Posted by Chairman_MAO on October 9, 2011, at 8:08:33
In reply to Re: Lyrica - social phobia » Tepi, posted by SLS on October 9, 2011, at 5:45:09
I have a certain baseline level of "social phobia", agoraphobia, and anxiety that never goes away regardless of medication. It definitely intensified during high school and even moreso in college. I have had medication-free periods since then, and I always revert back to the same state. It seems quite visceral, and the only thing that puts a dent in it is MAOI drugs and clonazepam. Most recently, I stopped Nardil after being on it for five years (dropped out of treatment, hoped I could do without anything) and while perhaps my social anxiety had improved over how it was in high school and college, it hadn't improved by much. I've been this way since birth.
Clonazepam's effectiveness seems to wane after several months, though it is still effective. I wish I never got on it, though, because now that I'm back with my old pdoc after years of not being able to see him (the one that used to do the MAOI + psychostimulant combination), he wants me off of cloanazepam. He gave me Viibryd to try. The only reason I took it is because if the level of trust and respect I have for this guy and because I had never tried it before. It did what all SSRIs do to me: give me tardive akathisia and increase anxiety. On top of that, I had profound GI upset and felt a sense of general malaise. I could not go longer than ten days to find out if that would change because it was so incredibly dysphoric. I hope he is not upset with me for not being "compliant", but I just couldn't do it. I left a telephone message for him explaining how I felt, and he never called me back. I'm probably overreacting, but I have very limited choices in who can be my doctor and there is no one I have access to who is anywhere near as good as this guy is.
Perhaps it had been a long time and I did not clearly enough articulate what I wanted the MAOI back _for_. I am dysthymic, but dextroamphetamine takes care of that just fine. My primary issues are ADD and social phobia/anxiety, and they seem to go hand-in-hand.
It would be so much easier if I were one of those people who SSRIs helped, but they tend to make me worse. Even when they have helped, it is at a cost of worsening my problems with attention, focus, and motivation.
poster:Chairman_MAO
thread:998678
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20111006/msgs/999165.html