Anxiety.. Xanax, Klonopin, SSRIs, etc.. questions
 

I know I have some sort of panic disorder, and I was wondering if anyone with experience knows how prescriptions for these work.

I know a doctor can prescribe you Xanax (Alprazolam)/Klonopin(Clonazepam) to begin an SSRI treatment, but is it possible to just get a prescription for Klonopin or any other long lasting benzodiazepine without getting on a SSRI regimen? (As in you just have a benzo regimen.)

I ask this because SSRIs have been shown to have very negative side effects and even fail to work at all. On the other hand, I have a friend who has an anxiety disorder and receives only Klonopin to take twice a day. He gave me some, and it works perfectly.

Basically.. do most doctors do the SSRI thing, or can you request a long lasting benzodiazepine (Klonopin) regimen. I'm going to the doctor soon, and I think if he puts me on an SSRI regimen I'm going to just deny it... I know for a fact Klonopin works and has no major side effects, so I believe I should just get this drug. I want to avoid SSRIs at all costs.

If you are on any reigmen for anxiety, please post your treatments and thoughts about the drugs used in your regimens. Thanks.

Treatment = exercise .... no joke.

I've had panic attacks and my doctor gave me Alzoprom (Xanax) and I didn't like it long term. I trying Klonopin and they worked a lot better.

But I didn't want to get hooked on taking pills all the time. So I started a serious exercise routine. Now I jog 3-5 miles 3 times a week. I bike when I can and hit the gym for some basic working out. That has helped me more than anything.

DO NOT TAKE XANAX FOR MORE THAN 2 WEEKS

you will get hooked...its way stronger than heroin

it takes you to happy land & trust me you won't ever wanna go back to dealing with anxiety again

only 5% of long term xanax patients are ever able to stop taking it

klonopin is a safe alternative

stay away yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Stay away from all those drugs, they are poison and they will fuck your brain up, and I mean that literally. Adam is right, get yourself into an exercise program and your anxiety will magically disappear, along with any stress or sleeplessness that you may suffer.

Anxiety and panic attacks can be treated with or without drugs. An effective cognitive behavioural therapy will give you all the tools to deal with it, but it is not magic: you will have to fight it and work to achieve results.
Drugs are effective in the short term, but it is proved they generate addiction and in a lot of cases they have no effect after some years.
A book I recomment is Goodbye Anxiety by David Burns.
nik

Why would I stay away? I have heard negative things about Xanax, which I have never taken longterm, but if it helps me why would I want to avoid it?

I mean, I don't have anxiety as where I get pissed off and I need to take a Xanax/Klonopin to relax; I have anxiety where it seems as though I am not myself, but a different person and reality is not real - sort of a psychotic break.

If Xanax or Klonopin fix this and make me feel normal again, why would I avoid it? I have never tried Xanax longterm, so maybe it does make you feel like a zombie or something after continuous use; which is why you suggest avoiding it, but my friend gave me an entire bottle of Klonopin and it didn't zombify me or have any negative side effects; it just made me feel completely normal.

If taking two pills a day makes me feel like normal; I don't see a problem with being "addicted" to normalcy.

Just to inform you of some of my problems... I think really weird shit, I wouldn't even call it anxiety, I'd call it crazy.

1:For example, I get very anxious when going to the bathroom, probably because I feel trapped (I don't have claustrophobia, I just don't like going to the bathroom or taking showers/baths [but I do obviously].)

2: I don't like looking in mirrors, it completely freaks me out and can initiate a panic attack and derealization/depersonalization episode.

3: Even when being intimate, I sometimes get thoughts such as "What am I doing?" and go into the realm of crazyness, although it doesn't make me stop, it is just something fucked up to think about...

4: I really hate being alone, so I guess I have some sort of monophobia.

Plus there are a ton of other little things... I'm not completely crazy, as it doesn't it have any major impact on my life's work; it just fucks with my mind really bad and it sucks being like this, so I think if being addicted to a drug will stop these thoughts; why not?

Yes, I sound like a lunatic, but it is all inside of my mind and you would never tell if you talked to me or met me in person. :)

Xanax is very addictive - it will do nothing to teach you how to cope or understand the psychological side of your problem and DON'T believe any lazy doctor or shrink who will tell you all your problems are biochemical - that issue medically is FAR from proven but it's a copout for many people.

