I hate medication!

Celestine

New member
Hi everyone. I am curious about peoples experiences with Xanax. Here is my problem. When I feel off, I mean inside my body, I freak out. If there is a side effect to be had, I have it because I focus on it. It makes me worry. After 2 panic attacks the psychiatrist, I am from a small town so I don't have much choice in the who, put me on Effexor. That lasted about 3 days because I felt so horrible. It made me so sick and I didn't want to get out of bed. I tried it twice and quit both times. After the Effexor failure they put me on Xanax. I was on .5 three times a day and now I am on 1mg 3 times a day. I was on 4 mg for about a week and a half and it dazed me right out and made me completely non-functional. The 3 seemed to be working great, and I went back to working full time. It seemed cool until I noticed I was staggering around a bit again like I did in the beggining and my head is cloudy. I question my ability to drive sometimes because I feel so out of it. Plus, even though I have been told by my psych that she will not let me become addicted, I am so scared that I will have terrible withdrawls. I have a 4 year old and work full time and I have so much to do I can't afford to be sick and dizzy all the time and it does not work with my job to feel that way. Anyone been on Xanax and successfully withdrawn without being totally screwed up? I wish they had never put me on anything. I have some frienRAB with the same problems and they did it naturally. I feel like I feel worse thanks to the Xanax sometimes. Everyone keeps telling me I have to trust the doctor but I am so sick of the ups and downs and weird feelings all over my body. I am sick of not feeling like myself. It also sucks because I can't get in to see the psych for probably at least 2 weeks! Grrrr!
 
The trick to starting an antidepressant (like effexor or zoloft or any of the others) is to "start low, go slow" - that is, dont take the full dose on the first day. Taking half the normal dose for a week (in the case of effexor that would be 37.5mg) then going up to 75mg, then after a few more weeks, upto 150mg if needed, reduces the side effects significantly.

Same with Zoloft, start on 25mg for a week, then up it to 50mg etc.

If you are worried about dependence on Xanax, it might be worth asking your doctor if you can try Zoloft, starting at a very low dose (say 12.5mg per day for a week, then 25mg per day for a week, then 50mg per day) and keep the Xanax for bad days

Re the Xanax, I am quite a big guy (6'4 and 110kg) and 1mg three times a day makes even me feel a bit doped, you might d better on half a tablet three times a day, enough to control your anxiety, but not enough to make you a zorabie. You will get used to the groginess given time.

Whatever you and your doctor decide, very best of luck
 
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