Quote:
Originally Posted by waves
I am very sorry. I have the good fortune that I have always undertaken tapers at my own request, and therefore, at my own pace.
If the doc won't let you go back up (I didn't really expect that she would, but it was worth a try), is she at least going to let you stay put for a while and then suspend more slowly... will she keep prescribing? If not, you might want to find a doctor who will work with you to go at a pace which is tolerable to you.
Impossible to tell; I advise you not to spin your wheels trying to figure it out. It makes absolutely no difference, why or how your anxiety comes about. Bottom line: it is there and it has to be managed.
Use other tools to feel better. Klonopin is not the only answer. Cultivate some skills. It takes practice but these things help. If you know how to belly-breathe, for instance, you can use that to stop hyperventilating.
You have not once responded in regard non-drug approaches for managing anxiety.  Must I interpret this to mean that you believe only the drug can help you?
waves |
Waves: When I wrote the last message to you I was hysterical about what I was experiencing somatically. I am inexperienced with psychotropic medications and I have overly "educated" myself by reading all the extreme stuff on the internet about withdrawal.
Of course, my anxiety is the baseline problem and I have had a hard time accepting that I have this problem when it had never escalated into the episode I am suffering now. No: I do understand that Klonopin is NOT the answer (nor the problem). No I do not think this drug is the only thing that can help me. I think actually it is hurting me by forcing a hypnotic rather than normal sleep. It concerns me as well that I have been given Elavil and I wonder if my recent slow cognitive function and brain fog is caused not just by the Kpin but this as well.
I have begun psychotherapy — hoping that this is the key.
As to other things like deep breathing I have practiced Qigong and Taiji for many years so I know what you are referring to. It seems however that when I am in this worked-up state — which seems to occur consistently from early evening when I get closer to taking my Kpin dose — I find it impossible to control what is going on in my body. Again, this is all likely psychosomatically-induced paranoia or resistance about getting in deeper with the drugs and despairing that there is something truly wrong with me!
I really didn't want to alienate you since you have been forthcoming and kind to write to me in the first place when I was merely scared about Neurontin.
I think my greatest fear is a Humpty-Dumpty syndrome — wondering if I ever will regain the balanced and clear-headed consciousness I have experienced up until this point in my life. I am 55 years old and while I have always been someone who is a nervous type this whole incident is way beyond anything I knew about myself. I guess fearing that you would die of lung cancer or that you will have prolonged Valley Fever syndrome scared me to my depths and I just cracked.
As to whether my psych will continue working with me SHE said that given it is approaching 2 months "any slower reduction at this point will merely guarantee that I will be on Kpin for a long time and it will be very difficult to get off of it."
So I do hope that I will hear from you again and I wish you well.