Posted by utopizen on March 19, 2003, at 1:47:16
In reply to benzos ok on Nardil?, posted by Sarah S on March 18, 2003, at 20:00:35
Sarah,
I've had SP all my life. I first made an appt. with a psychopharmacologist when I was 18. I thought I had a mild case of shyness or something, and mostly was prompted to do something about it after seeing the Paxil ads and having hope it would do something.
Well at the end of my first interview, my pdoc was a bit convinced I may be shy but didn't have social phobia. He was about to get up and said, "well, you have friends, right? you seem to do fine." Then I answered, "no, I have no friends." And so he stopped getting up and wrote a script for Celexa.
Well since then I've tried Wellbutrin, a high dose of Effexor, Neurontin, Gabitril, Visatril, Atarax, Abilify, Risperdal, Inderal and other meds. Klonopin worked, but he only gave me enough to go to an occassional party with. Neurontin worked, but I talked in a monotone on it and it made me depressed.
I also have ADD, so the stims like Adderall or Ritalin made me really anxious. I eventually read up on all the stims and discovered Desoxyn (methamphetamine) was available, and for a slightly higher co-pay ($25 versus $5) I can get it legally through my p-doc. He trusts me not to go over it the dose said, which is a pretty big trust given the drug's abuse history.
Desoxyn didn't decrease my anxiety, but it didn't make me jittery and more anxious like the others-- I can barely tell it's in me except that I can focus and can read and write easily. Nice thing about ADD is that in treating myself I end up better than well almost-- never writer's block on Desoxyn, that's for sure. And the palpations (heart pounding) are much more benign.
If anything, because it's softer on my heart, I'd consider it "safer" than regular amphetamines like Adderall or Dexedrine. I would not take it if you have an addictive personality, since taking high doses does make you super happy (I did this twice just because I'm curious on how medicines affect me, but never had the desire to repeat it).
My doc wants me to see his colleague now that it's been a year and a half and he says after I had a consult with his colleague a few months ago, I seem to have more faith in him. He's admitted he's not as experienced in treating social anxiety as his colleague because his collague focuses a lot on it and researches it so much. They're both top psychopharmacologists in Boston, just the one I'm seeing now doesn't have too much knowledge in social anxiety beyond the typical pdoc. This other pdoc suggested Nardil, but I reminded him of the problem with it and stims, and he seemed to do a "oh yeah, you're right" and backed away... I don't feel comfortable with methamphetamine and Nardil anyway, but I'll keep it open as a possibility.
Klonopin does work, better than well for sure, for me. Friends of mine at parties can't get over how outgoing and smooth I am around girls without any alcohol, talking in a way their "normal" mental state doesn't have them do. I'll probably go on Klonopin long-term while trying out extremely low doses of antipsychotics and an antidepressant, with an MAOI in the possibility. But I don't see the need for an MAOI if my ADD requires a stim, Klonopin works effectively, and there's some chance an AD and AP might give me some long-term treatment.
I'm not sure if antipsychotics are worth my investment, because .5mg of Risperdal really knocked me out. But my doc told me I can always try another or lower the dose more, and that it takes 3 weeks to kick in. Abilify didn't make me tired, but didn't make me anxious after 2 weeks with athkasia, so I decided to stop it. I might want to try that out again with Klonopin for the anxiety and see if the anxiety goes away after a month.
In the meantime, I just started 20mg of Paxil tonight (it's the regular kind, I don't know what's so special about the CR but my doc didn't prescribe it anyway). I doubt it'll do anything, and if it does, it'll be combined with an AP and Klonopin by that time most likely so I won't even know if it has done anything. In a month or two, I'll likely be on Klonopin long-term, just in time for an internship for me.
poster:utopizen
thread:210421
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030314/msgs/210602.html