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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by morgan miller on July 19, 2011, at 0:08:12
In reply to Re: ammending severe xanax withdrawal, posted by floatingbridge on July 18, 2011, at 21:35:52
FB, you may want to mention depakote to your psychiatrist.
You also might want to consider getting some supplements if you have the money-New Chapter Holy Basil supercritical softgels, Magnesium Gycinate, lithium orotate, melatonin, Taurine, GABA, Tryptophan, Valerian Root, and Lemon Balm. This is an arsenal that could help in you in during the withdrawal process.
So sorry you're going through this sh*t. Hang in there.
Morgan
Posted by jedi on July 19, 2011, at 1:00:31
In reply to Re: ammending severe xanax withdrawal, posted by floatingbridge on July 18, 2011, at 21:35:52
Good Luck FB,
I would be really careful about stopping the Xanax at the same time you are coming off Emsam. I just raised my clonazepam back up to 1mg from .5mg because of anxiety from a, hopefully short term, financial crisis. I'll take it back down to ZERO soon, but now is not the time for me. My guess would be the stuttering is more likely be related to the selegiline than the Xanax. Stuttering is thought to be related, at least in part, to dopamine hyperactivity in the brain. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15212606)
Good Luck and be Well - Things will be better soon,
Jedi
> Thanks for the practical advice. Anxiety was breaking through the Xanax. Last year I had trimmed it back to almost 0.25mg per day. So the escalation has been steady :-/
>
> I guess I would take Valium and just slowly work down. I don't know. I don't get to write scripts. Not sure gabapentin would be okay after all because of a bad reaction to Lyrica.
>
> I see a new shrink tomorrow. Just want to cover my bases. I have no idea what might get trotted out....
>
> Thanks.
Posted by floatingbridge on July 19, 2011, at 7:15:47
In reply to Re: ammending severe xanax withdrawal » floatingbridge, posted by jedi on July 19, 2011, at 1:00:31
Jedi, thanks. I had no idea. The stuttering came on with a panic attack and stayed. I assumed Xanax. Jeez. Two potential agents. This was not my idea at all. I would never have discontinued either, frankly, especially abruptly and simultaneously.
>Good Luck FB,
> I would be really careful about stopping the Xanax at the same time you are coming off Emsam. I just raised my clonazepam back up to 1mg from .5mg because of anxiety from a, hopefully short term, financial crisis. I'll take it back down to ZERO soon, but now is not the time for me. My guess would be the stuttering is more likely be related to the selegiline than the Xanax. Stuttering is thought to be related, at least in part, to dopamine hyperactivity in the brain. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15212606)
> Good Luck and be Well - Things will be better soon,
> Jedi
>
>
> > Thanks for the practical advice. Anxiety was breaking through the Xanax. Last year I had trimmed it back to almost 0.25mg per day. So the escalation has been steady :-/
> >
> > I guess I would take Valium and just slowly work down. I don't know. I don't get to write scripts. Not sure gabapentin would be okay after all because of a bad reaction to Lyrica.
> >
> > I see a new shrink tomorrow. Just want to cover my bases. I have no idea what might get trotted out....
> >
> > Thanks.
>
>
Posted by deepreason on July 19, 2011, at 17:45:31
In reply to Re: ammending severe xanax withdrawal, posted by floatingbridge on July 19, 2011, at 7:15:47
Bump your xanax back up to full dose just for 3 days. If the stuttering and other effects vanish then you know you've tapered too quick and you're in withdrawal. ie. time to slow it down.
I f there is no improvement then go back to where you were with the benzo's and suspect the emsam.
Posted by floatingbridge on July 19, 2011, at 18:27:03
In reply to ammending severe xanax withdrawal, posted by floatingbridge on July 18, 2011, at 9:34:00
It's Xanax xr. I needed to promise I would take it 2x daily whether I felt I needed it or not and maintain a steady, slightly increased dose. I had, apparently, been under-medicated.
It was acknowledged that once benzodiazepine is introduced into treatment, it's difficult to return to a medically naive state. It's not a perfect world, and I was advised to stop fighting medication--that to reap any benefits, I needed to accept treatment. He also seemed to understand those benzodiazepine conversion tables.
