J

"The persistence of the withdrawal syndrome furthermore complcates the matter. Surveys have
shown that about 15-30% of the patients continue to report significant symptoms from 10 months
to 3.5 years following the withdrawal of these drugs. This certainly requires increasingly energetic attempts to help patients to give up benzodiazepines."

[Key words; protracted withdrawal syndrome]

Jeffrey DI, Whitfield MF.
Lorazepam Poisoning.
BMJ 1974; 4: 719.

[regarding the overdosage of lorazepam in a 6-year-old boy]
" We report the case of a child with moderate overdosage of this drug which produced surprisingly severe effects. "

" Hallucinations are a recognised complication of ovedosage with diazepam, a more widely used member of the benzodiazepine group. On a body weight basis the fatal dose for a child would be between 500 and 600 mg. It was therefore surprising to find severe toxic signs with marked
hallucinations in an otherwise healthy child at a fraction of that dosage. Clinicians should therefore be alert to the potential central toxicity of this drug in children with even mild to moderate degrees of overdosage. " [p. 719]

[Key words; Ativan, lorazepam, hallucinations, poisoning, children]

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