Posted by sl on July 18, 2001, at 11:03:12
In reply to Re: Tell me about Buspar? » sl, posted by Elizabeth on July 18, 2001, at 9:18:16
>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).
The booklet from the makers said it wouldn't make me tired, and that's wonderful. I just am on so many right now, I've got a few days left so I'm gonna stick it out. But anyway, drugchecker said it might interact with the tricyclics and/or the Prozac to make me more sleepy, at least til I'm off those.
> 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).Well, I've only got 3 wks before the next dr's appt, and if it's not doing anything for me, we'll try something different. I DO know that last night my nervous headache went away, but I'm not sure which med to attribute that to, since I take 3 at bedtime at this point.
> 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.No, this is a very special situation. It's a sliding-scale clinic. And there WAS another thing on her tag, I think it might have been RN.
Anyway, a regular situation wouldn't have worked, I couldn't afford the psychiatrist, it was out of the realm of my GP, and I was running out of time (and meds!) so I tried this out. And _I_ REALLY don't care what it said on her tag, since she knew what was what. She was better than the last MD, who didn't know enuf to check interactions before prescribing! I think we had this discussion before: Is it better to have a GP who knows you and checks their plan, or a psychiatrist or other professional who blows you off?
> > 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 anAgain, it might have a lot to do with the situation. A sliding-scale clinic would probably see a LOT of folks after addictive drugs. And I absolutely respect her opinion. It's not like she dismissed my idea, she just steered me towards a less-addicting anti-anxiety med. Which I'm glad of, I've seen the horror-stories of getting off Klonopin, have you???
>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."
Ummm...have you noticed that an awful lot of MD's wont even ask you what you want? They'll TELL you "this is what you're going to take!". Like my last one. I'm just glad this woman took my opinion into account and understood the point (anxiety relief) instead of thinking I just wanted habit-forming benzos.
> once. Anxiety patients who generally don't abuse drugs are unlikely to abuse benzos, and some
Keep in mind, I'd never met this woman before, she didn't have my records, all she had was my word. Wouldn't you give her credit for caution??
>divided doses because there are fewer peaks and troughs in your serum level that way.)
Sounds sensible to me.
> 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.Absolutely fine. She gave me ...well, not free reign, but said I could look up the info and decide how I wanted to taper on and how far to go up. She told me how the tabs look, and how to split them to get an even amount. :) And of course, neither of us were sure how I'd respond til the other meds were out of my system. I'll probably stick with just 10mg/day until then (4 more days!).
> >problems if I divide it by 2/day instead of 3/day?
> I think it's betterDefinately easier to remember, since I have to take the Wellbutrin 2/day. :)
> > 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.)See all of the above. I think you're overly harsh on someone who was doing this for me when nobody else would. AND spent more time talking to me and observing me than the last MD did.
By the way, I am unemployed, and had she actually written a prescription, I couldn't afford to fill it, and she KNEW this and gave me a jar. A jar that would have cost me $100 or more, even just to try out for 3 weeks.
sl
poster:sl
thread:70523
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010714/msgs/70635.html