Interestingly, he said proper Valium tapers were not the norm because (speculation) because Valium was misunderstood and had bad press.
He also said Luvox might have been more helpful to me in
my snri/ssri treatment course. He observed it was unique among the category but seemed to have gotten marginalized (possibly due to a simultaneous appearance of zoloft). No one had ever mentioned Luvox to me. My first
pharmaceutical treatment was zoloft.It's Emsam again. He's willing to bump my dose into upper
ranges if need be. And keep me sleeping.Thanks for the support and practical advice!
Posted by Phillipa on July 19, 2011, at 19:50:57
In reply to Re: ammending severe xanax withdrawal, posted by floatingbridge on July 19, 2011, at 18:27:03
FB You are just like me in underdosing. Fear of addiction. Sounds like a winner this time finally. Interested in his luvox also. Congrats Phillipa
Posted by floatingbridge on July 19, 2011, at 20:37:11
In reply to Re: ammending severe xanax withdrawal, posted by deepreason on July 19, 2011, at 17:45:31
Thanks for thinking about this. I will watch this, and if observe anything, I'll contact this doctor. It was not good to stop two meds at once. This doctor has concerns (as do I) about starting two meds at once as well. It is tough to be in crisis and be observant. Thanks for your observation.
> Bump your xanax back up to full dose just for 3 days. If the stuttering and other effects vanish then you know you've tapered too quick and you're in withdrawal. ie. time to slow it down.
>
> I f there is no improvement then go back to where you were with the benzo's and suspect the emsam.
Posted by Phillipa on July 19, 2011, at 21:40:54
In reply to Re: ammending severe xanax withdrawal » deepreason, posted by floatingbridge on July 19, 2011, at 20:37:11
In a way to me it's not like starting two meds at same time as took them both together before. Restarting to me Love Phillipa
Posted by morgan miller on July 19, 2011, at 23:30:54
In reply to Re: ammending severe xanax withdrawal, posted by floatingbridge on July 19, 2011, at 18:27:03
One reason why Luvox did not do as well as Zoloft is simply because it did not fit as many people's needs as Zoloft did. It also appears to usually have a worse side effect profile, of course this does not apply to everyone. Luvox is not typically a "feel good" drug, but it can be extremely effective in treating OCD and certain types of anxiety. It is now believed that Luvox may actually be more of a sigma 1 agonist than an SSRI, which would explain it's effectiveness in OCD and psychotic disorders.
Luvox might be a good idea. If you try it, I really hope it gives you a good amount of relief.
Posted by hyperfocus on July 20, 2011, at 0:28:28
In reply to ammending severe xanax withdrawal, posted by floatingbridge on July 18, 2011, at 9:34:00
I'm pretty sure the stuttering is the Xanax withdrawal. Years ago when I ran out of Ativan for a few days, I developed this spasm on the right side of my mouth. My speech was uncontrollably slurred, all I could do was lay down, and I'll never forget my aunt looking at me like I was a crack addict.
The truth is no matter how you do it, withdrawing from benzos is hard-going. It's a full-time thing: you shouldn't be withdrawing from another drug at the same time. It took me several months to withdraw completely from an average dose of Klonopin I was on for a few years. Three weeks is way WAY too fast for 2mg of Xanax.
My strategy is stay on the same agent but just reduce by the absolutely smallest increment. Take a .25mg and cut it into halves. So you'd be decreasing in .125mg increments - starting from 2mg would be 1.875mg, 1.75mg, and so on. Then you have to figure out how much time your body needs to adjust to the lower dose. If after a week you're ok, go to to the next increment. At this rate it will take you a month to go from 2mg to 1.5mg. To me this is like the absolute fastest you can taper - your body will probably need more time. The slower you go the better your chances of minimizing rebound anxiety and having to restart the taper, which is what you have to do now.
I think it's a good idea to restart the EMSAM - I feel like if you responded to the EMSAM you should try to find an agent that combats the insomnia. But one thing at a time. Is there any particular reason you have to come off the Xanax now?
Hang in there fb, you're not alone in this. I and pretty much everybody here has walked the same path you're walking - and we survived. You will too. Never doubt human resiliency.
