Posted by bubblegumchewer on July 28, 2002, at 12:44:07
I have a history since age 11 of panic attacks that have been intermittent but sometimes bad enough to cause disruption of my life. Every pdoc I've seen (there have been half a dozen) gives a dx of depression although I've never felt "down" or "sad." I've spent extensive time on several SSRIs and I was pretty wired on them but felt fine; no PAs (panic attacks) for months but maybe some breakthrough PAs before I went off them and then I was fine again. I've stopped them (SSRIs) and had no ill effects from stopping, and then maybe months or years later more PAs cropped up. Extremely rare use of small doses of benzos have thwarted my PAs in a pinch and allowed me sleep and then go back to "normal" the next day.
A year ago I stupidly took a layperson's advice to take klonopin 3x per day instead of Paxil. (My doctor agreed to give it a fair trial.) After four months on a low dose I had unrelenting PAs that only got worse the more klonopin I took. Soon I was nonfunctional and almost dead from inability to eat, drink or sleep. I landed in Johns Hopkins hospital where they tried me on my old friend zoloft which only made me worse, so they tried nortriptyline and I've been on it since. They withdrew the klonopin comfortably (while the nortrip kicked in) over three weeks and I got my life back again.
So for a year it's been nortriptyline every night, a great night's sleep (or shall I say a great night's coma) every night, and a nice sex life as the nortrip causes little or no SSRI-like sex-buzz-kill. I feel like my old fiesty self; just great with no PAs.
Only problem: My bowels simply do not work anymore. I have to skip the nortrip once a week just to go to the bathroom the next day. I know it can't be healthy to build up crap in the system for a week and a half No prune juice or other remedies help. Other problem: I am pregnant, but do not concern yourself with that aspect; my doc and I will assess the safety of any medicine I consider taking. But because of the pregnancy it is advised to get off the nortriptyline because it may cause delivery problems. Plus I like to go to the bathroom more than once a week so I want to go off the nortrip.
What would anyone suggest for a replacement medication, should I need one? Of course I hope to need NO medication. But the doc wants me to be ready to take small doses of klonopin if necessary, and I balk at that idea since the klonopin merry-go-round landed me in the hospital in the worst shape I have EVER been in. He also mentioned celexa. I am nervous about start-up anxiety from SSRIs plus I am just a little leery of SSRIs even though I've taken them before, but maybe I'd try celexa if I had to. I will understand that I'll be a sexual eunuch but that is better than constant panic-attack-hell.
SO, if I really do have depression, it seems to be the anxious type or at least dominated by panic attack symptoms. I welcome any input or recommendations. Thank you so much for reading my entire psychiatric history.
poster:bubblegumchewer
thread:114028
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020725/msgs/114028.html