Posted by Elizabeth on July 18, 2001, at 9:18:16
In reply to Tell me about Buspar?, posted by sl on July 17, 2001, at 16:55:20
BuSpar is sedating for some people but not others, and still others get even more jittery when they first start taking it. I think it's relatively unlikely that it will make you feel tired. It's not a "tranquiliser." It's really more properly classified as an antidepressant, although it's marketed for anxiety and the doses required for depression are much higher (average around 60 mg) than those used for anxiety (average more like 30 mg).
BuSpar is a sort of "hit or miss" drug: an awful lot of people find it does nothing whatsoever for their anxiety, a few say it's very helpful. I guess it's worth a try, but I wouldn't get my hopes up about it if I were you. Also, if it does work, it can take up to eight weeks (the research I've read suggests that BuSpar might take longer to work than most antidepressants).
Now, what is a PhD (psychologist, presumably) doing prescribing medication? That's what I'd like to know. Is this one of those arrangements were the psychologist (who actually meets with
you) tells the doctor what prescriptions to write, and the doctor just writes them? That's really not very ethical on the part of either of the professionals.> So, I went today and the doctor (they didn't call her a doctor but her tag said PhD) said Klonopin was too addictive
Klonopin is fine, and it's particularly unsavory for a PhD (that means probably not an MD -- people who have both degrees will list both on their IDs or will list the MD if they have to choose) to be telling you that this drug or that drug is "too addictive."
If you take Klonopin regularly for too long and then decide to stop, you need to decrease the dose slowly ("taper") and not just stop all at once. Anxiety patients who generally don't abuse drugs are unlikely to abuse benzos, and some former drug abusers or addicts are able to stay off of drugs of abuse (particularly alcohol) with the aid of medications like Klonopin. (These are people who were "self-medicating" their anxiety.)
> She stated that it was not habit-forming but would be best if I took it regularly, like at the same time as the Wellbutrin SR.
That's right. It won't *work* unless you're taking it regularly. (It's better to take it in divided doses because there are fewer peaks and troughs in your serum level that way.)
BTW, 15 mg is a *very* minimal dose, even for augmentation. You should expect that you may need to increase it to at *least* 30 mg.
> How fast should I be tapering-up to the 15mg therapeutic dose, and would there be problems if I divide it by 2/day instead of 3/day?
I think it's better
> PS This lady knew her stuff, I liked her. :)
She may, and I'm glad that you liked her. (I have to say, though: I'm not especially impressed with her unwillingness to let you take the most effective available medication (Klonopin really is right up there) for your anxiety -- one that will almost certainly help now rather than maybe helping many weeks from now -- or with her apparent willingness to "prescribe" drugs without any real involvement of a medical doctor. I may not be getting what's really going on, but that's what it sounded like.)
Best of luck to you.
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:70523
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010714/msgs/70616.html