Posted by barbaracat on August 14, 2007, at 20:52:44
In reply to Re: Tolerance to Benzo Anxiety Effects, posted by Phillipa on March 30, 2006, at 21:41:22
Hi, Philippa,
BarbaraCat here. I haven't been posting for quite a while, but I think I'm hooked on Babble again! I read your post with great interest. I didn't know you'd accomplished all that -- good for you!I too have had the same experience with alcohol. Used to come home from work and down a bottle of chardonnay every night. I've since toned it down quite alot, but it's the only substance I know that can halt a panic attack, a spiral down into anxiety almost immediately. Too bad it feels so sh*tty the next day and the liver don't like it either. William Styron, who wrote 'A Darkness Visible' went into his massive depression when he quit drinking, BTW.
I've been thinking alot about dopamine lately and how it hardly ever gets put into the medical brews we take. Everything centers around serotonin and too much of that can cause anxiety. Dopamine is a little explored player in our various ills. Alcohol is a potent GABA and DOPAMINE enhancer!!
I have fibromyalgia and it causes ADD as one of the symptoms, so I asked for Adderall to help with it. To my surprise, it took away the pains, it immediately lifted my depression, it even helped with anxiety. It feels like the missing piece. If I take just the 30mg extended release and don't abuse it (I used to have a real jones for speed when I was younger - a clue?), it causes no bad effects and I can sleep just fine. The days I don't take it, I feel that something is missing, i.e., motivation, focus, interest, energy.
I have this feeling that those of us who rely on alcohol to lift the horrible feelings may have a dopamine deficiency. I'm currently researching this, mainly with the fibromyalgia focus, but what I'm finding is that many of us do have a real dopamine problem that causes all the ills we're so familiar with. There are herbs that can help, such as macuna pruriens which you might want to give a try. I'll try to keep you posted on what I find, but it's very interesting and opening up a new vista for me.
Love, BarbCat
Phillippa wrote:
>I don't know what to say. Since the 1970's when I started on valium for panic attacks they really worked well. So well in fact that I went on to go to nursing school divorce, raise three kids and run an Aerobics Dance business at the same time. Deans list graduated magna cum laude. Then ativan came out and I took that for years then xaxax which worked the best low dose down to .125mg at bed at one time. Then there was klonopin which depressed me. So back to the xaxax and it still worked. Then I went on Diability after my thryroid quit working and at the same time so did the benzos. Enter SSRI's and for two years l0mg of paxil with xanax worked well. I forgot to mention all this time I was drinking either beer or wine 5-6 cornaoas at night. When I stopped the drinking I became depressed and havent't worked since and the benzos don't work the same at all. Anyone have any possible reason for this. As right now I'm seriously thinking of getting off the luvox, valium(NOW) and starting to drink again as I felt well then. Love Phillipa
poster:barbaracat
thread:626479
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070808/msgs/776292.html