Posted by Heike on November 4, 2007, at 1:19:06
This is my first post here; I have read many of your posts and feel greatly for your struggles. This seems to be a positive environment to share and learn.
My sister has been on xanax for about 15 years. Though I know that she has always believed that it really helped her and surely it must have, it has been clear since early on that the effects and the dependency had greatly affected her coping skills and general ability to handle daily life--her personality changed at times. Over the years, there has also been quite a lot of challenge and cause for anxiety, especially during the last 4 years in which Connie was a caretaker for my mother until she died in April.
As far I knew, Connie had gotten off xanax a few years ago. Though we are close, this is something that she hid from the family to avoid the obvious efforts to help her with what for her was a definite problem. I think that her dosage ran so high that even on xanax, she was in some level of withdrawal. Very sad.
Today I began receiving emails from Connie that were nothing short of extremely confused, delusional, hypomanic and possibly psychotic. She is losing her grip with reality and talking about a message to give the world...repeating the date over and over. I am SCARED to death. She told me today that she has been out of xanax for two days. Later I found out that she cannot fill her prescription because it is not due to fill for a long time. She is in Iowa, I am in CA. Her roomate is trying to keep her safe. She has no insurance, no money and I do not know what to do in the immediate moment.
If I contact her doctor, he likely cannot help since she overused her prescription? Her room-mate will not do anything Connie does not want him to...and I am afraid this will worsen and she could have seizures, etc.
I would so APPRECIATE any advice for how to help her in the short term with anything that adds value in herbal form, etc? In the long term, I have to find a way to get her either back on xanax or switched to valium...that sounds like a possibility based on what I have read?
I am truly worried and appreciate any support or advise that you have.
Thank you very much!
Kind & warm regards,
Heike
poster:Heike
thread:793251
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20070929/msgs/793251.html