Has anyone experienced a "Benzodiazepine" Medicine?

[SadBabyGirl]

Hi fellow loveshackers!! For the past few years, maybe once a month or twice and sometimes vanishes and comes back... i wake up after a few hours of sleeping. I feel nauseated, chills, scared, shaking.. i thought i was having some kinda virus like tummy flu or food poisening but i never allowed myself 2 throw up, i just maaloxed' it and put ice pack over my forehead and went potty till i slept.

 

So i go to the doctor finally thinking it was a thyroid or hormonal prob. Told her all the symptoms and she says im having Panic Attacks/Anxiety.

 

She gives me this medicine called Xanax. I just want to know before i start taking it if anybody has any experience with this medicine if its good or bad and if it has side effects. Like what does it do to you. Is it like taking Benedryl or some kinda Calming medicine?im not a big fan of pharmeceuticals but she said it would take away my nausea and help me sleep without waking up feeling sick and scared.

The only medicines ive taken that I did NOT like were Remeron and Zoloft, they made me sick.

[debs]

It is a great med for anxiety and to help you sleep on a short term basis only.

 

From first hand experience I do not recommend taking it long term!

 

It is highly addictive and hell to get off of!

 

I do not recall any side affects other than sleepiness.

 

I will answer further in the morning. I am just off of work and headed to bed.

 

I hopethis helps if you have any other questions about xanax, I will be happy to answer them.

[bebegal]

im a nurse.. deal with this alot. Take xanax only for a very short period of time. Do not take longer then 2 wks. Very addicting and can have harsh side effects. Start on paxil maybe 10mg daily---go to 20 mg if not helping. This is a very safe medication used for both depression and panic attacks. It is VERY SAFE and you can be on this for very long periods of time--havent heard of anyone having side effects. Also st. johns wort helps (take 3 pills daily) (either take paxil or st. johns wort.) OF course paxil works better but st. johns wort is cheaper and non prescription and truly does work well.

 

Remember paxil and st. johns wort take about 2-3 weeks to reach maximum benefit-you wont get immediate relief so start weening yourself off of the xanax in about a week after you started the paxil. Dont abruptly stop taking it-- take maybe 3/4 of a tab for two days then 1/2 a tab then a quarter then none.

 

Hope this helps!!!

[Craig]

If you're taking the Xanax only when you have symptoms one or two nights a month and not all the time you should be fine. If your doc told you to take Xanax all the time you should get a different doctor because Xanax is addictive when used regularly.

 

If Zoloft and Remeron made you sick then Paxil probably will do the same. Are you suffering from depression? If the SSRI's like Zoloft didn't agree with you, then you might try Wellbutrin (not an SSRI and in a drug class all by itself) or else try a Tricyclic Antidepressant. Trycyclic Antidepressants will help you sleep. If you are not depressed then you don't need to take a full dose of the Trycyclic Antidepressant for depression you can take a reduced dose that would be prescribed for sleep disturbances.

 

Are your night time episodes related to some trauma that you experienced? If so then a drug called Buspar may help. It's not addictive and is used by some people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD.)

 

St. John's Wort has been shown to be as effective or more effective than some prescribed antidepressants (for some people), is cheaper, natural and doesn't require a prescription.

 

For best results and regardless of which drug route you choose (if any) if your night waking episodes are related to some psychological stress/trauma you will want to address those issues in some form of counselling.

[blind_otter]

I took xanax for a while, and also klonopin. They are highly, i mean HIGHLY addictive drugs (benzos) -- if you google them there are tons of support groups for people trying to wean off the meds. I had to wean off by taking smaller and smaller doses.

 

So, take this drug AS DIRECTED BY THE PHYSICIAN, and don't give them to friends or take double doses or anything, and take only for a short time. Otherwise....it is a bad seen. I have seen people in benzodiazepine withdrawal all pale, with the shakes and cold sweats....yucky.

[RecordProducer]

Three golden rules for medications:

 

1. Read the instructions and find information about it on the internet (google it);

2. If you feel bad in any aspect, ask for another medication;

3. No alcohol with brain-screwing medications whatsoever!

 

My ex-BF has had severe panick attacks (felt like he couldn't breathe) and he is not taking any medications about it. He hasn't had them for a long time now. They come along with stress. You better work on removing the drama that causes the stress out of your life.

