Posted by jealibeanz on March 15, 2007, at 5:09:14
I see my doctor today for a med recheck.
I started Xanax XR, 3mg, about 3 weeks ago. It does not do much at all for my GAD. At first I thought it was subtle, weak, but mildly effective and lasts all day. It seems to have less effect everyday, to point where I end up in a near panic attack at night, which isn't normal for me.
I was taking 4 mg of regular brand name Xanax for quite a while. This does help with anxiety. I can feel it working and it calms me down. I definitely like brand name. I do feel very up and down though, even when I break it up into 4-8 doses per day.
It was my doc's idea to switch to XR, for no reason at all (I wasn't complaining.), except that he thought I'd like the consistency. I had slight hope for it at first, but I'm not liking it right now.
So, I'll have to make a decision/suggestion about what we will do. I definitely would like a script for the immediate release so I can keep it on hand for excessive anxiety/panic moments. I was thinking of suggesting to him that I may do better on the brand, since that was the case with the IR, and that another factor (obviously) may be that I was on 4mg and jumped down to 3mg.
If I could get a script for 2mg Xanax XR, twice daily, plus a script for 120 mg Xanax IR, I'd be happy. That would allow me to try out the Xanax XR again, but if it doesn't work, I can go back to what I'd been taking before.
My doc (family GP) is very trusting and liberal with me. However, I don't know how to ask for 240mg Xanax from him! It's pretty excessive. Haha, I don't think he will think I'm abusing it, or selling it, or trying to take 8 mg a day (I have fatigue problems, plus he knows I'm intelligent and logical.), but it's still A LOT at once.
I am perfectly comfortable asking for 4mg of brand Xanax XR. I am perfectly comfortable asking to go back to 4mg of immediate release Xanax. I'm not, however, comfortable with asking for both. I just don't know how to word it without having his jaw hit the floor (never would happen anyway, he's a super nice and fatherly guy). I'm very grateful that he's willing to give me a daily benzo script and don't want to do anything to begin to wonder if I'm becoming a drug seeker.
Also, I'm on 400 mg Provigil and 60 mg Ritalin LA for fatigue and ADHD. The Provigil is helping with fatigue. I've always thought the Ritalin was ineffective, which he knew, and the same with Concerta.
I may tell him that the addition of Provigil has helped with the fatigue, but I don't think the Ritalin has ever helped with studying, like Adderall did. I hated the Adderall side effects, don't want to go there. I can manage right now because I'm not taking a huge load of courses, but this will be changing in either June or August, so eventually I'll need to find something else.
I don't even know if I want to change the stims right now. They're keeping me awake and functional. My light courseload allows me to study very infrequently and whenever I feel the need to. If I had to study for hours a day, I couldn't do it, but I don't have to right now.
I may just tell him this, since I'm there and he should know what's going on, but also tell him that I'm OK with leaving them as is for this month and working on just the anxiety meds instead. The stims can be next month's project.
poster:jealibeanz
thread:741181
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070314/msgs/741181.html