Posted by med_empowered on August 14, 2005, at 16:13:07
In reply to Re: Who here takes Xanax?, posted by Phillipa on August 14, 2005, at 12:42:33
Hey Phillipa! I'm sorry you're having a rough time lately; it happens to us all, so please don't give up hope. :-) I would have babble mailed you, but its not working on my computer so i thought i'd post here. Dosing benzos is kind of tricky...when valium first came out, the standard dosing regimine was 10mgs, 3-4 times daily (this is for anxiety..I don't know they dosed out for other disorders). The 4X daily was designed to help with anxiety and sleep, so it was probably the most popular set up. With all the benzo backlash, the big problem is that docs either don't prescribe benzos (they buy all that valley of the dolls crap about valium ruining lives, blah blah blah...honestly, they should know better) OR they underprescribe, which may be worse (not only do you get inadequate anxiety relief, you also have to deal with withdrawal when you go off.) Unless you have other problems--severe depression or a respiratory problem like emphysema-- or you take other sedating medications, especially stuff like tricyclic antidepressant or some antipsychotics,or you're an alcoholic, there's probably not a really good reason *not* to increase your dose of valium or RX a higher dose of a more potent benzodiazepene. When Librium, the first benzo, came out, it was known as "the drug that tames tigers"; they really did give it to agitated tigers at a zoo (I think San Diego zoo). You certainly wouldn't want to be "tamed," but I'm sure some relief would be *much* appreciated. Some studies I've seen have used massive benzodiazpene doses--several hundred mgs/Librium, for instance--in those with severe anxiety...there are also some studies using very high-dose diazepam (400mgs+) for severe problems such as Schizophrenia, with some pretty good results. So...benzos have a reall wide "therapeutic index"...unless you have other problems/conditions, toxicity really isnt an issue, and a good doctor would monitor for stuff like impaired cognition/drug-induced depression **anytime** a benzo is prescribed, so upping your benzo a bit shouldn't be too much of a problem...if it is, the problem is your doc, not you. By the way...some docs RX antipsychotics to help with anxiety (back in the day, they used Stelazine; now the atypicals are more popular). Based on my own experience, I'd seriously recommend **against** doing this, although adding a mood-stabilizer (keppra, lamictal, trileptal would be my top picks) might offer some benefit. Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:541091
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050811/msgs/541605.html