Posted by med_empowered on August 16, 2005, at 21:28:32
In reply to Re: Permanent Anxiety..willyee, posted by JACJ on August 16, 2005, at 19:19:41
hey! Sometimes, anxiety might seem even worse (or be even worse) when you stop taking benzos..sometimes, they help people adapt for a while and formulate better strategies for dealing with anxiety (thats what they did for me). So then, when you stop taking them, withdrawal sucks but your newly developed skills help you handle anxiety without more meds. In your case, I think the antipsychotics might have something to do with this painful drug-free period; although docs don't discuss it much, antipsychotics do have their own "withdrawal syndrome" (at least the old ones) that were noted in non-psychotic patients who stopped taking them (like people who took Stelazine for anxiety, Haldol for mania, kids given Thorazine for "conduct disorders"). For the first couple months after I stopped taking my antipsychotic, my anxiety seemed a lot worse, but it gradually went down to where it now--at most, mild.
poster:med_empowered
thread:542596
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050816/msgs/542728.html