks to stay awake for exam revision – they stop the lorazepam working.
Lorazepam might make you forgetful and make it difficult to concentrate.
After the first few days you will know how it affects you.
You need to talk to your doctor or pharmacist before starting treatment with lorazepam if any of the following apply to you:
It is not recommended to take lorazepam for more than four weeks at a time.
You and your doctor should talk about how long you need to take lorazepam before you start taking the medication.
People can become dependent on the effects of lorazepam if they take it for more than a month, and then when they stop, they get withdrawal symptoms.
If you take lorazepam for anxiety or sleeping you will probably take it for two to four weeks, to get you into a new routine, before stopping so that you do not get withdrawal symptoms.
Make sure that you know your dose. If it is not written on the label, check with your pharmacist or doctor.
You may have to take lorazepam a few times each day.
If you are taking it to help you sleep, you should take it an hour before bedtime.
You can take it before or after food.
Swallow the tablet with a drink of water - if you chew it, it tastes bitter.
If you remember later during the day, take it as soon as possible.
If you forget to take it by more than three hours after you would normally take it, just start again when the next dose is due.
If you take it for sleeping, you must allow yourself between seven and eight hours’ sleep after taking it. So, for example, do not take it if you have only got five hours left to sleep.
Do not take a double dose.
If you forget to take your tablets for a few days, you may start getting your old symptoms back. This means that you should talk to your doctor about it.
Do not stop taking lorazepam all at once. This could lead to serious symptoms, including:
Depending how long you have been taking lorazepam, your doctor will help you to reduce the medication slowly over the course of several days or even weeks at the end of your treatment. Even when you do this, you may get some symptoms, including:
If you suffer from any of these symptoms, go back to your doctor for advice.
If you have taken more lorazepam than the dosage recommended by the doctor who prescribed it to you, you must get medical help immediately – even if you do not feel any different.
While taking lorazepam, some people may think about hurting themselves or taking their own lives. You must go straight to hospital with your tablets if you have any of these thoughts.
Lorazepam can cause serious side effects: allergic reactions (difficulty breathing, swelling of your face or throat, itching skin lumps), and other serious symptoms that you can find here. Go to a hospital with your medicine if you get any of these symptoms.
Stopping lorazepam suddenly can cause serious side effects. Go to your doctor if you want to stop, or if you are having these effects.
You might feel sleepy or dizzy in the first few days after taking lorazepam. Do not drive a car, ride a bike or operate machines until you see how this affects you.
Use good contraception while you are taking lorazepam. If you take lorazepam while you are pregnant, it may affect the developing baby. It can also cause symptoms in newborn babies if you take it at the end of pregnancy. Talk to your doctor or midwife about this and get their help.
If you have taken more lorazepam than the dosage recommended by the doctor who prescribed it to you, you must get medical help immediately – even if you do not feel any different.
Go to A&E. Take your medicine with you to show to the doctors. Tell them how much you have taken. Get a friend or family member to go with you, if you can, just in case you feel ill on the way.
You might feel tired or confused, get strange movements of your eyes, or have problems with your balance, co-ordination or speech.
Your breathing might get very slow, and you could fall into a coma.
If you have taken lorazepam with other drugs, including alcohol, you could get more serious side effects. You must get help quickly and tell the doctors everything you have taken, so they can help you.
If you have any thoughts of taking your own life, or of other ways of hurting yourself, go straight to a hospital with your tablets. You must tell the doctor that you are taking lorazepam. There are other medications you can take instead.
Get medical help immediately if you get any of the following symptoms:
Please do not be worried by the side effects listed on this page. Many people take lorazepam without any side effects or only a few mild side effects. If you think you might be getting a side effect from lorazepam, then you should discuss this with your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist.
Very common side effects of lorazepam (affecting more than one in ten people) include:
Common side effects of lorazepam (affecting up to one in ten people) include:
Go and see your doctor but do not stop taking the tablets if you notice any of the following:
