Posted by tankgirl on September 22, 2004, at 21:08:46
In reply to Re: MY Effexor experience and a Xanax XR question, posted by worrier on August 5, 2003, at 21:02:14
This is my first post, but I've been reading the forums for a bit...
My PAD / agoraphobia reminds me of worrier so much that I had to register and at least post a little something about my Xanax XR experience.
I've tried effexor, prozac, and a million other Antidepressants that I was told would help me with this severe anxiety.. I've even tried an antipsychotic, but the name of that one escapes me.. anyways, the list could go on forever..
My doctor decided that I needed to at least see what it was like to live WITHOUT panic attacks, so that maybe the suicidal feelings i used to experience would subside. It sounded great! And, it lead to the first pharm that ever worked for me: xanax.
I dont remember how low of a dose i started at, but the dose that let me see the light of day without panic was 3 peach pills of .5 mg of xanax every 3 hours. yes, every 3 hours got very annoying, as I had to set my cellphone to go off every 3 hours to remind me..
So, as soon as Xanax XR hit the market, my doctor thought of me first. he usually prescribed xanax as an every-four-hours thing but for some reason it wore off faster than me (i dont understand, my metabolism isnt high, I weigh about 170lbs) hence I took it every 3 hours..
So I got my dosage changed to 3mg of Xanax XR twice a day.
Here's my point, for me, someone without a high metabolism (that I know of?) the XR form of xanax did NOT last 12 hours as my doctor said it would for me. He later told me that he had heard the same thing from other patients. I suppose it just depends on the person?
Either way, I got off of the XR formula after 3 or 4 months, and started taking 1mg of regular xanax 6 times a day, and it works MUCH better. yes, maybe it is a clutch to be reaching for a bottle of pills every 3-4 hours, but its worth it for some of us that know what it's like to live in fear for no apparent reason, and to KNOW that the fear is completely irrational and uncontrollable, although it feels rational at the time. I need to feel like the medication is under MY control, and in my experience, although the XR idea sounded GREAT, a straight dose that would keep me steady for 12 hours.. like most things that sound too good to be true, it was.
I hope my experience helps someone! feel free to post back at me..
tankgirl
poster:tankgirl
thread:9439
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040921/msgs/393916.html