Posted by CareBear04 on February 28, 2008, at 22:24:50
i have major anxiety issues and have been on pretty high doses of benzos for years. currently, i'm prescribed 1mg of xanax four times a day. in the past week, though, my anxiety level has increased a lot, probably due to an increase in my prozac. for whatever reason, i have an incredibly high tolerance to everything except SSRIs. anyway, despite the xanax, i've been having panic-like symptoms like racing heart and shortness of breath.
my pdoc today prescribed lyrica. i tried neurontin a few years ago at a low dose for about a week, but i didn't think it did anything. he thought lyrica was a good adjunct to the benzos since it acts on a different pathway.
anyway, i was so incredibly uncomfortable that i rushed to the pharmacy to fill the script. i took 50mg, and within about twenty minutes, i felt that mellowed-out kind of drowsy feeling that i used to get with benzos. it was really nice.
my question is whether i'll develop a physical dependance/increasingly high tolerance to lyrica as i have with other drugs. i currently take so much of so many meds that most people three times my size would be knocked out for a long time. i don't know why i become tolerant to good effects so quickly-- within days, in the case of benzos and sleeping pills. we ran some labs that showed i wasn't an ultra-fast metabolizer.
anyway, i'd like some input on whether i should take the lyrica 50mg three times a day regularly, as prescribed, or whether i'll soon become tolerant, and i should take it more sparingly, when i really need it. my pdoc prescribes these meds fairly liberally, but i think there's an implicit limit on how far you can increase daily benzo dosages. i just feel like nothing works for me anymore, and i want to preserve what so far has proven useful.
please... any thoughts?
cb
poster:CareBear04
thread:815291
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080221/msgs/815291.html