Posted by ShellyM on December 10, 2005, at 9:23:11
In reply to Be wary of benzos affecting effacy of other meds, posted by JohnKeats on December 8, 2005, at 5:08:54
Hi John,
Thanks for your post. I too made the decision to go off benzos (long history of severe panic attacks, anxiety, avoidance phobias) - they definitely helped but I had taken them for many, many years and had constantly had to go up in doses and found they only helped for a few hours versus long term. And I developed a huge dependency on them.
I tried many AD's (Paxil, Lexapro, Imimpramine) and now after being off the benzos for 3 months, am hopeful that Cymbalta may be the medicinal side of the answer to my life long struggle with panic and anxiety. I've been on 30mg for a couple of weeks and so far, so good. The constant chatter and fear seems to be lessening.
I would love to hear more of what you are taking for your panic / anxiety / phobias, along with any other methods you are using to overcome this painful affliction.
Kind Regards and much thanks for your post.
Shelly
> The benzos - clonazepam, lorazepam, Xanax, are definitely the first line treatment for severe social anxiety, but I've come to believe that they really shouldn't be used medium or long-term at all for anxiety and atypical depression. The require higher and higher doses as tolerance builds up, and, more importantly they can screw up the effacy of other meds you might take.
>
> I took clonazepam 2-4mg for the anxiety symptom of Avoidant Personality Disorder for more than 6 years. I started at 2mg, but as my use lengthened, I had to titrate up to maintain the effects. For main line AvPD treatment I went through Stablon, Elavil, Prozac, Effexor, Dogmatil (sulpiride) and others, but no dice. AvPD still bad as ever. Effexor (@375mg) I was particularly hopeful about, but for me it was as good as placebo.
>
> But lo one night,I took a big dose of Elavil to sleep, having forgotten to take the clononazepam during the day, and when I woke up next morning, my brain felt clear. Like there wasn't this constant 100 mph conversation going on back there outside my control. When I went out the phobia was better - like I didn't have this inner voice criticizng me all the time. After that incident I decided to make the effort to come off the clonazepam. It took a while for me to completely come off and I still have residual anxiety from withdrawal, but I'm not going back. I have a long long way to go, but I feel better now with the Elavil, and I have hope that I can retry the previous meds with better success
>
> If you're taking a benzo with other meds for OCD, phobia, depression and/or anxiety you might want to consider scaling back (see my next post) the benzo to see if it is adversely affecting the other meds. It doesn't have to be a long-term trial, try devoting 2 days (like a weekend) when you can safely take a break from the benzo and see how it goes with the other meds. It was a real eye-opener for me. I only wish I had discovered this sooner. I'll try to post any research I can find about benzos negatively interacting with other meds.
poster:ShellyM
thread:586809
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051203/msgs/587736.html