Posted by bluedog on December 6, 2002, at 3:23:10
In reply to Re: Regarding Benzophobia - PS., posted by Alan on December 5, 2002, at 16:48:58
> Doctors have little or no knowledge about how to use the BDZs, even as they explore a new psychiatric drug every month that claims to treat anxiety diorders/panic.
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> It took me several years on my own (and with guidance from a doc that knows them as well as anyone) to really learn how to work with my bzds, and I am still learning more. It is completely unrealistic to expect that a busy family doctor is going to get intimate with a new psychotropic a month -- with many of them being used for panic disorder.
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> There is no real scientific literature on drugs as it is almost always biased by financial interests. This was always the case, but doctors did make up their own minds after a while and a sort of collective wisdom emerged...as is now being seen with the bzds and the bias against them. They've been the whipping boy of the competeing AD's for over 12 years now, the AD promotions starting just in time as the backlash of overprescribing bzds was finally easing and the drug was being understood for what it could do for many.
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> Practicing proper medicine it seems seeks to achieve the standard of care in our communities as the baseline. So there is a tendency towards a herd mentality. In depth understanding seems to have given way to a more shallow familiarity with trends. I just seem to keep digging deeper into just what bzds will and won't do and how best to use them in my individual case.
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>Hi Alan
Thankyou for your views on this topic. I'm just wondering whether you could share some of your experience as how to properly work with the benzo's? I would really appreciate this.
What Benzo's have you taken during the years?
I am currently on Diazepam for social anxiety? I am in the experimental stage as to how to get this drug to work best for me.
I currently take 2.5mg Diazepam at night and another 2.5mg in the morning.
Is this enough to treat my social anxiety?
Would 5mg at night and 5mg in the morning be a better combination?
Or perhaps 5mg at night, 2.5mg in the morning and 2.5mg in the afternoon?
Is it best to take it with food or better to take it on an empty stomach between meals?I definitely found the 1st couple of weeks of taking Diazepam the hardest and I had to exercise discipline not to take more because it initially gave me a bit of euphoria but fortunately that has settled down and now and this so called addictive craving effect has passed and I now consider the drug as helpful and as healing for my condition as my generic Prozac at 20mg per day and I no longer give it a second thought. I find the Diazepam and the Prozac very complimentary as the Prozac is activating whilst the Diazepam reduces my anxiety giving my mind sufficient rest to start the healing process. This includes giving me restful and healing sleep! I do NOT believe that the Diazepam interferes with my natural sleep cycle because I am still dreaming (and recalling my dreams) and I am waking up refreshed and without any drowsiness! In fact since starting the Diazepam I am actually MORE alert during the day with HEAPS more stamina and concentration!
I noticed that Benzo's are also now used to treat chronic fatigue syndrome which as I mentioned above I am also suffering from. See the attached link as an example http://www.immunesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm/id/3154/searchtext/klonopin/
I fully agree with you that proper treatment means getting the right diagnosis and then the doctors practicing responsible medicine by using the right medications for the right illnesses. In other words it boils down to professional and competent medical management which unfortunately is in rather short supply in western society.
Looking forward to your response to my questions
regards
bluedog
poster:bluedog
thread:130480
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021203/msgs/130729.html