Posted by sukarno on July 3, 2010, at 17:11:34
In reply to Re: Switch to Xanax; depression vanishes; QOL up, posted by bleauberry on July 3, 2010, at 5:00:02
Tolerance to the intoxicating effects desired by drug seekers develops quite readily with nearly all psychotropic medications requiring ever escalating doses to keep achieving a state of intoxication or "deep relaxation" (sedation).
People often confuse this sedation or subjective sense of intoxication with anxiolysis and mistakenly believe they must feel heavily sedated in order to be free of anxiety (or else the drug must have stopped working).
Tolerance to the sedative effect (which causes a "buzz" in some people or sense of deep relaxation) readily develops but tolerance to the anxiolytic effect does not occur.
That is, tolerance to the anti-panic effect does not occur. If it does it is very rare.
Nearly all drug abusers find that Xanax "does nothing" after a few days of use at the same dosage. It will keep blocking panic attacks and anxiety though, although it won't make them feel "high" or deeply relaxed.
A ten year study also proved this. One could see Xanax as they see pain medication. Taken at the same doses for the long term, pain is kept at bay, although there is no euphoria/"buzz" or relaxation anymore at those doses.
Highly addictive stimulant drugs in Schedule II such as methylphenidate (Ritalin) or amphetamine work to help alleviate ADD/ADHD even in the long term at the same doses.
I'm not sure why tolerance to the anxiolytic effect does not develop, but that is a good thing for those with panic disorder. They won't need to keep increasing the dose to reap the benefits.
The sad thing is the unscientific view taken in the UK among physicians who think that any benefit obtained from long term benzodiazepine therapy is merely psychological (i.e. a placebo effect), but that is not true.
I feel this is another benefit of Xanax: the ability to feel little or no sedation with long term use and still have no panic attacks or anxiety. :-)
alprazolam (Xanax) 1mg TID
black tea: 3-4 cups/day
GNC Ultra Mega Gold vitamin supplement, BIDDx: panic disorder, MDD (unipolar, melancholia), perfectionist, probable PTSD
poster:sukarno
thread:952889
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100628/msgs/953163.html