Posted by burnedout on December 4, 2003, at 9:47:58
In reply to Re: A Balanced Alternative View of Xanax, posted by Waterlily on December 4, 2003, at 7:53:45
All these benzos are supposed to help us.
I think they are all labeled for short-term use (maybe I'm wrong)?bUT i HAVE to agree that over time, unless your body is exceptional, they will become addicting--dependent, just like an SSRI anti-depressant.
My pdoc is one who ranks the order of worse to least as Xanax, Ativan, Klonopin. He tells me that K. is very nearly the same as Ativan, except it has a much longer life in the system --many days, instead of a few hours. So that is why he believes that it will be easier to come off it. The change won't be so abrupt as with Xanax or Ativan. But that doesn't mean coming off will not be without difficulty.
I see his reasoning. Most of what I have read says that if you've used any of these for longer than two weeks, you are at risk.Since I've been working with Ativan, I learned that at 3 mg/day you are boarderline safe, but at 4 mg/day, if you suddenly stop, you are almost sure to have a seizure. I imagine the same would hold true for Xanax
But, as the previous writer said--given the choice of a major panic episode [and one that can spiral depression down so quickly, that you don't even know your in a panic attack--and then be faced with suicide], --which is better? The benzo or the suffering & possibly a tragic death?
Since my doc feels Klonopin is the least of the "evils," we've now switched from Ativan to Klopin. But we used as a measure the dose of Ativan I took to guage how much Klonopin to take.
If Xanax is the only thing that will work, then that's what it has to be. But if you can move to something that has a longer life, I think it would be a little safer--if you had to stop abruptly. Maybe you could try going to one of the other benzos, using the Xanax as a guide for the doseage, and keep going down.
I think that whatever we are having to take is going to eventually fail. And then we will have to bump the dose up to get the same effect. My doc says when that happens, it shows that the body has become dependent on the dose and no longer uses it as a medicine, but as something it needs. That's when instead of upping the dose, we need to try and move it down.
Our plan is fairly simple but very hard to do.
It's been shown through MRI studies that thoughts can stimulate the same parts of the brain and alter how it responds, just as the medicines.
If the Xanax, Ativan, Klonopin are working, then NOW is the time to try and retrain our thinking so it can take control, instead of the drug. This is our window of opportunity--who knows how long it will stay open?
I don't think any of us want to be taking medicines. We'd like to be well. we pray (some of us to be well--I given up on that, and pray now for the strength to endure each day).
We are in a tough spot(s) my friends--and I am new here--I hope we will all be friends and compassionate to one another.
These symptoms we have and the medicines we are using to try and stop them, please remember, are symptoms of the illness and NOT us.
We as people, are ok. Don't let the illness fool you--short-circuit your thinking into believing it is you that is messed up. You are ok. The illness is not--and I don't think any of us wanted to be ill. --just as if we have been run over by a truck, we--ourselves--are not the cause of the suffering, but the suffering is caused by symptoms of the injuries--just as with Panic, PTSD, GAD, Depression, stress/anxiety.It is not our fault. Even if we foolishly stepped out in front of the truck, all it means is we made a mistake--just as every human does. So, don't get down on yourself for being human.
By the way too, I too worked in IT, for INTEL in fact. Because of my former employer, I suffered totally disabling Mj. depression, PTSD, panic, etc.
Everyday at Intel, I was taking Ativan 3 mg /d.
I was able to function fine.But every day, when I got on the interstate, I would have a small panic as I drove the car on the same route I took to where the damage took place.
I was able to control these, by facing them, and using therapy techniques to get them subdued and stoped.
I enjoyed INTEL very much. I was fully awake, no sense of panic, no sense of unable to connect thoughts (or maybe just no sense at all?).
But there came a day, when driving, that I was not able to control the panic. My thoughts couldn't help, the Ativan seemed to have quit. I arrived at work--went into a full blown Panic Attack, which also brought on Asthma.
They had to call the EMTs.
I lost all sense of time. I thought the EMTs had been there for only a few minutes, but found out I had been being worked on for three hours.
Finally, I was carried out of INTEL on a strecther and taken by ambulance to the hospital.There, what did they do? They gave me a shot of benedryl (we later found out I was allergic to the medicine I had been taking for asthma) and MORE Ativan.
Eventually, everything subsided. Intel wanted me back. That I was glad for. Since then though, I have had to stop work entirely.
The drugs are going to fail us. We are intelligent enough to know that is (just guessing) probably 99% true.
It's a scary situation. But the alternative is worse. I just hope we can find a way to beat some of this by changing our way of thinking, before it is too late.
If we are having a respite from the Panic/Anxiety/PTSD/GAD (SAD by the way is Seasonal Affective disorder--depression when you loose light--as in higher lattitudes in the winter--GAD is the "generalized--long term anxiety" disorder), Depression, then let's use this time as wisely as we can to get something in place to help us when the medicine becomes our enemy instead of helper.
I pray that for myself and us all, we will have something in place, something we've learned while we can, that will help us through the trials.
--I know, this has been too long and rambling--
but please, don't rely on the meds to work forever--work hard to build the coping skills, to let the brain, through practice, think thoughts that will help it get well.
poster:burnedout
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031202/msgs/286505.html