Negative thoughts or worrying about taking tablets

[phil06]

Anybody else get this? I'm on Diazepam and Propranaolol but moved onto risperdal I fear the docs will give me too many. Getting drowziness too :blush:

[netminder1976]

I was prescribed fluoxetine and Xanax but I only take a half or quarter of the Xanax if I am having a really bad time. Is that how you take the diazepam? I feel guilty when I have to take some of the Xanax but it definitely helps. Any of them meds you mentioned could be responsible for your drowsiness. I would just trust your doctor or call and speak to the pharmacist about any worries you have. I spoke to my pharmacist and it made me feel better about it.

[phil06]

Any other tips for negative thoughts? They seem to be causing me panic attacks so I am reliant on the diazepam..

[ankietyjoe]

I choose not to take any medication because of the unpredictable effects. There are other ways of dealing with anxiety, so I choose that path instead.

[netminder1976]

Maybe you need something to fix the underlying anxiety. The diazepam is just a temporary relief and I believe the propranolol is just to treat the physical effects of anxiety. Have you talked to your doctor about this. My first doctor only prescribed me Xanax which I seen another a couple weeks later and she was against the benzos and put me on fluoxetine which the verdict is still out on that but I'm definitely not as bad.

[phil06]

Maybe you need something to fix the underlying anxiety. The diazepam is just a temporary relief and I believe the propranolol is just to treat the physical effects of anxiety. Have you talked to your doctor about this. My first doctor only prescribed me Xanax which I seen another a couple weeks later and she was against the benzos and put me on fluoxetine which the verdict is still out on that but I'm definitely not as bad.

They want me to stick to risperidone long term again like what I was in about a decade ago however they say meds take 2-3 weeks to work? :blush:

[phil06]

Can anybody give me anymore tips?

I feel life is hard at the moment with loads of negative thoughts and I'm on the list for the CBT now. The diazepam takes the edge off how I feel..

[phil06]

Anyone? Had a bad time of things at the moment :blush:

[mindful anxiety]

Phil-

I may not be much help her but ill try anyway.

Benzos are Satan in pill form IMPO. They help so well when you are starting out. They dull the anxiety at times also. But.....

You cannot take them "as needed". You may think you can, and your pill prescribing doctor may think you can, but you are dead wrong.

Ask your Doc if he has ever taken these drugs long term. How the hell can he be so sure of the effects if even he has never taken them? Because the insert says so?

Im letting my panties show a bit in this post because I HATE benzos.

And they tell you it takes 3 weeks for certain meds to start working, but what they really mean is it takes 3 weeks to get addicted.

I will submit to the fact that there are some situations where meds are needed. But when you take benzos for a week or two and stop, you go into withdrawal wither you realize it or not.

And that amplifies your anxiety 10 fold until you pop another. Lets not even get into how hard it is to come off them. The longer you take them, the more you have to take. And the more you take, the harder it is to come off. Its a trap, and you never deal with the underlining issues.

There are only a few things I know of that you can die from if you try to cold Turkey quit (or jump off) and benzos are one.

Also, if your doc has such an awesome plan for getting you on benzos, ask him or her if they also have a plan to come off. I bet you will get a blank stare my friend.

Look up something called the tranquilizer trap.

Benzos are for short term only. With careful planning when coming off.

And yes, I took them for over 5 years before learning about them and weaning myself off. The doc told me to just stop taking them and it was no biggie. LOL!!

It almost ruined my life. No one around my area had experience getting people off benzos, but they handed them out like candy at the doctors offices.

Please forgive me for being harsh. I hope you take something away from what I have said.

Good luck friend.:hugs:

[MyNameIsTerry]

Phil-

I may not be much help her but ill try anyway.

Benzos are Satan in pill form IMPO. They help so well when you are starting out. They dull the anxiety at times also. But.....

You cannot take them "as needed". You may think you can, and your pill prescribing doctor may think you can, but you are dead wrong.

Ask your Doc if he has ever taken these drugs long term. How the hell can he be so sure of the effects if even he has never taken them? Because the insert says so?

Im letting my panties show a bit in this post because I HATE benzos.

And they tell you it takes 3 weeks for certain meds to start working, but what they really mean is it takes 3 weeks to get addicted.