Posted by floatingbridge on July 20, 2011, at 10:58:57
In reply to Re: ammending severe xanax withdrawal » floatingbridge, posted by hyperfocus on July 20, 2011, at 0:28:28
The short version is I had a private gp who decided I was addicted and had 'dependency' issues. Since I have fibromyalgia, I am very chemically sensitive. This doctor is very new in her AA recovery and runs the big detox center in my area. (She had overcome her own addictions to her own scripts a few years back.). Once she said 'dependent' that was it. My pdoc/ therapist stopped listening to me. I was given 10mg Valium nightly to withdraw from 1.5mg Xanax of about 10years use (much of that decade at lower Xanax levels). I tried to follow her three week taper on just this
Valium. It was a terrible struggle. I tried to tell the gp and my pdoc that I underdosed and going too fast. This was percieved as drug seeking. I stopped the Emsam, too, because neither one would support my sleep during the Emsam trial. My pdoc 'let' me do this. Then came very bad
therapy of the you need to look at your sh*t kind (I do have PTSD and they knew that.). Any request of even an AD even
amitiptlyne became a sign of my pathology. This was so
nightmarish. I was taken to a dual diagnosis recovery house
were they said I didn't belong because I wasn't an addict. They said I was withdrawing.Both these doctors are gone now. My husband fired them,
because when I had tried a few times to fire my pdoc/therapist that he would say that was pathological. It
wasn't until he became incoherent and yelling at my husband that my husband got the full extent of the situation. This same pdoc refused (!) to refer me to another pdoc. Yes. I know this sounds crazy. PTSD symptoms became
prominent in a new way. This might be TMI, but for a person with social phobia and PTSD, I just hid in my house twitching and stuttering. I wouldn't stutter with my child. Just normal with him. Thank goodness. What I now recognize as acute withdrawal was terrible. I was screaming at times and writhing. When my husband called the AA gp, she more or
less said, see, I told you she had dependency issuses. Take her to the ER.Well, my husband who knows me and finally did his crash course in pharmacology is on board now, went to the new shrink, and supported restarting everything for me.
I am improving. I usually wake up at 4:00 and today slept until 7:30. Had sleep paralysis last night at 11:00pm, panicked, wanted to dump the Xanax, but my husband talked me down. Guess it's still possible to panic on xanax. I am just following this new doctor's advice to the letter right now. He wants me stable. If I decide to withdraw or reduce, he demonstrated that he knows how to do this without provoking massive withdrawal. He isn't afraid of medication like my last few doctors and interprets my struggles not as drug seeking
behavior but as a patient trying to deal with her symptoms.I don't know what to say. He was a quick study, had my very
professionally lucid Stanford assessment, and pegged me as someone how struggles with the idea of being on medication and who continually under doses and minimizes my psychiatric medicine use. Hence the instructions to take Xanax xr whether I thought necessary or not. Otherwise, there is not stability.This actually iis a long answer :-/ but a few asked why I was tapering. It wasn't my idea, but I thought why not, until it became clear it was against every wise thing I knew about tapers. I mean, who wants to be on meds?-- that is, until they are actually taken away. Believe me, if someone is labelled an addict and dependent, forget about having any voice in anything. People just stop listening. I temporarily lost my rights as a human being. If this is what happens to
the 10% of the population who may be truly struggling with addiction (as in craving a substance) I know why they might evade treatment. Chances are they are treated without compassion and have their rights taken away. God bless them. Sincerely, I will never look at life the same way again. I would never treat people like how I came to be treated for a while. It shoots any compliance they desire and any chance
to become healther and to heal.
I am feeling a little dopey this morning, but physically less startled. So far, just tiny moments of stuttering. HP, thanks., And Jedi, too. I thought stuttering and other symptoms might indicate irrevisible brain damage :-/> I'm pretty sure the stuttering is the Xanax withdrawal. Years ago when I ran out of Ativan for a few days, I developed this spasm on the right side of my mouth. My speech was uncontrollably slurred, all I could do was lay down, and I'll never forget my aunt looking at me like I was a crack addict.