[Fuzzy Chickens]

When a doctor says that your symptoms are caused by "anxiety" and prescribes you something for it, what that really means is that they have no clue what's wrong and they hope that turning you into a drugged zombie will shut you up about it.

[SadBabyGirl]

Hey Everyone, Thanks for your replies and input. I decided NOT to take them. I took half of a remeron the other night to sleep and it really screwed me up for 2 days i felt like my head was in the clouds. I felt tired and awake off and on and I wanted to eat everything in sight. Not a good sign. So I flushed everything down the toilet.

 

I decided to take Homeopathic calms, Valerian root and Cava cava. I also bought some Melatonin tablets. They are helpilng w;/out all the crazy symptoms. Its funny how the pharmacy puts me through **** to get these pills since Im a CMSP patient, and once i get them, i just flush them lol. Yeah.. I am scared of medicine and it sounds funny but in the long run im glad I am. Those remerons made me into a lil monster!! And I found out in the long run it wasnt really anxiety, I was having tummyaches due to my Cycle. After my monthly I would get bad gassy tummy, which created the nausea feeling thus leading to the panic because Im scared of throwing up lol. How come doctors are doctors if they dont know whats wrong. Should they just like work for the pharmaceutical companies instead?

[Fuzzy Chickens]

Hah. I've taken 5 Remeron at once and it did nothing but make me take a little nap Melatonin was even worse, I took like 15 of those and they didn't do ****...

[blind_otter]

Originally posted by Fuzzy Chickens

Hah. I've taken 5 Remeron at once and it did nothing but make me take a little nap Melatonin was even worse, I took like 15 of those and they didn't do ****...

 

Yeah but you do drugs on a regular basis, from the long post-drug-induced post I read but didn't comment on. I am actually a recovering addict...back in the day when I was partying too much I could eat all sorts of pills and they didn't do anything. Now that I only smoke ganja my tolerance is way down.

[Fuzzy Chickens]

No, I DON'T do drugs on a regular basis. The last time I Robotripped was weeks ago. My last real caffeine bender was months ago. Amphetamines? Years.

 

Wow... being sober sucks.

[Pocky]

Originally posted by Fuzzy Chickens

No, I DON'T do drugs on a regular basis. The last time I Robotripped was weeks ago. My last real caffeine bender was months ago. Amphetamines? Years.

 

Wow... being sober sucks.

 

Robotripping. It's like the alcoholic that uses a sponge to filter the alcohol out of the perfume so they can drink it. So ghetto.

[Fuzzy Chickens]

Huh? You know they sell stuff with DXM as its sole active ingredient, right?

[blind_otter]

Originally posted by Fuzzy Chickens

No, I DON'T do drugs on a regular basis. The last time I Robotripped was weeks ago. My last real caffeine bender was months ago. Amphetamines? Years.

 

Wow... being sober sucks.

 

Weeks ago?

 

yeah. riiiiiiiiight. when I was getting off coke my friends wouldn't even LET me say I didn't use coke until I had been clean for like 3 months.

[Craig]

Originally posted by SadBabyGirl

How come doctors are doctors if they dont know whats wrong.

Doctors PRACTICE medicine! Being a Doctor doesn't mean that you know anything about how to actually heal the sick.

[Fuzzy Chickens]

No, seriously. The stores here stopped stocking the stuff. If I want to robotrip again, I'd have to go to drugstore.com or something.

 

Wait... did you say coke? Do you know where I can get some?

[blind_otter]

Originally posted by Fuzzy Chickens

No, seriously. The stores here stopped stocking the stuff. If I want to robotrip again, I'd have to go to drugstore.com or something.

 

Wait... did you say coke? Do you know where I can get some?

 

Actually yeah. But you'd have to fly to Florida.

[Fuzzy Chickens]

That can be arranged...

[blind_otter]

I thought you could buy powdered DXM or whatever it is online!

[Fuzzy Chickens]

I tried, but google hath failed me.