Posted by Joe Schmoe on April 28, 2004, at 16:23:18
In reply to Re: One more try - Klonopin and Wellbutrin » Joe Schmoe, posted by anodyne on April 28, 2004, at 12:45:47
> I know this is an old post, but I would love to hear how it was working out after 3+ years.This concerns social phobia.
Well, I tried a combination of Wellbutrin and Klonopin as well as some cognitive-behavioral therapy. The therapist was very poor and I got nothing from the CBT, maybe due to the therapist's incompetence, maybe because it has no effect in cases like mine. In any case I stopped it and continued on just the meds.
The Klonopin worked very well to reduce my anxiety, I have been on 2 mg/day for several years now, after 1.5 mg/day failed to provide enough relief. I take 1 mg in the morning and one in the evening. Lately my anxiety has been increasing, I suspect I have developed a tolerance to the Klonopin. My pdoc is incredulous that I can feel anxious on 2 mg of Klonopin a day, but I do.
Lately I have gotten prescriptions for 80 mg 1/day of Inderal LA to keep the physical anxiety symptoms under control on bad days, but my pdoc says I can develop a tolerance for it with a rebound effect (high blood pressure) if I stop using it, so I have been warned not to use it too often. I have never heard this about Inderal before - I have used it many times over the years like candy and no doctor ever said I could suffer a withdrawal if I discontinued it. Indeed I always considered it fairly harmless, but I am restricting my use of it to no more than once or twice a week.
When I went on Wellbutrin SR, 300 mg/day, my low-level constant depression began to lift, but I began experiencing pains in my chest and ribcage from muscle spasms. My pdoc then added Celexa 20 mg/day which had a rather miraculous effect of stopping these pains almost immediately. I stayed on the Celexa for quite some time but eventually (last fall) decided to go off it because I was getting depressed again and I was tired of the total lack of libido the Celexa had caused. I am single now and though lonely, felt no motivation to meet women, due to low sex drive. I tried Lexapro at one point with no difference from Celexa that I could tell.
I decided to go off the Celexa very slowly and even got the liquid form so as to taper off it gradually over a period of weeks. Despite this precaution the withdrawal was horrible and lasted about two months, with the same symptoms (brain shocks when you turn your head, etc.) people typically report from Paxil withdrawal. I missed a lot of work due to this. Finally it went away but my libido has not (seven months later) ever returned to my pre-medicine level.
I have been on and off the Wellbutrin a number of times, since it causes anxiety and does not seem to have withdrawal effects, so I tend to take it when I am depressed and stop it when I get too anxious. Due to my life circumstances I became extremely depressed recently and went back on it, and this time it seems to be helping without giving me the usual painful muscle spasms it did before, even though I am not taking Celexa anymore.
So here I am at 2 mg/day of Klonopin and 300 mg/day of Wellbutrin SR, and occasional 80 mg/day of Inderal LA. I definitely feel better at the moment than before I started any meds, but I do feel the Klonopin has lost much of its effectiveness. On the other hand I am not craving it or reaching to take extra pills so it is not like a Xanax addiction. I have been depressed and anxious lately but that is probably due more to my life circumstances (alone, no friends in this town, an uncertain career future) than to just my brain chemistry.
I suspect a higher dose of Klonopin might help with my anxiety, or perhaps going back on an SSRI, but both options seem to be temporary solutions with nasty withdrawal potential if and when I try to come off them/reduce the dosage. And I really dislike the SSRI sexual side effects. I think Celexa has permanently damaged my libido, which was always very strong before. I plan to continue with my current medicines while I try to improve my circumstances by moving to a new city and/or getting a new job. It may be that I would feel much less depressed and anxious if I simply had some job security and a girlfriend.
poster:Joe Schmoe
thread:68599
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040423/msgs/341068.html