Hope you feel better son Mari! It stinks being sick with a fever. Good luck with the lunesta! :D

alprazolam / benzo rant / Zyprexa & Seroquel
 

Mari already knows this but for anyone who doesn't

Tafil = alprazolam = Xanax = THE most potent, short-acting and MOST ADDICTIVE BENZODIAZEPINE on the market.

bad bad bad bad scene... once on it for any length of time, excruciatingly hard to get off.

bad bad bad bad idea as a "sleep med" ...sure it would work to get to sleep but not to keep one asleep. also, if something non-addictive, or less addictive will do the job, so much the better.

alprazolam is supposed to be prescribed for panic/anxiety. also, it should only be used short term (like any benzo), OR as needed (with limits on frequency) to avoid addiction. but often docs keep scripting benzo's longterm, and ppl get stuck on them.

yes, i'm feeling a little irked about that whole deal in general, since i'm tapering a benzo right now and, even though mine is long-acting and so not as bad as Xanax, tapering is a serious pain in the everything... it is taking me better part of a YEAR (and that is actually good compared to some... :rolleyes:) Anyone on Xanax or who has been on it and tried to get off can attest to how hard it is. the usual way to get off that one, is to switch to Valium first, and then taper that - but even a benzo switch is traumatic.

blech blech blech blech benzos! and especially alprazolam.

so, while yes, i can PERSONALLY relate to how benzos can help with anxiety... in the long run..... sigh... they are chemical slavery! :(

:Soapbox:

ok i will get off it now... (end rant on the bad bad bad benzos :o)

Lunesta does have addictive potential but as best i could tell from the warnings on it, not as great as the benzos. (Mari, if you are concerned about this, i would ask the doc, the pharmacist, or both... maybe even call your mdoc for an opinion.)

Zyprexa and Seroquel are not addictive at all. Zyprexa i found to be far far more effective overall, but both carry a risk of diabetes. For sleep, i'd think Seroquel might be more appropriate for nightly use, insofar as very small doses (25mg) often suffice (compared to 400-600mg as an antipsychotic).

Zyprexa is much more potent - antipsychotic dose ranges 10-20mg. The smallest dose available is 2.5mg... proportionally a heftier dose than 25mg of Seroquel. when i have taken only 5mg a day for 7 days, i have gained weight and appetite on Zyprexa. that said i found it a very very very calming drug... use as needed can help not only with sleep, directly, but also with dysphoria, anxiety, and mixed symptoms in any combination - even just 5mg for just 2-3 days, taken every so often.

Heck !

Benzos ! :mad:

Xanax and such
 

Hi,

Waves has been a great help with benzos.


Recently I reduced my Klonopin dose.
So now I am taking 2.0 Klonopin because I tapered from 2.5 to 2 this past fall. At some point I will try to make one other small reduction on the Klonopin.


I'm not in the mood to research the Lunesta at this moment (still weak that fever yesterday) but I know it has benzo qualities. I will check with the pharmacist when I go pick up the med. I also was not paying attention to pdoc on the phone yesterday. I was focused on getting him on the phone. Pdoc said that Lunesta was short acting (8 hours) and that it could be stopped at any time because it does not cause dependency (! :confused:) .

On the web, this dependency seems to be partly dose specific. I won't know what dose he ordered until I pick it up. In particular, I will ask the pharmacist if whatever pill I get can be broken in half.


A couple of years ago I took Ambien for three nights.
I stopped it mostly because I had too much anxiety in general about sleep meds. I'm still anxious about the Lunesta but I am more desperate for sleep than I was then.
M.


---
Whoops. Those bolds are annoying to look at. I will go back later and edit them out.

Pharmacy did not get the call from the pdoc
 

HI,

The pharmacy said that they have no record of the pdoc phone call. They do not have my Lunesta.

I can't call the pdoc's office until Tuesday.

I'm not going to start a new med during the week.


So I am done with this Lunesta business. :(

M.

