Posted by SLS on March 1, 2005, at 7:58:33
In reply to Re: Sometimes there's no choice » SLS, posted by Sarah T. on March 1, 2005, at 0:36:19
> > Hi Sarah.> > If you don't mind my asking, what have you been treated for?
> Hi. I've been treated for unipolar depression and ADD.I've got a nasty case of bipolar depression that just won't respond to medication or ECT. I have had intermittent brief responses to tricyclics and MAOIs. What a tease these were. At least I know my abnormal biology isn't intractable.
> > When you discontinued antidepressants, were you taking a benzodiazepine at the time?
> No.
> > > For me, a slow taper from stimulants would have been impossible. When I withdrew from stimulants, I chose to do it abruptly. I had tried doing it slowly, and I found that being in a constant state of rebound was infinitely more painful than not taking any at all.
> > How did this rebound effect manifest?
> For me, the rebound period was extremely uncomfortable. I'd get very anxious with a sense of impending doom, and I'd feel "spaced out," similar to the feeling you might get during a hypoglycemic episode.Which stimulants have you taken? Were the withdrawal rebounds similar between them?
> > > ...I withdrew from Xanax by switching to Klonopin. I took that for a while and then tapered very slowly over several months. I found it to be painless.
> > Thanks. That's a great tip. Were you taking any other drugs at the time?
> No. The reason for starting the Xanax was that a very bad drug combination had precipitated panic attacks, which I'd never had before and have never had since. I got off the bad drug combo, but as you probably know, once panic attacks start, they can take on a "life of their own," so I had to take Xanax for a while to get the panic attacks under control. Later, I switched to Klonopin, which is longer-acting than Xanax. During the time that I was on Klonopin and tapering off of Klonopin,Do you recall how you tapered the Klonopin?
> I listened to some behavior modification tapes that I got from The MidWest Center for Stress and Anxiety. I wanted to learn how to handle the anxiety without drugs. I do think the tapes were quite helpful.
That's great news :-).
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:463648
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050228/msgs/464805.html