Posted by brazilnut on June 18, 2007, at 15:14:34
In reply to Re: Jim and Tired of Panic sugar cravings, posted by jimbobwe64 on June 6, 2007, at 0:24:43
> Hey, Bob,
>
> Thanks for the question. Sorry to hear about the problems you've been having. No anxiety is a good thing, regardless of what the cause is.
>
> First of all, I'm not a doctor, so anything I say should be scrutinized (until you get to know me, then it should be really scrutinized, lol). Anyhow, everyone's metabolism is different and only you can tell if you truly should get off a certain medication. However, if you've had anxiety before you went on any A/D med, then you really should get to the root of the anxiety, whether it be psychological or due to diet.
>
> Second, as for sources, I have a friend whose wife is a very, very good psychiatrist who has given me a lot of sound ideas towards my recovery. I've always gone with her ideas to my doctors and have convinced them about what to do. I've just recently retired from the Canadian military and have not always had proper access to good quality psychological assistance, therefore having to rely upon, in almost all cases, general practitioners to do the job. Another source I've found in recent months and kind of helps to keep me going is as follows:
> http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/reaction.htm
>
> Like I said I don't know if your anxiety is something that can be managed without the assistance of meds or not. However, I do know one thing and that is that managing your diet can only do good things for you, if not only to relieve a few of the symptoms or the whole anxiety "kit and kaboodle".
>
> All I can say is that I've made some major changes to my diet (because, quite frankly, mine was kinda poor) and it's helped my anxiety go way down to the point where I'm actually venturing without A/D's. something I would never have thought of about 3 or 4 years ago.
>
> If you find that changing your diet's just not doing it to relieve the anxiety, then you should keep trying new A\D's until you find the right one for you. It is very important that I say that there are some people who simply should not be off those meds. And that alone is not a bad thing either, as well it doesn't make you a bad person because you're on A/D's, as it is definitely not your fault that you have a chemical deficiency.
>
> The one question that I do have though, Bob, is: are the docs you're seeing qualified Psychiatrists or just General Practitioners??
>
> Hopefully this helps a bit.
>
> JimHi Jim!
Thanks for your kind answer and information. So late to answer because life is hard down here.I asked for your sources on A/D withdrawal because I have a hard time trying to convince doctors that W/D from some medicines may last for months. They say that after a month of stopping the intake there is no more medicine in my body, so what I feel is not related to it. As if W/Ds were caused by the presence of the medicine, not the absence… I would like to find some scientific references on this, but the closest thing I came across were Prof. Ashton’s studies on benzodiazepines.
I started taking A/Ds in 1997 thanks to the ignorance of two docs. The first, an ENT with whom I would have a snoring operation, prescribed Frontal for sleeping during vacations, and told nothing about how to stop it – so I went cold turkey. The second, a psychiatrist, misdiagnosed the following severe W/D crisis as depression. Followed 10 miserable years in which I had 4 different diagnostics and tried 20+ of the strongest medicines available.
Only two years ago I discovered, reading this website, that the medicines were not solution but at least part of the problem. (Of course, I understand this happens to me and a small minority only, and many people benefit from such medicines.) I started then a very slow and difficult process of weaning off. Today morning I took the last particle of mirtazapine - I was taking 1 small fragment of about 0.5mg 3 times a day for 15 days. One year ago it was 45mg daily.
This situation – years of mixing and changing medicines – made me very anxious, and I know no medicine will help me. I am naturally anxious, but I am sure that the many W/Ds I went through magnified my anxiety. To counterbalance the absence of the mirtazapine I am taking Saint John wort and ginkgo biloba. For the anxiety I take valeriana officinalis (valerian root?) combined with humulus lupulus (sorry, don’t know the English names of these plants).
As for diet, I am a vegetarian for … 50 years! (since in the last 8 years I have been eating fish too, I am actually a “fishtarian”). I eat a lot of fruits and healthy vegetables and take supplements such as magnesium and B vitamin. I used to drink wine regularly, for many years, but decreased it naturally as my symptoms worsened - now I take half a glass weekly, or even less. Some doctors said I should take a little more to cope with the anxiety, but I prefer to be cautious.
About the qualification of my docs, I have been recently 11 months with one and 7 months with another of the best reputed psychiatrists in town, and consulted once with four others. The last one, also a nationally renowned pharmacologist, seeing my medicine list said there is nothing left to try. I have also a very good GP whom I visit regularly.
Bob
poster:brazilnut
thread:613132
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20070419/msgs/763945.html