Posted by billym on January 23, 2004, at 1:25:33
MY OPINIONS:1) I don't believe SSRIs have any efficacy against Social Phobia/Anxiety/Inhabition.
3) Paxil may be as habituating as benzodiazepines, with far more side-effects.
4) Benzos have few side-effects for the general population.
5) Benzos do not appear to pose the health risks associated with powerful SSRI drugs.
6) Benzos, unlike SSRIs, actually work!
7) In the six days I've been on Klonopin, I've never felt more at ease around people, with more a desire to talk to people, engage with people and hopefully make a friend or two. I could notice a change with the first dose -- not psychosomatic, not a placebo effect -- immediate physical and mental CHANGE. Not dramatic, but simply an alieviation of the use irrational fears that dominate my mind -- that have unrelentingly, unceasingly dominated my mind for over a decade.
I don't know that I feel "normal" -- I just feel a lot more myself for once.
8) I'm on a low dose of .5 mg twice a day (1mg total) of generic clonazepam (possibly not as potent).
7) Side effects have included drowisness with the first pill, slightly -- very slight -- feeling of being drunk with subsequent pills. Occasional bouts of random sneezing and coughing, which I expect to go away, and which so far have proved harmless.
8) I'm not tired at all.
My conclusion: FINALLY a drug that works (and I'm on a LOW DOSE -- and trust me, before this, for months, years, I was f***** up), that isn't going to kill you, and that you don't have to combine with fifty billion other drugs to survive.
And it's relatively cheap -- $40.00 for a month's supply.
If this means addiction for me, I don't care. Bring it on! It's better than living in a constant depressed state, lacking any confidence, with barely any ability to putter out a coherent sentence around people.
This drug WORKS! WHY? Because certain people have a major problem with the GABA receptors in their brain, and this drug fixes it, just like alcohol does.
And go figure, I practically had to beg for it from my doctor -- she wanted to put me on PAXIL.
poster:billym
thread:304487
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040122/msgs/304487.html