I will submit to the fact that there are some situations where meds are needed. But when you take benzos for a week or two and stop, you go into withdrawal wither you realize it or not.

And that amplifies your anxiety 10 fold until you pop another. Lets not even get into how hard it is to come off them. The longer you take them, the more you have to take. And the more you take, the harder it is to come off. Its a trap, and you never deal with the underlining issues.

There are only a few things I know of that you can die from if you try to cold Turkey quit (or jump off) and benzos are one.

Also, if your doc has such an awesome plan for getting you on benzos, ask him or her if they also have a plan to come off. I bet you will get a blank stare my friend.

Look up something called the tranquilizer trap.

Benzos are for short term only. With careful planning when coming off.

And yes, I took them for over 5 years before learning about them and weaning myself off. The doc told me to just stop taking them and it was no biggie. LOL!!

It almost ruined my life. No one around my area had experience getting people off benzos, but they handed them out like candy at the doctors offices.

Please forgive me for being harsh. I hope you take something away from what I have said.

Good luck friend.:hugs:

I think with Benzo's there are some traps that are just unclear. For instance, Diazepam and it's long half life and even longer metabolite half life and the fact it collects not just in blood plasma but fatty tissue too. So, you take it for a while and think you have eliminated it but you really haven't.

But, I think you can take it as & when maybe if you don't overlap these periods as it would essentially be new to the body again. For instance, 6 months apart to go on a holiday or for a dentist appointment. Over here, they will give it out for that as per medical guidelines.

But certainly using it as an anxiety controller is a terrible strategy unless we are talking someone so severe that they have no choice but to do it and then withdraw you sensibly, not something a GP would do but a psychiatrist.

They can be useful in withdrawal from alcohol too.

I completely disagree with you over your comment regarding 2-3 weeks means they get you hooked, not that we have to wait for them to work. Phil isn't talking about a Benzo, so that comment is perceived (to me) as being about meds in general. Phil was talking about an antipsychotic and whilst I'm not sure on those, I'm very sure about SSRI/SNRI's and how they work. Down-regulation takes time and studies even back that up, the short term work is only part of what they aim to do. They can also be easy to withdraw from as I found withdrawing from Citalopram after being on it for a few years.

I know what tolerance feels like as my GP didn't give me the correct advice on using Zopiclone, he really had no idea and it was the crisis team who had told him to prescribe it who told me I was taking too much of it. 4 weeks is all it took for me on that and then I withdrew myself by using their protocol as I should have been doing all along. My GP was clueless on it and it showed. This is not to say it is comparable to someone who's been on anything like this for much longer, that would be a far harder withdrawal to what I went through.

I've also taken Diazepam for a week and did not become tolerant. My anxiety was no different afterwards. Over here they happily prescribe it for 2 weeks and then they are very cautious and that's again medical guidelines. I realise you may be talking about a shorter half life Benzo though as ones like Xanax are very common in the US whereas over here it's more Diazepam. Different traps involved, eh?

I respect your views on it though, Benzo addiction is a hard lesson to learn. Sadly, I see posts from time to time on here where GP's are dishing out Diazepam for long term periods and then they just pull the plug and cold turkey the patient. That is dangerous as you say. I suspect it is because the NHS have issued a reminder circular to stop giving them out and unscrupulous GP's are looking to cover their backs.

Our Benzo guidance has been around decades and yet there are still people out there on them daily without their GP's following what the NHS have told them. Sadly, GP's are like their own little island over here with often little real governance.

[phil06]

I think with Benzo's there are some traps that are just unclear. For instance, Diazepam and it's long half life and even longer metabolite half life and the fact it collects not just in blood plasma but fatty tissue too. So, you take it for a while and think you have eliminated it but you really haven't.

But, I think you can take it as & when maybe if you don't overlap these periods as it would essentially be new to the body again. For instance, 6 months apart to go on a holiday or for a dentist appointment. Over here, they will give it out for that as per medical guidelines.

But certainly using it as an anxiety controller is a terrible strategy unless we are talking someone so severe that they have no choice but to do it and then withdraw you sensibly, not something a GP would do but a psychiatrist.

They can be useful in withdrawal from alcohol too.

