Can a nurse come to work after taking a benzodiazepine?

NurseStorm, BSN, RN · Dec 25, 2015

I have Agoraphobia with Panic Disorder, Anxiety Disorder and Schizoaffective Disorder. I have intermittent FMLA and had to call off today using my FMLA due to depression and anxiety...when I called off my DON said "Well, we really could have used you today" I can take an Ativan and go in...but I am afraid that it will make me feel loopy...I usually take it at night but if I had to go in I would have to take one...btw..I am a CNA...would it be safe for me to work under the influence of Ativan?

Well if you don't know how you will react, then no. You need to be aware of how you are on a medication before working on it, of course.

To the OP, if you live in the US I wouldn't, judging by the craziness of the policies/drug testing, etc. Seems even if it's legitimate prescription and you are not impaired you can still get screwed over.

I am from Canada, and when my anxiety disorder was first diagnosed during kind of an anxiety crisis (having extreme memory loss, tachycardia, sweating, weakness, etc) as a student, I was prescribed xanax and effexor. Xanax until the effexor started working mostly. This saved me. I made sure I knew how it affected me before working (I was a student anyway though) and it was a really low dose. What people without anxiety don't understand, is when you are extremely anxious, benzos do NOT impair you, unless your dose is excessively high. To those who say "ativan knocks me out for 2 days" or "all I do is sleep when I take it so no one could ever work", then no, you are not experiencing anxiety on the level of those with a disorder/taking it for other reasons. For me, the xanax took the edge off the anxiety so I could focus and helped my memory return to normal, HR remain normal etc. I still had some anxiety due to the situation (high achiever who suddenly was having extreme memory loss and not knowing why, and doing not great in clinical as a result..) but it was manageable thanks to the xanax.

About 6 weeks later when the effexor kicked in, I no longer had to take xanax regularly, just on the rare occasional day.

I personally believe it is not the employers business what medications employees are on/health conditions etc, unless it is affecting your work. If you are not impaired, working appropriately, safely and competently than it should not ever be considered. I actually even made a thread about this in the past because I was so shocked at the standard practices in the US from reading these forums.

I am also especially shocked they test for SSRIs as they don't impair anyone and I have never heard of anyone abusing them?? Seems straight up discrimination towards people with depression/anxiety or other mental health issues.