>
> The truth is no matter how you do it, withdrawing from benzos is hard-going. It's a full-time thing: you shouldn't be withdrawing from another drug at the same time. It took me several months to withdraw completely from an average dose of Klonopin I was on for a few years. Three weeks is way WAY too fast for 2mg of Xanax.
>
> My strategy is stay on the same agent but just reduce by the absolutely smallest increment. Take a .25mg and cut it into halves. So you'd be decreasing in .125mg increments - starting from 2mg would be 1.875mg, 1.75mg, and so on. Then you have to figure out how much time your body needs to adjust to the lower dose. If after a week you're ok, go to to the next increment. At this rate it will take you a month to go from 2mg to 1.5mg. To me this is like the absolute fastest you can taper - your body will probably need more time. The slower you go the better your chances of minimizing rebound anxiety and having to restart the taper, which is what you have to do now.
>
> I think it's a good idea to restart the EMSAM - I feel like if you responded to the EMSAM you should try to find an agent that combats the insomnia. But one thing at a time. Is there any particular reason you have to come off the Xanax now?
>
> Hang in there fb, you're not alone in this. I and pretty much everybody here has walked the same path you're walking - and we survived. You will too. Never doubt human resiliency.
Posted by jedi on July 20, 2011, at 12:54:56
In reply to Why I came off Xanax :-/ » hyperfocus, posted by floatingbridge on July 20, 2011, at 10:58:57
FB,
Sounds like your new PDOC is a winner. That can sure make all the difference. And having your husband on board to support you through this has to be a huge relief. When we are in such pain that the smallest decision is monumental, help from others can make all the difference. I'm so sorry you went through this with your previous doctors. It seems like a common theme in this field of work. I had a PDOC that treated me for 9 months once. I went to him seeking an alternative to Nardil, because of the side effects. After many, many unsuccessful med trials; he absolutely refused to put me back on Nardil. It was the only medication that had worked out of 45+ trials. He would have let me die before restarting Nardil. I finally had to use my one month emergency stash and get stable enough to find a MD to prescribe the MAOI. I don't think I would be here today, if I hadn't taken that action. I found the MD who would prescribe Nardil for me, and have been pretty much stable on it for eight years. I live with some side effects, but I live!Good luck to you FB, you are on the right path. A lot of people care.
Jedi
Posted by Phillipa on July 20, 2011, at 19:39:58
In reply to Why I came off Xanax :-/ » hyperfocus, posted by floatingbridge on July 20, 2011, at 10:58:57
FB seeing it all written out at same time. What a lot of stress these docs created for you. So glad you found this doc and husband is now on board. You will do fine now. Love Phillipa
Posted by morgan miller on July 20, 2011, at 23:57:39
In reply to Why I came off Xanax :-/ » hyperfocus, posted by floatingbridge on July 20, 2011, at 10:58:57
Wow, that makes me so angry that those doctors treated you so badly FB. There should be some way to report them or make a critical review of their services on an online site. Sorry you had to go through this total BS.
Hope you continue to heal and soon find a way back to baseline.
Morgan
Posted by huxley on July 21, 2011, at 3:28:25
In reply to Re: Why I came off Xanax :-/, posted by morgan miller on July 20, 2011, at 23:57:39
FB,
feel your pain. It is VERY scary when your meds turn on you and you can't get any help or guidance.
Maybe the worst think is the complete incompetance displayed by doctors when you seek help.
Posted by sigismund on July 21, 2011, at 13:56:08
In reply to Re: Why I came off Xanax :-/, posted by huxley on July 21, 2011, at 3:28:25
That 'drug seeking behaviour' annoyed me.
Of course you were seeking bloody drugs.
Posted by floatingbridge on July 21, 2011, at 14:48:47
In reply to Re: Why I came off Xanax :-/, posted by sigismund on July 21, 2011, at 13:56:08
> That 'drug seeking behaviour' annoyed me.
>
> Of course you were seeking bloody drugs.Sigi, it's been a real Beckett around here when not veering into Kafka.
The day I saw the new shrink, (yesterday), I also found out Gillian welch had a new album out and Terence Malick has a new film. His last one was The Thin Red Line. (a good
novel, too.). I told my husband now seeing his film was a definite reason to get well enough.I heard Dorthy Parker once quip, well, we might as well live.
