I have now asked an ear specialist about ativan since he has just upped it because of severe vertigo from the middle ear---he called my pulmonary dr.and he okayed it ,,,so I now have 3 drs.for it and 1 against ---so I say the majority rules ,,,yea

seriously though, the less you are able to use it, the better it will work when you do need it. Unless of course it is something you need to take x amount of times per day for the vertigo, but for anxiety the more often you use it the less strong the dose will seem. I often mange to get by without it for a few months then bang you hit a low point in your emotional cycle if you believe in the circadian rhythm thing, the suddenly I need it twice in a week. Fortunately by that method it always works very well.

A recent Canadian study supports what your doctor said.

"Benzodiazepines, such as Ativan or Xanax, may actually contribute to respiratory problems, such as depressing breathing ability and pneumonia, in these patients [older people with copd]....

"[The researcher] found that COPD patients who had been newly prescribed a benzodiazepine were at 45 per cent increased risk of having an exacerbation of respiratory symptoms requiring outpatient treatment. They were at 92 per cent greater risk of needing to visit an Emergency Department for COPD or pneumonia. There was an elevated, but not statistically significant, risk of also being hospitalized for respiratory reasons.

"He said the findings were consistent even after taking into account the severity of the person's illness i.e. they were true for people with less advanced and more advanced COPD."

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-04-adverse-respiratory-outcomes-older-people.html

as with all statistical studies you can find as many "proving' something helps as those "proving' something is bad for you. (3 years of college statistics & 1 psychometrics class only taught me that statistically, i can prove or disprove anything on how i run a study).---learning statistics actually taught me not to trust "statistically proven" things LOL
i couldn't find anything on the canadian study that gave me the methods used, for how long, how many were tested etc.
i found a pretty large & long swedish study that shows benzodiazapenes (and opidods) do help....on the last page of discussion i found it interesting that in that study the increased ER risk was due to "falls".
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/820089
so, i wonder if there have been enough studies showing that benzodiazapenes help; or why else would soooooo many of our dr's be prescribing it to us?---like with my inhalers, if it works use it, if it doesn't, don't use it.
mchughirene= i like you 3 to 1 dr approach, i got a chuckle out of that; but there's your statistics :)
just follow your dr directions. if it is prescribed "PRN or as needed" then like zig said only take it if you need it.
interesting discussion for sure as it seems to be a medication that many of us can relate to.

I'm always a bit sceptical too when I see statistics thrown around especially if they are by any group who has a stake in the fight be it for or against. The fact is that anyone with copd has a 100% chance of having an execerbation, and 100% chance of a need to visit emerg if given a long enough timeline. It would be interesting to see how they did the math to get these numbers but someone specially trained in statistics can make them say pretty much anything they want to by the way they structure it. There are also other considerations to work into the math that may or may not have been put into the equation and that is dosage. High dosages supress the respiratory system to a greater degree and lower doses can supress it very little to not at all in some cases. There is also the intangibles like life comfort level which some can't have when their anxiety is through the roof.

all three doctors told me the dose I am taking is very low and it will not affect my breathing-------So either majority rules or I go back to flipping a blipping coin again lol