Posted by Mr Cushing on December 3, 2002, at 12:54:44
In reply to Re: Ahh... last try- experimemtal drug for anxiety, posted by utopizen on December 3, 2002, at 11:36:55
If it's just the anxiety that you need to get rid of, Depakote will most definitely work. I know that it's worked well with me. But then again, it's put a LOT of weight onto me. I gained 10lbs over the last 5 weeks so now I'm going to be heading to my MD tomorrow to make sure that it's actually the Depakote and nothing else that is making me blow up. If nothing else is wrong, I'm going to be trying out another drug so that I don't have to start wearing elastic pants...I think whether or not a benzo alone will work for your anxiety depends on how severe your anxiety is. I'm Bi-Polar 1 and for me, when I feel myself starting to cycle either way, a small dose of a benzo helps stop the cycling and puts me back on a "normal" level. However, it doesn't stop the cycling. It will never be able to truly hold me stable. It's like taking an aspirin for a headache. It will get rid of the symptoms for the time being, but they'll be back, they'll probably be stronger, and I'll probably need to increase my benzo dosage just to get the same effects. I think that's where the "addiction" comes into play.
But you should be able to tell how severe your anxiety problem is. If it's something that is relatively minor then Benzo's should do the trick by themselves. If it's something severe, like being Bi-Polar, then you'll need something to stop the cycling and then use a Benzo as an emergency treatment or, like I do, to stop the racing thoughts before falling asleep.
Actually, back when I was like 18, before I really thought that there was anything wrong except for my severe insomnia, I was just using Clonazepam for my medication. At that time, I increased it from .5mg at night to 1mg at night to 1.5mg at night to 2mg at night to 2.5mg at night, at which point I'm like, Sh!t, and quit using them all together. I mean, popping 6 pills just to get to sleep and only sleeping with that "maybe" 3-4 hours isn't too great.
Since I started using something to try and control my cycling though, I haven't had the need to increase my benzo dosage and only on my worst days do I even go up to 1.5mg. That's usually when I'm adjusting the dosage of my other medication though.
poster:Mr Cushing
thread:130363
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021203/msgs/130403.html