Posted by Fred23 on March 7, 2004, at 16:00:13
Last year my GP found me to have high blood pressure (hypertension), and
put me on a beta-blocker. I'm a 47 year old male, who eats healthy, and
dislikes salt, so didn't need to be advised to keep my sodium intake low.Doing some research on hypertension found that stress and anxiety have been
found to play a role, and since I have been a "worrier" all my life,
wondered if that was a contributing factor, and hinted such to the doctor.In that same time period, a friend got prescribed Xanax that they don't
take, so I tried a few, and found that it eliminated the unproductive
anxiety I realized I had been experiencing all along. It made me feel more
"normal" than I have ever felt before.As I am also a non-practicing alcoholic, the Jan 2004 published discovery of that
genetic link for alcoholism having to do with the body's mishandling of
GABA made everything clear.That explains why I've got that "hyperexcited nervous system" and
"overactive brain circuits" that alcohol and Xanax relax so wonderfully.
I had tried herbal and nutritional methods over the years, but nothing
really helped. Now I know why. (A quote I saw from Dr. Andrew W. Saul
goes "You cannot tell someone to relax unless they have the chemistry to do
it.")(By non-practicing alcoholic, I mean that I inherited the gene that allows
me to drink without limit, and have no hangover afterword. The only nice
part is the wave of relaxation that passes over me with the first drink,
and only if done very infrequently. Since I am in a non-drinking
lifestyle, I can avoid the problems that would come from drinking. I
realized that Xanax has the same effect, but lasts all day, and doesn't
interfere with my ability to think, which is important, as I have a
mentally demanding job.)In looking at online health forums, I've seen how people on both
hypertension and anxiety forums have been prescribed both beta-blockers and
benzodiazepines, as a combination to slow down both the body and the mind.So, for the followup visit to my GP, to see how I'm doing, I'd like to ask
having Xanax be added to the beta-blocker I'm already taking.How can I present my research and experimentation in a way that doesn't
seem like drug-seeking behavior after a fad drug? That article about the
genetic mishandling of GABA in one's brain means that anxiety can have a
purely biological cause, that can't be cured by behavioral training. Some
drug abuse literature even admits that self-medicating to solve a problem
is a reason, in some cases.So far I've never told him that I had an alcoholic parent, and am aware that I do
have that "alcoholic gene," so have been careful to avoid letting it become
a problem. Would a GP understand the implications of that research about
GABA receptor genes, and that a benzodiazepine might be just what I need to
have my brain achieve their proper regulation? (My serotonin levels are
OK, so I don't need a SSRI.)I've seen the view expressed that one should never tell their doctor about
unapproved drug usage, as that just brands one as an addict seeking drugs.
Yet I've also seen advice that one should tell their doctor everything.Is a GP even authorized to prescribe a drug like Xanax, or would he have to
refer me to the mental health wing, as Xanax is generally considered a
psychiatric drug for Generalized Anxiety Disorder?My concern is that the more detailed an explanation I have, the more it may
seem like I am "up to something." Yet if I don't give enough detail, my
desire may seem more like a casual whim, that can be dismissed.### footnote listing that article's name:
Dick DM, Edenberg HJ, Xuei X, Goate A, Kuperman S, Schuckit M, Crowe R, Smith TL, Porjexa B, Begleiter H, Foroud T. Association of GABRG3 with alcohol dependence. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, vol. 28:1, pp. 2042-2047, January 2004.
poster:Fred23
thread:321684
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040304/msgs/321684.html