Posted by grapebubblegum on June 27, 2001, at 15:15:49
In reply to Re: benzos » paulk, posted by Elizabeth on June 27, 2001, at 11:31:23
Sorry, Elizabeth, but I knew nothing of harrassment and name calling or I would not have asked my question twice.
As for sheet packs, I am still intrigued: does anyone else know how this practice started and what its supposed mechanism is? I am simply curious.
Also, Elizabeth, you said "A common side effect of benzos, which most people don't seem to know about, is that they can make you really hungry. On several occasions, I've found myself getting really hungry after coming down from a panic attack with the aid of Xanax or Ativan. And once, when I was really depressed and wouldn't eat or drink anything, a concerned friend convinced me to take a Xanax. Within 30 minutes I was not only up and about, but fixing myself some pasta. *That* was impressive."
I won't argue because I've had similar experiences, plus I noticed that when heading off a panic attack that was really brewing up into a doozy, the klonopin, once it started working, liberated TEARS and rendered me verbose, which led me to believe that perhaps some pent-up anxiety or stress of some sort was behind the panic attack and the klonopin had somehow un-blocked a dam. Sounds like a "duh," perhaps, but this was major Sherlock Holmes stuff to me, being a person who is, overall, pretty aware of her feelings but I suppose not aware at every point in time which feelings are being suppressed and what they are doing under the surface.
About the eating, though: I was wondering about this just recently. Everyone has heard me brag that since I started on a very low-dose regimen of klonopin, I have lost weight with minimal effort, which makes me question how strong an appetite-stimulant effect benzos have, if any. My theory is that perhaps there APPEARS to be an appetite increase when in reality, the benzos lower the anxiety which had previously made you feel too anxious, sick or depressed to eat, thus liberating a healthy appetite. I also remember suffering for months walking a panic-attack tightrope daily until I finally gave in to my doctor's suggestion and took .25 mg klonopin and suddenly I was able to eat a big plate of food and it was the nicest feeling to have an appetite again instead of feeling sick at the sight of food.
So, if you don't mind my expanding this idea of tears and appetite into one more branch...
I wonder also if benzos actually CAUSE depression or if they only APPEAR to. Remember, I'm just a lil' ole layperson so I'm not challenging anyone's proven medical facts but I'm just putting up for examination the possibility that it could be more complicated than that. i.e., in a person who tends to suffer from anxiety at times of greatest weakness (panic attacks being a concentrated form of anxiety or depression for purposes of this theory) I wonder if constant low or medium-level anxiety masks underlying depression and when the anxiety is alleviated, as it can be with benzos, the depression that seems to emerge with benzo use may have been there all along as a substrata of the anxiety. Just a theory for anyone who wants to ponder it. I'm not even sure if I agree with my own theory: it's just in the "hmmm...?" stage for me.
poster:grapebubblegum
thread:65795
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010625/msgs/68115.html