Posted by Elizabeth on December 16, 2001, at 22:49:22
In reply to Re: Elizabeth and Alan, posted by gilbert on December 16, 2001, at 16:07:58
> The AD's seem to make me nervous....not manic I still would sleep and they gave me severe anorgasmia. The tricyclics always gave me weird heart effects so I never tried them for very long. I am a bit hyper vigilant about my heart. a tad hypochondriac. My anxiety is usually centerd around health issues and dying.
This is all typical of panic disorder. People with PD tend to get jittery on antidepressants, especially SSRIs, and to be hypersensitive to side effects (such as the tachycardia and palpitations which can often occur on TCAs). The initial nervousness goes away with time, but people being treated for PD with antidepressants often need to start at a very low dose and increase it very gradually.
> I have put myself under some pressure to try different AD's because I am a long time AA member but I think that masochistic phase of my therapy is over. I am sober I just need xanax to function.
Hey, you don't need to convince me -- I believe you. A lot of people with anxiety disorders self-medicate with alcohol. It's nothing that you should have to feel ashamed of, nor should it prevent you from getting effective treatment.
> the doc thinks that I will be on like 20mg xanax 10 years from now.
The doc needs to do some reading. All the evidence that's out there shows that people taking benzos for panic do not develop tolerance.
> I am very reluctant to go to his psychiatrist due to the fact it seems the mood stabilzers and anti-pyschotics are being handed out like candy. Am i wrong is xanax pretty harless compared to alot of those other drugs.
It's certainly much more tolerable. This doctor owes you an explanation for why he wants you to try to go off the Xanax and go on anticonvulsants or whatever.
Spike has a good point, that "soft bipolar disorder" is a trendy diagnosis while panic is not. But the bottom line is what works. If Xanax is working for you and you're tolerating it well, then that's probably what you should be on.
You might dig up some articles showing that panic patients don't abuse benzos or grow tolerant to them, and show the citations to your doctor. He seems to be misinformed.
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:86854
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011213/msgs/87148.html