Posted by Elizabeth on August 24, 2001, at 12:39:32
In reply to Re: Xanax and panic, experiences? Elizabeth, posted by Thrud on August 23, 2001, at 20:03:21
> > Are you taking 1.5 mg q.i.d.?
>
> I'd like to, but that is too inconvenient. 2mg t.i.d.That works okay for you? I would think you'd wake up early in the morning feeling jittery.
> That sort of dose would certainly fend off an isolated attack for me. Problem is that I am left with crippling levels of anxiety in betweeen attacks (status panicus?). So I must use it on an ongoing basis.
Anticipatory anxiety, or general anxiety?
It probably would do me some good to take Xanax or Klonopin or Ativan or something around the clock, too. Klonopin is a little less potent than Xanax; Ativan is about half as potent (i.e., the effective dose of Ativan will be about twice the effective dose of Xanax).
> > I think that might be a gender-related effect -- men and women might have opposite reactions. Are you M or F? ("Thrud" seems pretty neutral < g >, but I'm guessing you're a man.)
>
> You are right. Would a sex change operation reverse this side effect? (I would have to become a lesbian though ;))I think there are differences that aren't taken care of by transsexual surgery and hormone therapy. :-) I guessed that you're a guy because it seems like sedatives tend to have that effect on men but not on women (if anything, they have the reverse effect on women).
> > > In general, why the f!ck does *anything* that helps my PD ends up destroying my libido?
> >
> > Sedation, maybe?
>
> Unfortunately not. Even activating, insomniac masters like Wellbutrin lead to Limp Bizkit.Wellbutrin helped with panic disorder??? That's weird.
> > Do you have atypical depression as well as PD, by any chance?
>
> I don't *know* so, but I *think* so. I lack the mood reactivity and histironics associated with it, but definitely the leaden fatigue. If so, how can I augment my Xanax treatment to counter this?MAOIs (Parnate in particular) and amphetamine are the obvious things that come to mind. Yes, amphetamine sometimes helps with anxiety (!). (I don't think that histrionics or moodiness is necessarily associated with atypical depression, BTW.) The reason it came to mind was because you said your libido is greatest when you are the most anxious-depressed. That seems to be common in atypical depression.
Anyway, your drug responses seem to be pretty unusual, so I hesitate to try to predict what might work for you.
> > Panic attacks don't exactly enhance the mood, yeah. :-)
>
> For me, they don't even enhance the mood to live!I understand. Panic + depression is not a healthy combo.
> On something different, my pdoc says ECT is ineffective against PAD. Is this correct?
Yes, I think so.
BTW, you can search Medline at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:76063
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010822/msgs/76237.html