Dear Mari
 

even if you call pdoc during the week and get the med... you could start trying it out next weekend... nobody is going to push you. once you have it, you could start it whenever you feel comfortable.

i hope i didn't frighten you with the bit about possible addiction. it is dose related but also, it is not as bad as the benzos from what i could tell reading the RxList entry (under Warnings - dependence). also, taking it for a short period should not be problematic at ALL. maybe this a snippet will help reassure you - from
RxList - Lunesta (under Clinical Pharmacology):
anyway it is up to you of course. i just hope i didn't scare you away. :(:o

-----
i am just having a hard time right now, dealing with the way that so many of us are given benzos, and for long-term, when there ARE other meds for anxiety. and nobody seems to work on the psycho-social aspects of anxiety/tension etc.

you know, i tried to get into a DBT group... turned out to be private only, and therefore too costly. there was a state one (free) but that REQUIRED a diagnosis of Borderline Personality disorder DUH. heck why can't they run workshops to help other people ... one of the objectives is to learn stress-tolerance for which, instead, we are scripted benzos and dismissed. :( this just makes me sad and angry. after many years of use, the problems caused by benzo's are not limited to addiction. :(

~ waves ~

Oh me.:(:(:( I was basically off of Xanax after a real long time of gradual withdrawal. Then anxiety hit me full force,and I thought that I was going to have a heart attack,because of the pain in my chest. It was anxiety. My doctor put me back on Xanax. ??? The pain went away. %&% if I do,and %&% if I don't. Dang.:(:mad::confused: BF:hug::hug::grouphug::hug::hug:

My family doctor started me on Valium years ago,because I was having a terrible time with anxiety,and panic attacks that started before I went to a Military Academy,and then got worse.

When I moved back home I went to a Psy. Doc. I continued to be medicated with Valium.

Then they changed it to Librium.

Then They changed it to Ativan.

They put me on very stong sleeping pills. (Seconal,Tuinal,then Quaalude) Then I told the Psy.Doc that I wanted to get off the Quaaludes.(2 pills a night) He took me off them cold turkey. I asked him if I could slowly withdraw from them,and he said no. IT WAS MY IDEA to get off of them! I lived through a 2 year nightmare. I started drinking alot of beer before bed. I think the Pdoc lost his licence in this state to practice psychiatry. I don't believe it had anything to do with me. He must have done this to alot of patients. Their Mental Hospital even closed after a while.

##&&##%% I went through hell on earth through this whole thing,and after that also.

I was put on a mild sleeping pill called Chloral Hydrate that helped for awhile. Then I decided to stop taking it. It wasn't a problem.

Then I was put on Xanax.

Now I'm on Xanax,seroquel,and Luvox.

I have this anxiety that won't stop. It's been a long,and tormenting situation.
There have been so many misunderstandings.

There where so many misunderstandings that I went through,and people have made so many mistakes.:mad::mad::mad:

Family,church,doctors made mistakes,and I was so traumatized. I have been hurting for years. Depression,anxiety,OCD,Panic Attacks:(:hug::confused: A bad combo,when everyone around you does not understand. They said this,that,and the other where the problems. They where wrong,wrong,WRONG!!!:mad: BF:hug::hug::hug:

Waves,
 

Dear Waves,

Your info did not scare me.
More info is always good.

I have refused to consider sleep meds with my pdoc since I started with him years ago. He brought it up in our last appt. again two weeks ago and I told him no way. I told him I have a psychological sleep problem (not medical) and even if he gave me something I would not take it.

I saw tdoc on Wed and came home really worried about refusing sleep and help with sleep. Then Thursday I felt really really awful physically (not sleeping is wearing me out) and thought that I should be smart and ask for help.

So I tried asking for help.
That mood lasted for two days.
I'm done.

Docs do need to give patients more information.

That is a shame that you can't get into a DBT group. I know that you have thought about DBT for a while.

M.

Dear Steve,
Wow. That two year period of going off Xanax sounds like a nightmare.


Sorry about your history of not being successfully treated for anxiety.
I wish the pdocs could better help you with your anxiety.
Have you tried DBT like Waves mentions?
Can you get something like that?

M.