Posted by HelenInCalif on December 21, 2004, at 14:19:56
In reply to Re: Pdoc wants to stop Klonopin: 'short term only' » Lucylooo, posted by Glydin on December 21, 2004, at 7:12:07
> > Glydin, how did you find a doctor who was willing to work with you?
>
> ~~~I can't take alot of credit for that - I was lucky to find a doc who had expereience with long term benzo use and was willing to engage in intense followup to insure things went "right" for me. K wasn't first line treatment for me and I'm not sure it should be for anyone, but if trials and trials of other meds have failed, benzo's - used in monotherapy or as an addition - can be a very effective and safe treatment for some.The medications nurse at my Pdocs office (an HMO) said that none of the doctors there like long-term use of K or benzos. She did get the pdoc-on-call to write a 30 day prescription, so at least I save 1/3 of my co-pay.
I am going to have to figure out an approach. The nurse's ideas of what the pdoc will suggest once my crisis time is over
1. more antidepressants,
2. C.B.Therapy (group classes: they don't do individual CBT therapy. Boo.)
3. Buspar
Doesn't sit well with me. 1 and 2 didn't help with my anxiety in the past. For Buspar or other meds- I'm certainly willing to find an alternative, but I want it to be on my schedule, not theirs. I'm about to go job hunting, for example, and less anxiety is very, very useful when you are in fact being judged by other people.Taking K for the first time was an eye-opener. I just hadn't known how much anxiety I had learned to tolerate. Being able to face tough situations without anxiety and with just strong regular emotions is new to me. By "regular" I mean that for example when I knew someone was going to die I felt grief and sadness and love and loss and other emotions all very strongly. But I didn't feel a 'fight-or-flight' adrenalin spike (which would have been useless, worse than useless, then).
My anxiety seems to be only lightly connected with my seretonin levels, given the ADs I'd had before. And the CBT / RET therapy sessions and relaxation methods classes I had in the past helped with depression, but hadn't changed my anxiety to the point where I knew I had it. Not like K did.
Of course now that I know what "not feeling anxious" feels like, I'll be better able to judge what does or doesn't help it.
poster:HelenInCalif
thread:432239
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041217/msgs/432498.html