Posted by Erik on November 5, 1998, at 0:33:33
In reply to Re: mania or anxiety? Or what???, posted by Lisa on November 4, 1998, at 3:41:46
> Let me see if I can help here since I've gone through a very similar ordeal for most of my life.
Thank you, Lisa, for your answer. If you only knew how much it means to me that other people are going through similiar things! Even though I already knew of course that many people have mental illnesses, I was really bothered by being med-intolerant. (really more like hyper-sensitive). Doctors only rarely are willing to try doses smaller than what is typically prescribed. They must assume that all anxiety concerning medication is simply a symptom of the disease and will go away when the medicine takes effect. I bought into this, tolerating horrible side effects from what are typically fairly benign medicines (SSRI's and benzodiazapams) until I could take them no more. Klonopin landed me in the hospital with a racing heart (150BPM) for TWO days! I felt terrible. It was off of a single 0.5 dose. I described my symptoms in the hospital to the doctor. He told me, "oh, that symptom is not caused by the drug, and neither is such and such a symptom" -- I researched the drug databases on the web and found that yes, every problem symptom (that had suddenly erupted within hours taking the drug) was in fact on the side effect list, and they slowly went away (more or less together) over about a week. So if anyone is reading this and is having trouble with your medicines, know that it does in fact happen. I don't know if the best route is to lessen the dose, or stop the medicine. But don't be afraid to tell your doctor that something is amiss and be willing to research for yourself. If I hadn't, who knows what kind of trouble I'd be in now.
Erik
poster:Erik
thread:1050
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990501/msgs/1083.html