I completely disagree with you over your comment regarding 2-3 weeks means they get you hooked, not that we have to wait for them to work. Phil isn't talking about a Benzo, so that comment is perceived (to me) as being about meds in general. Phil was talking about an antipsychotic and whilst I'm not sure on those, I'm very sure about SSRI/SNRI's and how they work. Down-regulation takes time and studies even back that up, the short term work is only part of what they aim to do. They can also be easy to withdraw from as I found withdrawing from Citalopram after being on it for a few years.

I know what tolerance feels like as my GP didn't give me the correct advice on using Zopiclone, he really had no idea and it was the crisis team who had told him to prescribe it who told me I was taking too much of it. 4 weeks is all it took for me on that and then I withdrew myself by using their protocol as I should have been doing all along. My GP was clueless on it and it showed. This is not to say it is comparable to someone who's been on anything like this for much longer, that would be a far harder withdrawal to what I went through.

I've also taken Diazepam for a week and did not become tolerant. My anxiety was no different afterwards. Over here they happily prescribe it for 2 weeks and then they are very cautious and that's again medical guidelines. I realise you may be talking about a shorter half life Benzo though as ones like Xanax are very common in the US whereas over here it's more Diazepam. Different traps involved, eh?

I respect your views on it though, Benzo addiction is a hard lesson to learn. Sadly, I see posts from time to time on here where GP's are dishing out Diazepam for long term periods and then they just pull the plug and cold turkey the patient. That is dangerous as you say. I suspect it is because the NHS have issued a reminder circular to stop giving them out and unscrupulous GP's are looking to cover their backs.

Our Benzo guidance has been around decades and yet there are still people out there on them daily without their GP's following what the NHS have told them. Sadly, GP's are like their own little island over here with often little real governance.

Thanks. I had a breakdown it was quite a bad one and on loads of meds now. Has anybody on here had one its so bad im going for private counselling next week. I relay in 2mg dizipam in a day right now to get myself well. :blush:

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yeah, Phil, I had a breakdown and a relapse years later and my dad a had one many years ago but his was depression. I bet a lot on here have too.

It has been a very hard experience. My first time really came from not understanding and allowing myself to slip until the panic started coming and a few events from there I just sank into constant panic & high anxiety. The relapse was even worse, they can be according to my GP and it makes sense as you can be partly there already if you haven't learnt and tackled a lot of the problems... which was me aside from having get much better by just trying to get back to normal.

I'm glad you are getting some help with this though. Accept everything you can get, it will help.

[phil06]

Yeah, Phil, I had a breakdown and a relapse years later and my dad a had one many years ago but his was depression. I bet a lot on here have too.

It has been a very hard experience. My first time really came from not understanding and allowing myself to slip until the panic started coming and a few events from there I just sank into constant panic & high anxiety. The relapse was even worse, they can be according to my GP and it makes sense as you can be partly there already if you haven't learnt and tackled a lot of the problems... which was me aside from having get much better by just trying to get back to normal.

I'm glad you are getting some help with this though. Accept everything you can get, it will help.

Did you get the paranoia stuff too? I'm over sensitive and relaying on relaxation CDs to keep me calm too. It's like an over sensitised experience of life but maybe I will now get help for my OCD which has troubled me for years. :blush:

I had a good week and have had a few days where I now feel depressed and feel I will never get better? I've even told I'm suffering bad anxiety that's all they can do or say..

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yeah, I had paranoia. It was fuelled by things that did actually happen that were dodgy but it was definitely over the top. I think paranoia is a case of where anxiety is high and fight or flight is on far too much for too long. This goes as you start recovering from those worst stages.

I was definitely over-sensitised! Eating was a nightmare, drinking anything including water was hard.

If you can have any good times, things may be better than you realise. I had no good times for quite some months.

[dally]

Hi Phil
I have a 'fear of taking meds'
In that I am sooo scared of side effects/addiction. Or that SEs will be worse that the actual panic attacks or depression (both of which has happened to me!

Having said that. To date, tentatively 'trying' different meds ..Valium was the only med that successfully eased my anxiety and helped me 'live a little'
However, I did become tolerant and eventually addicted to it (even though I only took 2-4mg twice a week at most!)