Xanax is great for very short term use - a plane trip, death of somebody close to you, a bad panic episode. but long term use you'll get hooked on it very fast and getting off it is hard - quit cold turkey or forget your meds for a day and you could end up in an emergency room. And it's very common when you're done with long term use of Xanax or some of the other anti-anxiety meds that you will get hit by 'rebound anxiety' which can be worse - leading to a vicious circle many people never work out of really.

I'm not saying that you're going to listen to anyone here but... Lol@ at anyone taking medical advice from people on a message board over a doctor.

Lol @ at anyone taking SSRI advice from a doctor.
Doctors don't know what the long term effects are from any of the SSRI meds yet they still dispense them like candy. Whatever you decide, just make sure you do your own research. Withdrawal from these types of meds is very difficult.
Good luck

Yeah doctors are fucking dumb. Stupid ass doctors. They should all be fired.

Why is taking medication a "cop-out" when you don't know where the problem originates? I can't think of a single reason for me to be having the thought processes I am having, so if a medication with hardly any side-effects fixes it, why not take it?

There is no reason to blame us for who we are; we don't hate you because you think you are better and "understand?" the human brain. The fact is; there could really be a chemical imbalance, because I live a reasonably normal life with very limited drama.

Maybe if you researched this as much as I did and experienced what I experience; who's suppose that you would go for help? I know I am going, because I already learned, enough to know.

The original post was to verify if I can get on a benzo regimen or if most doctors do benzo first, then SSRI. People have this thing called experience; I wanted to see if people are on purely benzo regimens or mostly SSRI.

I know this isn't a medical board obviously, but people do have experience.

How about not being a lazy fuck and fix the problem instaid of mask it with drugs?

and you don't even want to investigate where the problems *might* originate? medication can help if used the right way but in the majority of cases it's a band-aid and one that won't last.

so you have all these weird symptoms and thought processes and you told them to who - a family physician? a psychiatrist? psychologist?

you have multiple problems - you don't like looking into a mirror - that is probably 'body dysmorphia' - you get feelings of despersonalation and panic when you're in the bathroom or having sex - you have major problems. and you're right we are very ignorant of how the human brain works but for the drug companies and the doctors for whom it is easier to just write out a prescription for Xanax and an anti-depressant it's in their interest to just tell somebody like you that you have a 'chemical imbalance' and all you need is a little pill that will fix that imbalance. It's easy. For some that works, for most it doesn't.

Psychotherapy has gone out of style, because it is a long drawn out process, expensive and alot of times it never works really.

One thing I would bet a huge amount of money on is that you are normal - I will bet that these issues or similar ones have been with you since you were a child.

All I'm saying is there are many points of view regarding what you have and if I were you I'd make sure you were seeing somebody who specializes in it and not just your garden variety doctor or psychiatrist. It's usually best to go to a doctor affiliated with a university hospital, they are the ones who are on top of things.

How do you fix a problem that doesn't exist, only within your mind. Do I want to think like a nut, no. Do I have the choice to not think like a nut, no? Do I have a solution to stop thinking like a nut, no.

It isn't lazy, it is just something unexplainable that goes on in my mind. You probably have to experience it to understand it.. so I don' think I'll get far with a reply to you about my situation.

Basically, it is unknown why I think like this, so I can't really "fix the problem", and it isn't "masking" it if there is a real chemical problem to begin with; I mean, people that use Accutane are "masking" their acne problem, because it can't be "fixed". Accutane stops, acne comes back, because acne is a disease. It can be quite possible that I have a chemical imbalance (like a disease) that benzodiazepines "fix" by "masking" it as you would say. Masking it isn't the word, especially if it "Fixes" the mental illness just by popping a pill and not even getting any negative side effects with certain drugs (Klonopin).

Remember, all illnesses are outside of the body; there are mental illnesses. Schizophrenia for example, you can be a schizophrenic, or you can take a drug to "fix/mask" the symptoms and live a normal life. There isn't a "NATURAL" treatment that is going to cure it, but if drugs do the trick, why not?

I just can't believe you have the nerve to call me a lazy fuck, when I don't even know what the fuck is causing it.

Learn how to change the way you think and you will be able to change the way you feel. I was on SSRI´s and benzos for 12 years and it just didn´t solve the problem. Go for CBT. I have been fine for over a year, no meds, no bullshit. It is not easy though.

Maybe... never really reseached it, but my current thought processes are like my dogma. If I change that, then that could possibly lead to the total collapse of my ego or something stupid... like who I once was is now gone, and I'll realize that in the back of my mind and like... lose it or something. :Oh crap

Just get out, run 5 miles.

