Posted by Viridis on October 30, 2003, at 23:30:32
In reply to Re: Best med for gad? » Viridis, posted by ace on October 30, 2003, at 1:04:24
The weird thing about Xanax for me is that I took it occasionally for a couple of years at very low doses, and it worked well. Then all of a sudden I found that I needed much more to achieve the same effect. This really isn't a problem, since I only take it now and then, but developing tolerance under these conditions surprised me.
I've also been taking Klonopin daily for 2 1/2 years and it still works well at the same dose. I'm not sure if it induced cross-tolerance to Xanax or what. I am glad, though, that Klonopin works so well for me. Maybe Xanax alone would have been fine, but I'd hate to depend on it if it really can cause tolerance so abruptly. My pdoc still prescribes it for me, and I still find it helpful (at about 4-5X the original dose), but I really limit my use to very stressful situations. My pdoc says he's seen this sort of thing before with Xanax, but not with Klonopin, which he considers very safe.
Interestingly, Xanax is the only benzo that ranks in the World Health Organization's "top ten" list of meds that are most difficult to discontinue. Most of the others are newer antidepressants -- the worst offenders are Paxil and Effexor.
poster:Viridis
thread:274699
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031030/msgs/275142.html