Posted by alan on August 22, 2002, at 15:43:16
In reply to Re: To...Addiction vs. Medical dependence » alan, posted by Squiggles on August 21, 2002, at 8:53:18
Should the Xanax have been increased
> in dose over time? (the Rivotril was once); why
> did i have panic attacks after taking it for some
> time and yet cease to have them when i weaned off?
> If it were increased, for how much longer would it have
> to be increased in the lifetime of a person?
>
-----------------------------------------------Are you sure of the diagnosis? I get the sense that parts of it remains somewhat uncertain. Or at the very least that the reasons for your panic are unclear (Synthroid). Did you adjust any other medications while, or after tapering off of xanax?
There is too much vague about what you are saying for one to come to the conclusion that xanax was causing panic. Interaction with the Revotril? Fluctuating levels of anxiety that may have led to panic when needing to be dosed higher to treat the symptoms (dosages do need to fluctuate to trace fluctuating anxiety/panic levels and frequency)?
What level of xanax were you taking? What was considered too high - high enough for you and your doctors to conclude that the anxiolytic effect was not lasting long enough for it to appear that you needed to ramp the dosage down? "Interdose withdrawl" is just shorthand for needing to increase the frequency of dosing and therefore the overall dose.
Sure there are rare cases of dosages escallating way above the top doses in the PDR. But to an experienced physician that knows their medicines, not just to an addictionologist that sees everything through that prism only, increasing a dosage is not the end of the world. It may make them inqisitive as to why the dose is increasing but there are so many other factors to consider.
I too have distrust for many physicians now after having been through 3 docs that only wanted to restrict my bzd dosage (or take it away altogether for no reason) while polypharmacing me to death with AD's, neuroleptics, mood stabilisers, in every and all combinations. It just about fried my brain. All I needed was to have had a doctor that offered bzds on an equal footing with the rest of all of the plethora of other psycotropics rammed down my gullet and 6 or so years wouldn't have been wasted of my life.
And all for the reason of being afraid of the bzd.
Now that's medical negligence.Alan
poster:alan
thread:116708
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020821/msgs/117412.html