Stop consuming products that include nutrasweet or aspertame. This goverment sanctioned poison is making its way throughout our food supply. Think I'm kidding? Try to find a chewing gum that does not incluse this mind altering chemical. As the spread of this poison continues to grow, so do the levels of anxiety, depression, and many other disorders. Aspertame was created by the drug companies, and they now have a huge market of anti-depressant drugs to sell you, to combat the very symptoms they've created, and continue to spread in our foods and drinks. It has now been PROVEN that aspertame/nutrasweet is actually ADDICTIVE!

add 'obsessive compulsive disorder' to the diagnosis - to be honest what you really are is severely neurotic.

No way, changing the ¨sickening¨ patterns in your thoughts will just help you from getting weird symtoms as PA, derealization, etc. It does not change your personality. On the other hand, SSRI´s and benzos will affect and weaken your personality, you won´t be ablr to realize it, and if you ever get off those meds, you will realize you missed years of your life.

Find a good professional, learn about your choices, all the pros and cons, and then get yourself fixed.

I have 3 friends who have been destroyed an another in the making

klonopin, 2mg at night before bed. the 30 hour half life will keep u under control for the day.
duke

Actually there is some truth to that. I did the same, and that helped. I also started taking my weekends off from work for the most part, and actually forced myself to stop working all the time. Now I do not get them anymore whether awake, or stop breathing shit at night. It's lovely.

Don't believe the hype. I've taken Xanex as needed for a few years now. Even going long stints w/o it. While dosage could play a factor (mine was .025) this 'hooked' bullshit is just one of those weak minded who thinks they are addicted. Truth be told, they would get addicted to a placibo. :disgust

Also cut down your caffine. It sounds difficult. I thought I never would be able to do that. But I switched off the to flavored bottled water, and have cut caffine intake by more than half. That also helped. As did a better diet.

True.

I agree with you on the point that you need to find out what's causing it. Also simple changes (caffine, excercise, etc) will help deal with a lot of it.

As for all this ER stuff people are throwing out. I would like to see where real people have had ANY of this stuff. A lot of the shit with anxiety is in your diet, and you head. You have to deal with it at some point without the magic pills.

:2 cents:

I was given Betalol, Lorazepam, and Fluoxetine from a doc here in Bangkok, told me how to take them and when................but never explained which was for what, or what side affects may take place

i took the Betalol a couple times when i felt an "attack" coming on.........but never took the others, i do NOT want to get hooked on anything :helpme

since then i have been jogging every other day, and feeling a little better, but sometimes the attacks still hover over my head, like if they (the anxiety bugs) are laughing at the fact that they still have control over me

Actually, you're one of the most ignorant people I have ever met in my entire internet life.

I am not one of those "idiots" that run around pretending I have problems and just go running up one day to the doctors to "fix" it up and make it all okay again with unknown pills. I have studied mental disorders (extensively, I am very autodidatic); I don't take a doctor's word as gospel, and when I do goto the doctors on Monday I am taking pages of documentation on the drugs that he may prescribe me, to make sure I don't get stuck with a dangerous SSRI. (I will reject any SSRI regimen.)

Also, you mention psychotherapy - For me, I personally believe that wouldn't do anything. I just think differently, and I'm not even sure why - I just had a panic attack one day six years ago and it has gotten progressively worse. This isn't some kind of.. lame nonsense excuse "pity me I have problems"; I really do have some kind of thinking disorder that makes me not feel "normal".

Also, I don't have body dysmorphic disorder; I just don't like looking into mirrors because of the original problem I have with anxiety or whatever.

Also, these issues haven't been with me since I was a child; the first panic attack I had was in 2001 (I've had this problem 6 years; no catalyst), and I was not a child at that time. It is hard to explain, but the shit just hit me and it never went away. It is just a feeling of constant unnormalness, I guess you have to feel it to buy into the whole "chemical imbalance" thing, but I think that is what it is - without listening to doctors.

If you have ever had a really bad depersonalized LSD/Shroom trip; that can barely almost explain one of my panic attacks. (But the panic attack is like 1000x worse.)

Anyway, I guess you're one of those guys who think people are bitches and have problems that they can't deal with so they run to Xanax. Me, I have no problems; I just have a thinking problem caused by no outside catalyst. I am geniunly fucked up for some unknown reason. If I knew why I thought like this, I would obviously stop thinking like this, but it is just "there", I have no choice. Running isn't going to help it, sex isn't going to help it, drinking isn't going to help it, Benadryl won't help it, exercise isn't going to help it - but Klonopin for some reason does really work and somehow balances me to feel normal. I do not know why, I can't say why; it just does.

