Posted by Aldus Huxley on April 25, 2004, at 14:35:16
In reply to Re: ANOTHER question (easier) for CHEMIST re Benzos » Aldus Huxley, posted by chemist on April 24, 2004, at 23:43:43
> hi there, you do NOT want to go down the barbituate raod, which is where you are heading with seconal. your doc is the exception rather than the rule in that many, many doctors shy away from xanax because there is an anti-depressant effect, a quick onset of action, and a short half-life, all of which spell ``dependency'' to the docs. valium has a very long half-life, and in chronic dosing is better than the others in that it is always in your system. on the down side, valium is always in your system, so you get sluggish and never really emerge from the fog. for your social problems, perhaps klonopin is the answer: shorter half-life than valium, longer than xanax, and no associated ``high'' or anti-depressant activity. xanax makes you sleepy, so that's not the answer, but before going onwards, how much xanax are you taking and how often? ativan is another alternative that might suit your needs...please let me know, and all the best, chemist
>Actually, I was sort of saying Seconal tongue-in-cheek; I know that is a bit overkill. Here it is: my pdcoc gave me xanax to take both for anti-aniety/social inhibition (for my job purposes as an attorney which, as a younger one, can be very stressful). I was supposed to take a .5mg twice daily or prn for anxiety and 1mg for insomnia (sometimes more, sometimes less (like on the weekends when stress is much lower and I can USUALLY sleep without it)) . At that time it provided a sense of calm and I terrific sedative--sometimes I would only take .5mg to sleep. So--on the average the answer to your question is anywhere from 1mg to 3mg per day. Then, after about 1 year, I found myself becoming tolerant to Xanax and taking a bit more (maybe 1mg more a day). 1 year later, I find it almost useless in that it makes me really sleepy as an anxiolytic, and when I do use it as a sedative, I wake up 3 hours later (after taking 2mg+). To me, that sounds like tolerance. Even after taking 3 week breaks, it just makes me sleepy--no inhibitory/calm effects.
So last year, I asked for Valium--knowing it was a good anxiolytic. She reluctantly agreed (I was having a particularly stressful personal event), and it worked great--I took about 2.5mg 2x/day and maybe 5-10mg for insomnia. After 2 months she wanted me back on Xanax and said no more valium--even though I felt it was still working fine (for the momnet).
My thoughts on this that although both of these drugs are from the same family, I think I just got tolerant to Xanax, and switching to valium would allow me to use it for awhile, and then switch to Xanax because, perhaps after a few months not taking it (and Valium instead), my tolerance would go back to normal with Xanax, and hence, allow me to take lower dosages of each.
So, since she is not keen on prescribing valium (I could probably convince her, but society has made me feel guilty whenever I tried to "argue" for a particular medication), I wanted to know what you think would be a good replacement...similar to Xanax (before I became tolerant)containing some mild euphoria (which I deem to be the same thing as social inhibition -- I mean when do we enjoy speaking to people the most? Answer: When we are happy.).
Like some other poster likes to say, I am looking for the "3 beer effect" -- except, for me it is more a "1.5 beer effect".. Meaning--if memory serves--I wasn't an idiot when I took .5mg Xanax during the day (I mean I was at work after all). I was just calmer and more congeial and did my work performance increased. At work, I just did what I had to do--interrelate to people, etc.
Are there alternatives? Thanks a lot for reading.
poster:Aldus Huxley
thread:339425
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040423/msgs/339873.html