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Off-Topic Perhaps a weird question, but does anyone here have experience with benzodiazepines?

nystateofmind

nystateofmind

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Long story short, a family member is going through a bit of rough patch which has manifested in extreme anxiety. Some days she can’t even leave the house. She’s starting up therapy and was also prescribed an anti-depressant. I thought both of those were good things. The thing that has me a bit worried is in addition to the anti-depressant, she was prescribed Xanax.

She said the doctor basically told her to take it as needed for the anxiety as well as for any potential rough side effects from starting the anti-depressant. But she’s had the script for not even a week and already used almost the entire month long script. She says it’s really helping her but I’m afraid she’s getting hooked. I did a bit of research on these things and they seem highly addictive.

Do any of you here have experience with them? And what should I do regarding the situation, if anything? Would I be overstepping my bounds if I told her I think she should stop taking them?
 
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Bender said:
Consult a different doctor.
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I brought it up to my neighbor who is a gynecologist and he said he obviously doesn’t have a ton of expertise in that area but that in general those types of pills are not prescribed often nowadays because of high risk of dependency.
 
nystateofmind said:
Long story short, a family member is going through a bit of rough patch which has manifested in extreme anxiety. Some days she can’t even leave the house. She’s starting up therapy and was also prescribed an anti-depressant. I thought both of those were good things. The thing that has me a bit worried is in addition to the anti-depressant, she was prescribed Xanax.

She said the doctor basically told her to take it as needed for the anxiety as well as for any potential rough side effects from starting the anti-depressant. But she’s had the script for not even a week and already used almost the entire month long script. She says it’s really helping her but I’m afraid she’s getting hooked. I did a bit of research on these things and they seem highly addictive.

Do any of you here have experience with them? And what should I do regarding the situation, if anything? Would I be overstepping my bounds if I told her I think she should stop taking them? I feel like she would react very negatively to that.
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As @Bender said, get a different doctor, and she probably needs a psychiatrist, she likely has mental health issues she needs to get through.
 
What is the base anxiety medication she is taking and how much? It may take a few weeks to get the full effect but she should be feeling something by now. She needs someone to teach her the difference between stopping a full blown panic attack and just feeling good. The Xanax is for when she's freaking the **** out and needs to slow down rapidly not because she's just a little anxious. Take it easy with her, it's hard to understand a full blown panic attack unless you've had one.
 
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Xanax is **** on earth to quit. Im not joking. I would only use it for extreme anxiety and if used daily you must taper off of it extremely slow.
 
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the dosage is probably important as well. She may be running through it but was a low dose.
But I agree with the previous points.

-it’s addictive, but commonly used -does she feel like the regimen is working well for her. Discuss with her doctor on lowering to find a happy medium. She needs psychology on board as well to help her work with coping mechanisms for panic attacks.

-antidepressants take weeks to take full effect. If she is very early on, she may be able to wean her use with the BZD.

-I wouldn’t tell her to stop taking them. I would ask her what the doctor told her about the medicine. Try to have a follow-up with the doctor(telemedicine might be easier as psychiatry visits may be hard to get a lot of in person time)

-get a second opinion, but try not to have too many cooks in the kitchen.

Hope you guys work it out.

Sincerely,

-Not a psychiatrist
 
All of them, but I've been on Klonopin for a long while. Balancing depression and panic disorder (which comes out of nowhere), so also taking Prozac. Stay away from Effexor. That **** gave me brain zaps (imagine radiation poisoning from Fallout 3) and hallucinations when I forgot to take them for a day
 
nystateofmind said:
I believe Zoloft.

Not sure of the dosage but she just started so I assume it’s very low.
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I know folks who've had issues with Zoloft. If they are giving her the high dose, the first week or so will probably be at half rate. As said above, hopefully as the Zoloft takes full effect she wont feel the need for Xanax. Until that happens she may feel the need for the Xanax because panic disorder is no joke but with the right meds and time distance between attacks she should smooth out. It can take a little time and the right meds/ dose to get right. Using 'you don't want to run out of that Xanax' may be a good way to start the conversation to get her to realize she might need to slow down. I feel for her.
 
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MovingZen said:
I know folks who've had issues with Zoloft. If they are giving her the high dose, the first week or so will probably be at half rate. As said above, hopefully as the Zoloft takes full effect she wont feel the need for Xanax.
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My apologies, she’s actually on Lexapro, not Zoloft.

Any difference? Is one better than the other?
 
nystateofmind said:
My apologies, she’s actually on Lexapro, not Zoloft.

Any difference? Is one better than the other?
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That I dunno, I think they both are ssri's but it's probably up to the person taking it. I took Zoloft a long time ago and it ****ed me up, slurred my speech for a couple days and made things drastically worse. I don't think I took it more than 4 days. I've talked to several people who had similar issues and couldn't take it either. I started taking Lexapro about a month ago after stopping Celexa which I had taken for years. I felt the Lexapro in maybe two days and my entire body slowed down. My average blood pressure dropped from 155/120 to 125/80. That's how jacked up my mind had me all day long. Anxiety isn't just mental, it most definitely has physical effects. A panic attack is like the rush of being chased by a lion dumped into your body for no reason. You can be there just scratching your *** and your body will go into maximum overdrive and you may not have any mental reason for it. They can last 15 to 20 minutes. My blood pressure will jump to 185/135 and pulse up over 150 bpm. I have to run flat out up hill to get my pulse that high. You start pouring sweat, your chest hurts, and your skin starts tingling.. and you have to check that mentally. Your family member sounds like she has it pretty bad. Empathy is the key, what she's going thru is no joke. I've learned to recognize the subtle physical warnings I get and can head off full blown attacks for the most part. Drink ice cold water or something tart like cranberry juice to break the mental focus. Get up and start moving to help dissipate the adrenaline dump that's coming and hopefully reduce the impact physically. Deep breathe and try to calm down while trying to focus on something else. Dealing with that kinda **** could be why she's taking the Xanax so much. I don't take Xanax but I 100% get wanting to slow down that badly. Hopefully the Lexapro starts kicking in real soon.
 
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