Posted by zeugma on May 6, 2004, at 18:56:51
In reply to Re: Xanax - my pdoc thinks its too much! I DONT!, posted by rainyday on May 6, 2004, at 17:12:00
> Here are my 2 cents: my p-doc said she wanted to treat my anxiety and panics attacks primarily; and if ultimately that treatment resulted in a benzo addiction (which was my fear I had expressed) then we would deal with that. She said I was not on a dose that would constitute an addiction, and I do check in with her regularly.
>
> So, in my case - I was the reluctant one, and my p-doc prescribed the xanax and it has helped me so much. It all seems like worrying about nothing now - oh, no, that's why I went to the dr. in the first place :)
>
well, you are very lucky, and i am happy that your symptoms have abated :)as for myself, i fear that my experience is far more common: i was put on an AD that helped the depression but not the anxiety, then was given the weak antidepressant buspirone (it is no anxiolytic) as a treatment for "anxiety." Meanwhile I had been suffering debilitating social anxiety all my life (beginning with school phobia at age 5, by the 4th grade i wanted to drop out because i couldn't handle the torment of school, i also have a severe case of ADHD which no doubt worsened the anxiety further, have spent years unemployed in my parents' apartment, have had panic attacks from the age i developed school phobia, i don't even know if the term 'anxiety' begins to cover this) and pdoc had to be coaxed into prescribing a tiny dose of klonopin (.25 mg bid) when i finally landed a full time job seven mos. ago (my first, i am 36 now)and i pleaded with his associate to let me try it because i was terrified that anxiety would incapacitate me at this job i had worked so hard to get. evn though this dosage is inadequate, he has reisted any dose increase, and constantly urges me to reduce my dose (I'm at .75 mg/day, which you can see is a negligible increase from .5 mg/day) but every bit of anxiolysis counts, and i have endured several anxiety-driven meltdowns at work anyway. two weeks i had a major catalyzing event which set off multiple anxiety alarms, and it has precipitated a terrible crisis i have experienced a relapse of asll my depressive and ADD symptoms, i am constantly trembling and fearful, and in need now of a medication overhaul (my antidepessant is no longer working). I also think Klonopin may not be the ideal benzo for a unipolar depressive, as it may be contributing to this depression which was slowly building until the recent crisis. Xanax has antidepressant properties but is an even more reviled name among pdocs who detest benzos. i am so desperate now that i am willing to try an SSRI again along with the strattera i am currently taking, despite previous failed trials and dubious efficacy in true social phobia (a severer affliction IMO than most pdocs realize, because it leads to self-contempt and frustration of a magnitude few can realize), but in my last converstaion with my pdoc (earlier this week) he again urged me to reduce my klonopin to .5 mg asap- despite my having anxiety/fear of terrible propertions! i am willing to go along with and try lexapro, but i am also going to suggest alprozalam instead of clonazepam as i believe it is less deporessogenic, and i am severely depressed at the moment as well as anxious. i have looked at a list of other pdocs here so that i am ready if he doesn't like this idea. i feel awful and am hanging on only by the realization that i want to get better at all costs and will not tolerate anything less than proper treatnment at this point because i need it. people with severe SP/avoidant personality disorder are used to being treated like doormats but my pdoc will learn that i cant handle that anymore.
poster:zeugma
thread:343353
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040505/msgs/344126.html