Posted by bob on March 21, 2000, at 19:12:03
In reply to Klonopin or Alcohol?, posted by Raymond on March 21, 2000, at 17:10:29
"Well-meaning" is one term I can think of for a doctor who **starts** a patient on ***8*** mg of klonopin/day....
Hi Ray,
First of all, you've come to a very good place. There are a lot of people with a lot of different perspectives and a lot of experience. It doesn't mean you'll get the perfect answer, but you'll get a lot of support. Welcome.
I think that you already know the answer to your question, if you can phrase it as "klonopin or alcohol?" The answer is neither, at least how you've experienced them.
If you have a high-profile silicon valley job, you hopefully have the sort of health plan that should go along with it. NOW is the time to make use of it -- forget about saving $$$ so those HMO execs can have a bigger year-end bonus.
You may not need "psychotherapy" per se, meaning some psychodynamic 4-sessions-per-week process that'll take you 20 years to change that lightbulb in your head, but some form of therapy will probably help.
Since you sound pretty sure you have some form of panic or anxiety disorder, you probably want to find someone who can provide you some concrete behavioral techniques for addressing that anxiety. Then, you can start getting at the underlying causes for that anxiety.
A lot of people here also like to have a different doctor for their meds; some are fine talking to the same person who writes their scripts. That's up to you. As one who goes the two-person route, I find my therapist and my psychiatrist have complementary areas of expertise that give me a broader range of "coverage" with respect to my disorder ... and you shouldn't rule out the role your GP can play in this as well. Your GP may be a good place to start, in fact, in getting referrals for the other specialists.
Be up front and honest about your history with alcohol and with the klonopin. The first is a serious concern; the second might actually be a blessing in disguise. If you responded well to klonopin the first time (but then again, who wouldn't at 8mg/day ... the dosage guidelines I just read mention 1-3 mg/day as ideal), it might be a good place to start again. But that's as long as you feel you can control your dosage and, if you can't, you advise your pdoc right away.
Keep in mind that treating anxiety disorders isn't the rosy world that those Paxil commercials make it out to be -- it can be a long road with a lot of bumps and potholes along the way. If you don't look for a quick fix, you won't be disappointed. Face it as the serious issue it is, know that there is help available, have some patience in making your way to a stable place of well-being.
Put the work in to gather a good team to work with you. One positive about anti-anxiety meds is that they do produce faster results than most anti-depressants, so with a more knowledgeable doctor on your side you may very well find some reasonable relief soon.
But, again, look at this as a distance event, not a sprint. As you've found out once already, a quick fix with an even quicker conclusion can make things worse than they were in the first place.
be well,
bob
poster:bob
thread:27769
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000321/msgs/27785.html