Posted by Bob on December 12, 1999, at 22:11:07
In reply to Re: Clonazepam Trial for Social Phobia, posted by Rick on December 12, 1999, at 18:24:28
Even tho my dx is for panic disorder, I've always been one of those folks best described as "painfully shy". Nah, no social phobia there. I've managed to confront my fears in many situations, but only to the extent that I can disassociate myself from the situation (e.g., I can teach or speak to a room of hundreds, but because I see it as the "material" speaking more than me doing the talking. Now, if I had to act or sing or put some emotion into it .... GACK!!!).
Anyway, clonazepam came into my life thru a comedy of errors. From the first week I had been taking it, I've counted it as the one thing that has gone completely right in my various treatments.
People seem to understand the idea of not knowing something was missing from your life until you finally found it. Quite the opposite for me. I had never known just how much fear and anxiety were a daily part of my life until it had all been taken away from me. I can't describe what is missing -- I just know it's gone and I'm quite thankful for that.
I have been lucky enough to stay at a fairly low dose. 0.5mg in the AM while I was on an AD+augmentor, but I've been bumped up to 1.0mg/d after dropping everything but my nortrip (and the clonazepam, of course). I mentioned on another thread how, without SSRIs, some OCD-like behaviors have crept back a little into my life. These had all been means of dealing with my anxiety, and the more anxious I was, the more obsessive I became about them. Now, it feels kinda like I'm just going through the motions ... too little anxiety to fuel them, even given the state of my life right now (holidays, relationship problems, and of course dealing with the witchhunt at work).
So, I say go for it. Maybe I'll have my pdoc up my dose, after rereading that last paragraph -- maybe that will take care of what's missing from the SSRIs for me.
Cheers,
Bob[PS for those hooked to the soap opera: the EEOC served my charge, and things have been VERY quite around the office. From my inquiries, it sounds like my employers have agreed to mediation, tho I have yet to hear personally from the EEOC on it.]
poster:Bob
thread:16763
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991212/msgs/16786.html