Posted by Ame Sans Vie on January 15, 2004, at 6:51:27
In reply to sociability Re: Please help me choose a Social » Ame Sans Vie, posted by Franz on January 15, 2004, at 4:52:07
> > Go with the Klonopin -- it is *the* gold standard for treatment of social phobia. Parnate and Nardil work for many, but are not as consistent and offer up a bit of inconvenience, what with the dietary/medication restrictions and all. I've been taking large doses of Klonopin (currently 8mg) every day for years; I feel it's literally saved my life. I don't find it to have a dulling effect, but the fact that I take 60mg of Adderall daily as well certainly helps keep me mentally capable. Then again, I never had cognitive problems from Klonopin during the years I took it before starting Adderall (and Adderall is a great social phobia med as well, combined with Klonopin -- the Klonopin eliminates anxiety and the Adderall provokes sociability).
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> Excellent point Ame!. it is not only lack of anxiety, but the promotion of sociability that is a problem.
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> Each time I am more convinced that a good level of arousal or stimulation is needed to proper social interaction, desire to interact and not to feel fear.Exactly! I always used to shy away from stimulants because I was always told that they would invariably cause me horrific anxiety. I tried Ritalin when I was younger, and it certainly does not agree with me -- I feel very tense on it. And Wellbutrin caused very similar side effects, with the addition of horrible dry mouth. I'm just so glad that I finally decided to ask my doctor about trying an amphetamine in hopes that it would be gentler than Ritalin, and I was not let down. But of course, I wasn't taking Klonopin during my time on Ritalin years ago, so it could be the benzodiazepine which is preventing anxiety.
FWIW, Dexedrine was my first amphetamine, and I noticed it caused a slight amount of anxiety even with the Klonopin. It worked well though, and I stuck with the Spansules for a while, then switched to DextroStat because the Spansules weren't lasting as long as they should have been. But with DextroStat I was supposed to take 45mg/day, which meant 4.5 pills daily -- Medicaid will only pay for 100 amphetamine pills monthly, and even the extra $30 to get the full 135 pills was a big strain on my budget. So I briefly tried Desoxyn (methamphetamine), and while it was a truly wonderful med, its duration of action was ridiculously short (i.e. 2 hours). The extended-release Desoxyn Gradumets had been discontinued several years ago, but I was unaware that a new extended-release version, Desoxyn-CR was available, so I switched to Adderall XR. And lived happily ever after. :-)
poster:Ame Sans Vie
thread:300530
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040114/msgs/301031.html