Posted by worrier on July 7, 2003, at 21:55:56
In reply to Re: Jack, did you ever find the xanax xr? » worrier, posted by Jack Smith on July 3, 2003, at 13:38:59
> > Just wondering if you ever found a pharmacy in your area that had xanax xr? If not I would strongly reccommend continuing your search. It really is alot better than the regular xanax...no feeling like you have to pop a pill every 3 or 4 hours. Doesn't last 24hrs though...and its not the magic bullet we're all hoping for, but a definite improvement. Luck to you, worrier.
>
> Thanks for remembering and being concerned. I have found a pharmacy that carries it, it seems like they are all just starting to get it in. I have a few questions for you.
>
> What dose of XR are you on and how often do you take?
>
> What dose of regular were you taking and how often?
>
> What else are you on?
>
> Do you have GAD or panic or both?
>
> Thanks,
>
> JACK>Jack, you may be sorry you asked these questions...I'll try to keep the tale as short as possible. I've had panic attacks since I was in grad school (biopsychology,no less) and have had them ever since (that's going on close to 20 years now). Never sought professional help,as I could always "ride them out". Anyway a year or so ago they started getting more frequent and more intense, really bad ones virtually every night when I would try to relax and go to sleep or watch tv or read. My husband got pretty tired of it (as did I) so I went to my GP and told her what was going on. She put me on prozac, which was bad...got really weird and disconnected...felt faint and sick most of the time. So then she gave me paxil...horrible...started having much worse panic attacks than ever before, called her and she told me it was "breakthrough anxiety" and to increase the dose...like a dope I did, even though I really felt like it was the drug that was making things worse....ended up with what amounted to an over the top panic attack that eventually(24hrs later and still going strong) ended up with me in the ER (first and only time). The ER doc gave me a weeks worth of 1mg xanax which helped some but my GP was totally against it and told me to up the paxil dose again. Some of us learn slowly...I developed severe muscle tremors,total insomnia and agitation that was so bad I literally had to be walking or I thought I would literally die or implode. Just this side of losing it completely I called a pdoc, took the first appt. I could get with anyone and he saved my life. He immediately recognized my problem as a serotonin storm and got me off the paxil immdiately and put me on .25mg of xanax 3 times a day. That helped some, but I was left with really severe generalized anxiety (which I never had before). Here we are a year later and over time he increased my xanax dose (the regular kind to .25-.5mg 4 to 5 times daily. Usually I took .25 4 times a day and .5mg at night. Now I'm taking 2mg of the XR in the morning...it seems to get me through the day fairly well, but it really only lasts about 12-14hrs. My pdoc said some people take it twice a day...tried that once but I felt pretty groggy the next day, so I usually add .25-.5mg at night. Up until the XR came out that was all I was taking, but for about 2 weeks I've been taking a tiny dose of zoloft (12.5mg) once a day. Can't say I've noticed much with it....but both my pdoc and I are afraid to go much higher with the dose given my bad reaction to other SSRIs. Hope that answered your questions and didn't bore you to tears. If you don't mind my asking, what is your primary problem and what are you taking? Always looking for new ideas and suggestions. Best to you, Worrier.
poster:worrier
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URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030701/msgs/239985.html