Posted by halcyondaze on January 13, 2007, at 15:44:34
In reply to Re: Retract My Comments Please, posted by laima on January 12, 2007, at 22:23:53
It is nice to receive support from you all; I posted in a different forum, with people who have seen me through my substance abuse history, and the responses were markedly different and quite unempathic.
I have actually been holding onto the medication myself and have had no desire to abuse it; I am aware that if I abuse it, it will stop working for the actual panic. This happened when I detoxed from high dose unprescribed Xanax, which I was using to counter the effects of high dose unprescribed Adderall and I seemed to develop an anxiety disorder, whereas I had never before had baseline anxiety. THAT was managable, but these panic attacks are not.
I am using some graded exposure techniques and am happy to say that today I did not need to take any Xanax at all. Yesterday I took .5 mg total. Considering I detoxed off of 16 mg of Xanax per day, I understand everyone's reservations; however, my reasons before for taking it were quite different and it was never my primary substance of choice, just an adjunct to amphetamines or heroin.
However, I have also abused Parnate, as I have mentioned here, and now take it at a fixed dose, more or less, without abuse. Same for Ambien. Sometimes I need to ask my doctor to hold onto my pills for me because I recognize that I do not want her to decide that I cannot responsibly take these medications when I feel as though I need them, and the same is true now of the Xanax.
I'm seeing her Tues and will bring up some of the suggestions that were brought up here. I am very interested in Kava and Taurine and other herbal medications. I am afraid of Zyprexa because I have a history of anorexia and the weight gain terrifies me. I will also see if I can perhaps switch to Klonopin or another less abusable benzo for a short period of time until I can manage the anxiety without meds.
FINAL QUESTION: Has anyone found any kind of longer-acting medication (i.e. SSRIs) to be effective for anxiety or panic? The only drugs that have ever worked for my depression have been Zoloft and Parnate and I am reluctant to switch back because of side effects and because Zoloft was never as effective as Parnate for depression but Parnate is not very effective for my anxiety.
poster:halcyondaze
thread:721442
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070113/msgs/722011.html