Posted by burnedout on December 5, 2003, at 11:38:41
In reply to Re: A Balanced Alternative View of Xanax » maxx44, posted by Viridis on December 5, 2003, at 3:32:17
Viridis,
I agree with much of what you have to say.
My pdoc will not even prescribe Xanax or Ativan anymore, but he does prescribe Klonopin.I hope he is right about it being less of a challenge to come off of than Xanax or Ativan.
He is also vigilant for signs of my body starting to "need" it and so am I.
We have my dose of Klonopin where it needs to be to relieve the anxiety/stress (PTSD). If we see that I'm starting to need more to get the same results, that's the RED flag. That's when instead of going up, we will start backing me off.
Your statement though, that when your doctor sees signs of you needing more of the benzo, will cause an "immediate" stop, concerns me.
I hope the "immediate" really means taper-off.
If you are take more than a certain amount of Xanax, Ativan, Klonopin, there is a high probability of a seizure if "immediately" stopped.
My doc didn't tell me how many Klonopin it is, but he did tell me that 3 mg of Ativan/day is "iffy," 4 mg. & above is an almost definite. He didn't say how much Xanax was the equivalent to watch out for, but somewhere I read that 1.5/mg/day over a couple of weeks would be not advisable. So it's number may be around there?
As far as benzo-phobia, I probably have that, but I have no choice but to take the stuff. My doc says I should be thankful that we've found something that works. And I am. Even though I hate to have to take it.
I imagine a Chemotherapy patient feels much the same way. They know the damage that therapy can do to their body and how uncomfortable it is to take go through it all, but given the choices, it's the only option if you want to survive a bit longer.
In reserve, I have a quantity of Ativan, in case of a "breakthrough" need. I have signs posted all over the house to take it, if I get into trouble. Otherwise I will wind up wishing I had. (benzo-phobia)
I've had to use it twice in eight months--but only when there was no other choice.
A few weeks ago, I had to execute our (the doc's & mine) mergency plan & take 1mg every hour until I either got better or feel asleep. The stragety being that going to sleep was preferable to having so much panic/anxiety that I would end up in the hospital or do something worse.
At the end of the third hour, after three pills, I was still going downhill, but it was slowing and mercifully, I feel asleep. The emergency plan worked.
Before the Klonopin, I had been taking 3 mgs/Atavan/day for two years! The switch to Klonopin was hardly noticeable--I was lucky.
From only my personal experience, the person who said that a "world organization" that tracks the difficutly of comming off benzos compared to SSRIs found that the SSRIs to be worse, I would strongly agree.
As I mentioned, I had been on Ativan for two years. I went through withdrawal from it. I suppose it is close to Xanax.
I've gone through withdrawal from Effexor-XR, a SSNRI, a little more potent than Paxil, which is an SSRI.
So I've had to go through "discontinuation" of both.
For this body:
Even though EXtremely unpleasant//////////////////
I would take the witdrawal from the benzo, ANYtime, compared to that of the SSRI.
poster:burnedout
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031202/msgs/286823.html