Posted by DL on September 30, 1998, at 21:38:04
In reply to Remeron, posted by Toby on September 30, 1998, at 11:09:31
Your explanations are always so clear, patient and respectful of my knowledge and present status. I think you should teach a course in doctor/patient communication! This is one area where so many MD's could expand their skills. I realize managed care and present restrictions affect care, but physicians should still be able to maintain connections with their patients. Perhaps if I had received adequate care and evaluation 2 1/2 yrs ago I could have saved the insurance company the cost of many fruitless visits.....
> if the grogginess continues, I would recommend you call your doctor and see about going on up to 30 mg.
I will call tomorrow. It is incredibly difficult to actually get him on the phone. I will try leaving a message with his secretary.
I did actually sleep about 7 1/2 hours last night which is a record for me. I did wake a few times but went back to sleep. I did not have that "just under" feeling where I seem to remember most of the night. But I did have to use some coffee to decrease that "dazed' feeling. It is especially scary in the car since I seem to lose concentration easily and find my self drifting away from a focus on the road. I drive from home to home for therapy visits so I am on the road a lot. If this is part of the "grogginess" that will be decreased by raising the dose, I will try it.
Buspar can be used with Remeron and I do use that combination but you should probably hold off on trying that combo until after the EMDR in case you don't need anything extra after that.
Would love to go for EMDR now, but I may have to wait till I have to switch insurance. The new insurance will cover 15 therapy visits per year IF they deem them necessary. That may be a good time to choose a therapist who is also qualified in EMDR? My present therapist will have to ask for more sessions after my appt in 2 weeks. I could call the present insurance (Blue Cross) to approve a diff therapist and see what happens. I will try to find time to call some of the therapists on the list soon.
> The anxiety may be due to the decrease in Klonopin, but because you only take it at night, I would think that would not be the primary cause
You may be right, but when that was all I took for a long time, I would keep trying to stop taking it. I could always skip one night and sleep some, but the next night I would be unable to sleep at all. Charts I have seen show klonopin with a pretty long half life--like 40 hrs. It was the only thing I was given that had any effect on the constant hyperalert state. Even a short trial on Ativan did not seem to affect it.
. It may be the combination of decreasing the Klonopin, the incredible stress you are under with the mediation etc, and the anticipation of possibly starting to work on the past in a dramatic way with the EMDR.
Thank you for recognizing and validating the stress. I myself minimize its effects and ask too much of myself. It seems that I am always doing more than my cohorts think I need to at work. I am sure this is related to the never ending attempts to please my father who was never satisfied unless I was perfect--but, at the same time I think this background has given me an iron will and the determination that have kept me alive through some incredibly traumatic times. Instead of a sudden overwhelming tornado or attack, I have lived through long term chronic abuse neglect....
(won't kill situational anxiety because that is a "life-preserving" emotion).
Apparently this "life preserving emotion" has been trying to tell me something for years and I have been unable to listen......
In case you disappear from my life (and many stable and good things have seemed to) I want you to know that without your support I may not have been here now. There is only so much stress a soul can take.....And, I have persevered for years while protecting my children and maintaining a 'front" for the world. I realize it was not the right path, but "pretending for the world" is a structure I was thoroughly taught as a child and young adult.
----As a child I was not allowed to have novocaine with dental work. I was told it would "build up my pain tolerance". I remember sitting for a half hour of drilling about 40 years ago--holding onto the chair arms till my knuckles turned white. Long stretches of my life have seemed to be like that......holding on in pain--waiting for it to stop. I needed to stand up and walk away--and I am working on that now.
poster:DL
thread:511
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19980901/msgs/762.html