I don't find too much fault with that, do you.?
Posted by sigismund on July 21, 2011, at 20:10:21
In reply to Re: Why I came off Xanax :-/ » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on July 21, 2011, at 14:48:47
In the reviews here there was interest in what was the harrow and what was the harvest.
Well, that is the subject of the album, I suppose.
Gas smells awful
Nooses give
what was it about drugs?
Posted by sigismund on July 21, 2011, at 20:25:39
In reply to Re: Why I came off Xanax :-/ » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on July 21, 2011, at 20:10:21
It was 'guns aren't lawful'.
Not these days.
Posted by floatingbridge on July 21, 2011, at 21:01:34
In reply to Re: Why I came off Xanax :-/ » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on July 21, 2011, at 20:10:21
> In the reviews here there was interest in what was the harrow and what was the harvest.
>
> Well, that is the subject of the album, I suppose.
>
> Gas smells awful
> Nooses give
> what was it about drugs?The Harrow and The Harvest. It's like Time/The Revalator. It's worth the eight year wait (personal opinion of course).
Hypothermia always seemed preferable. However, I've decided the if there is life, I am going to help it live. There doesn't seem to be a rational argument for this. I've listened to some chap on youtube called Stephen Fry. I'm educated just enough to know that everything is riddled with errors and insensitivities upon scrutiny. Yet he talks about all the big words, like god, life, mental illness, stupidity, mystery. You probably know him. For all I know, he's as big as Elvis. But his hair isn't.
My husband says my medication is starting to work because I have started talking again which means I'm back to having difficulty knowing when to stop :-/
But yeah. This crisis here is over.
Posted by sleepygirl2 on July 21, 2011, at 22:16:15
In reply to Why I came off Xanax :-/ » hyperfocus, posted by floatingbridge on July 20, 2011, at 10:58:57
to feel harshly judged and misunderstood is a horrible feeling :-(
especially when struggling in the first place
It sounds like new doc is helpful??
take care,
sleepy
Posted by Phillipa on July 21, 2011, at 22:28:49
In reply to Re: Why I came off Xanax :-/ » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on July 21, 2011, at 21:01:34
Horray!!!! just home gone all day and been thinking of you seriously. You are getting better? Driving yet? Love Phillipa
Posted by floatingbridge on July 21, 2011, at 23:03:41
In reply to Re: Why I came off Xanax :-/ » floatingbridge, posted by Phillipa on July 21, 2011, at 22:28:49
> Horray!!!! just home gone all day and been thinking of you seriously. You are getting better? Driving yet? Love Phillipa
Thanks Phillia.
I drove yesterday. :-). Slowly, but it feels good not to have an absolute start if a seagull flies overhead.
I am mending, but not at a metoric rate. I still stutter, but it's now in the normal range. I don't have to turn my back on anyone standing in line waiting, say, for a
prescription at the pharmacy. My husband made me laugh.
Years ago there was some movie with Sojourney Weaver. She's a serial killer profiler who is phobic and housebound (if I recall). He quoted her as
saying in her full glory, "you know what's the beauty of having
a nervous breakdown? I really don't have to give a f*ck
anymore."So when I'm tired or talking about painful stuff, the stutter becomes wicked. If I am talking to someone on the street (yesterday) I stutter a little. But I never held it against anyone for stuttering. So I'm back to either assuming the best about others and if proven otherwise, found a very comforting f*ck you inner voice (inner is key here).
So limited driving and public interface is o.k.
Posted by Phillipa on July 21, 2011, at 23:37:00
In reply to Re: Why I came off Xanax :-/ » Phillipa, posted by floatingbridge on July 21, 2011, at 23:03:41
Doing better than me for sure. Got to catch up. I want to be competitive just me.Not you. Love Phillipa
Posted by sigismund on July 22, 2011, at 1:01:20
In reply to Re: Why I came off Xanax :-/ » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on July 21, 2011, at 21:01:34
>Stephen Fry
Gay, bipolar, went to Eton or somewhere like that, became a comedian and actor.
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