Posted by Simus on March 6, 2004, at 23:51:57
In reply to RE; simus, posted by mystic on March 6, 2004, at 18:15:38
Mystic,
I have suffered from depression and OCD, undiagnosed though, since early childhood. (I am now 42 - wife and mom of two.) About 9 years ago, severe anxiety and panic attacks started and I had no choice but to get medical help. I have been on Paxil, Zoloft, Effexor, and now Lexapro, along with Xanax.
In November, my doctor switched me from 300mg Effexor to 10mg Lexapro. It was soon clear that this was not enough, so I went to 15mg and then to 20mg. In the mean time, I went through withdrawal symptoms as I reduced the Effexor dosage. Also during this time, for insomnia my doctor tried me on Seroquel (?). After 3 days, I became virtually mentally disabled. It took almost two weeks to recover from that fiasco. Then my doctor wanted to try me on Xanax XR. (Why, I don't know, and I didn't even ask! I took Xanax nightly for sleep and didn't have any problems with it, other than it lost some of it's effectiveness with time.) So I took the Xanax XR, slept a lot, and walked around in a fog when I was up. I insisted that he put me back on the regular Xanax, but by the time I got it a month had passed and I realized I had become addicted to the the XR. So I had to break that addiction.
That was the long way around the block to tell you I am on 20mg Lexapro and 1mg Xanax. And I don't care how bad I feel (and I do feel bad), I told my doctor I WILL NOT be making any more medicine adjustments for a while.
I have had to take a medical leave because trying to work through this mess was proving impossible. If I was able to drag myself in, the chances of being able to concentrate or even remember what someone said a few minutes earlier was slim.
So, yes, I do understand bad days, and I wish I had answers to help you all on the board. The posts absolutely break my heart, because I have been and am there. And I do care, but I feel so helpless for either you or myself.
God bless you all,
Simus
poster:Simus
thread:109458
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040304/msgs/321457.html