Posted by brynb on November 16, 2012, at 1:11:32
In reply to Re: Help, Please :(, posted by ChicagoKat on November 14, 2012, at 17:01:57
Hi Kat-
So sorry you're having such a rough time. It seems you're doing a bit better though, no?
I've been in a bad place for the past month but over the last 2 weeks I've done a complete 180. Several factors take credit for this, but my pdoc and I did a few med changes that made a world of a difference.
I take 300 mg of lithium and 20 mg of Lexapro. Any dose lower or higher on either med completely screws me up (we previously had gone up on lithium to just 450 and I was so out of whack-going back down to 300 was a major positive game changer).
But, I was still in a really bad place. I know we've discussed our histories with benzos and not being allow to use them regularly, but my pdoc (who is also an addiction specialist) put me on Librium as my anxiety has been terrible and nothing (and I've tried every out-of-the-box, non-benzo med out there) works. He chose Librium for a few reasons, some of which I don't understand, but mainly because it's the only benzo I hadn't tried before so I didn't have any "association" with it.
Now, even though it's less potent than the more popular, newer benzos, it's been AMAZING. It feels cleaner and lighter. I take 25 mg twice a day and I'm so grateful my pdoc went this route.
He also added Suboxone to address my relentless depression (it's an opioid maintenance therapy typically used to help people addicted to opiates get off of them). We don't plan on using it long-term, but just as a temporary treatment until things are under control.
This new med combo/approach is rather unconventional, especially for an addiction guy, but I'm open with him and he's been monitoring me closely, and within two days, I was out of the hole! It's not the end all be all, but it's certainly an amazing solution for now.
Finally, I get the family thing; when I have obligations with mine, it often triggers really bad episodes.
I thought I'd share my experience and recent "wonder cocktail" if it helps you. Hang in there and good luck. It WILL get better :).
-bryn
poster:brynb
thread:1031099
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20121113/msgs/1031410.html