Posted by Hiba on August 13, 2002, at 4:17:50
Hello everyone,
I know I am inviting trouble. But I can't stop telling the world the truth.
While antidepressants are hailed as effective, safe medications in the world of medicines. benzodiazepines always blamed for their potential for addiction and habituation. What I want to prove is there is a big margin of safety for benzodiazepines unlike ADs.Benzos are blamed for losing their effectiveness over time (tolerance). The truth is benzos are seldom lose their anxioltic effectiveness over time and there is virtually no tolerance to their anxiolytic effects. That is not the case with antidepressants. I started tryptizol 75 mg and within three months I had to double the dosage to 150 mg. I began with 20 mg of fluoxetine and after six months it came upto 40 mg and now I think I am losing the grip and when I call my doc he says another increase in dosage should be considered. Docs have the answer. My depression is increasing...??? Why shouldn't it be the same with benzodiazepines when I up the dosage, because my anxiety is increasing...?
When I stopped taking my first antidepressant tryptizol, I suffered severe insomnia and nightmares. I felt nauseated for a couple of months along with a nasty lightheadedness. My doc told me to taper and tapering process took another two months with all these discomforts. After the last parting of the drug, alas I lost myself. I felt like a hollowness in my mind which words cannot describe. And the reinstatement of another tricyclic called dothiepin was the only answer from this hellish feeling. Still it took one month to stabilize on dothiepin dosage.
Same was the story when I stopped fluoxetine. Nothing happened for a month and slowly I began to lose interest in all activities. I didn't even understand what was happening to me. I was losing myself and it was the worst feeling I ever had. Here again reinstating the fluoxetine dosage was the only way out.
Now let me describe what I felt when I took the last dosage of rivotril. I didn't feel anything for a week but after a week slowly my anxiety returned. Still my SELF was there intact. There was insomnia and nightmares. But day by day symptoms got improved. Dysphoria lasted for a month or so which was not that severe.This is just a beginning of a debate. I expect to be attacked soon by benzophobics and docs.
HIBA
poster:Hiba
thread:116248
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020807/msgs/116248.html