I'm just pissed you think I'm this uneducated idiot that will take any pill handed to him. When I go to the doctor's office I will probably be more informed about this than him. I have respect for doctors, but I also study things myself because I feel it is my responsibility to understand everything about myself.

It is just... annoying that you come off as this pompous know it all who thinks people have 'fake' problems.

Now, this was all typed meaning to inform and not in anger at all; I don't personally attack people in real life or on forums. I was just bothered by the fact that you think I am part of this commercialized pill nation; I actually agree with you that too many people are on pills for no reason, AND I think medication commercials on television should be banned. I doubt you care what I have to say, but everything in this post was not spoken from anger.

try some exercise too, sitting at your computer for 20 hours a day can really turn your body and mind into a sack of potatoes.I exercise now everyday and feel better you might find you don't need those medications
poker gambling terms

klonopin, or valum i would say.. xanax is far more powerful.. it all depends how often you need to dose.. i have been perscribed klonopin for over a year now, 4 mg a day.. 2 in the am 2 at nite..

I won't argue that exercise may help, but my problem is a lot deeper than just sitting in front of a computer for 20 hours (which I don't). I'm not a fitness nut, but I don't just sit around.

xanax and heroin are two way different things idiot, they arn't even in the same drug class

I hope the doctor prescribes Klonopin (Clonazepam) because I know it works. I also know that Klonopin is a fast acting long lasting benzodiazepine, unlike Xanax which is a fasting acting short duration one (which might be why people get addicted).

The people bashing Clonazepam on here probably don't realize a .25mg dose lasts like 6 hours and doesn't really have any dangerous side effects. Also, people seem to think people on drugs means you're living a "fake" life, when in fact if you weren't on the drug your life would probably a lot worse.

do whatever works for ya. fuck these people that say you're going to become some addict. exercise and proper usage of medication helps lots of people.

I took meds for several years, I wasn´t an addict, but it wasn´t very pleasant coming off them. I don´t think traditional psychotherapy actually helps with this. A good therapist working with cognitive behavioural is in my experience the way to go. It takes some practice and in the meantime you can use the occasional sublingual clonazepam if you get a strong PA. Feeling un real or depersonalized is another symtom of anxiety disorders. If you read all the research and placebo tests, etc, you will see that CBT is as effective ( if not more ) as SSRI + benzo regimes. Again, if any of you really is in trouble with this, I strongly suggest any of the books by David Burns ( and I am not posting any amazon ref code here hehehe )

Stop worrying about everything. I know many of us can get into this paranoia headspace but really, why do you feel you are more inferior than others? i went through some anxiety problems last year and was percribed ativan but refused to take them. I knew i could change things on my own if i put my mind to it. And thats what i did. i stopped smoking weed so much and started excersizing, thinking positive and im not perfect bu things are better.

Also want to add that it probably won't work for everyone, some people are worse off and do need some meds for at least a time being but i think it just creates a dependancy where you feel you will always have attacks if you're not taking the drugs. Anyhow, im pretty anti-medication unless totally necessary.

I never said I worry about everything; I said I have some sort of anxiety disorder. Also, I don't feel inferior to others; I don't know if that was directed toward me.

Also, Ativan is almost the same as Klonopin, except Ativan lasts like 1 hour and Klonopin lasts around 6 hours, but that is besides the point.

You said you started exercising and that helped, which is good. You also said you think positive. Well, I am not a fitness nut, and I don't think negative, yet I still always have that anxiety in the back of my head.

Exercise may help, but I am not much interested in exercise, plus everyone who doesn't exercise do not have an anxiety problem, so exercise isn't a cure.

I just think you misunderstand my anxiety. There are many different types, my anxiety would best be described as the "I'm going insane" anxiety, and depersonalization anxiety. I don't know why it started it, but I do know Klonopin fixes it.

Also, you said you stopped smoking weed - that might have cured you, because weed causes anxiety. I don't know though; I'm just glad you got over it and are living a normal life. Props to you. :)

I am personally really sick of the whole 'chemical imbalance' bullshit. Yes there is a chemical imbalance, but I seriously doubt that is the cause of your psychological problems, rather I think it is an effect.

I agree with most here. Pills generally are a bandaid approach and you will never truly get 'cured'. I suggest trying some lifestyle changes like exercise (it has profound positive effects for the mind), or seeing a psychiatrist to try and get at the root of the issue.

But if all else fails then use your family physician as a last resort.