The effects of the drug lasts 2-4hours, but the remnants stay in your body for up to 8 days from one dose! So unless you only take it 1x month, you may be in danger of developing dependency. It is a very addictive drug.
Withdrawal is not pleasant, nor IMO worth it.

I now take propanalol, which is not as effective, but is the next less side effect med suitable for me to take on an as required regime.

[MyNameIsTerry]

The effects of the drug lasts 2-4hours, but the remnants stay in your body for up to 8 days from one dose! So unless you only take it 1x month, you may be in danger of developing dependency. It is a very addictive drug.
Withdrawal is not pleasant, nor IMO worth it.

Even much longer than that, dally, from what I am finding out from learning how the body eliminates meds. 7x a half life is a possibility which is massive when you consider the lesser active metabolite, but even with the active drug it is a long time.

After seeing your experiences I often wonder if this is why people are getting caught out. People often think the half life means double it and that's 100%, but I've found that the body is eliminating at a reducing % per half life.

I came across that on a drugs forum but I have read the same calculations posted in several scientific references including pharma subject books.

I bet our GP's have little or no clue about any of this. It's scary for those of you using Benzo's when we think about how you got dependant on it.

[phil06]

Yeah, I had paranoia. It was fuelled by things that did actually happen that were dodgy but it was definitely over the top. I think paranoia is a case of where anxiety is high and fight or flight is on far too much for too long. This goes as you start recovering from those worst stages.

I was definitely over-sensitised! Eating was a nightmare, drinking anything including water was hard.

If you can have any good times, things may be better than you realise. I had no good times for quite some months.

I even struggle to watch tv right now and it's taking time to rebuild my nerves. I keep questioning the meaning of life and all that too. Having a real time of it but day by day getting better not good with big crowds right now :blush:

Is it normal to feel quite depressed?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yeah, I was the same. Anything exciting or scary was very hard. Even certain noises was setting me off the first time around, it was horrible.

The meaning of life thoughts tend to come to a lot of us in higher anxiety periods and they can be an OCD theme too. This could just go when your anxiety reduces.

It's a far old slog back from feeling like this, hour by hour is best on the bad days.

It's normal to feel very anxious, depressed, both. If your new med gives you side effects that affect your mood then it could be that and will pass. If not, it could just be a stage or a bad few days, it's hard to say. But it will change, just keeping doing what you can. Be kind to yourself and try not to think of yourself in negative ways as this will take some time to sort out.

[phil06]

Also been told the paranoia is stemming off my anxiety?

---------- Post added at 12:06 ---------- Previous post was at 12:05 ----------


Yeah, I was the same. Anything exciting or scary was very hard. Even certain noises was setting me off the first time around, it was horrible.

The meaning of life thoughts tend to come to a lot of us in higher anxiety periods and they can be an OCD theme too. This could just go when your anxiety reduces.

It's a far old slog back from feeling like this, hour by hour is best on the bad days.

It's normal to feel very anxious, depressed, both. If your new med gives you side effects that affect your mood then it could be that and will pass. If not, it could just be a stage or a bad few days, it's hard to say. But it will change, just keeping doing what you can. Be kind to yourself and try not to think of yourself in negative ways as this will take some time to sort out.

Yes everybody keeps talking about it taking time to get better..

I feel bad that it ended up me having a breakdown and getting all these silly thoughts

[MyNameIsTerry]

Well you are now getting more help and that's a good thing. So, whilst it's bad to go through, there will be good that comes from it too as it has forced your hand there and you have asked for the support.

Paranoia is very common with high anxiety. Paranoia is connected to certain themes in OCD anyway and Contamination is one of them so it's just a matter of a high anxiety state either way. It's nothing to worry about, it won't mean a more serious mental health problem like many worry about. I found this subsided as my anxiety did so that I just didn't notice it anymore.

[phil06]

Well you are now getting more help and that's a good thing. So, whilst it's bad to go through, there will be good that comes from it too as it has forced your hand there and you have asked for the support.

Paranoia is very common with high anxiety. Paranoia is connected to certain themes in OCD anyway and Contamination is one of them so it's just a matter of a high anxiety state either way. It's nothing to worry about, it won't mean a more serious mental health problem like many worry about. I found this subsided as my anxiety did so that I just didn't notice it anymore.

Yes I've had to sell gig tickets and everything due to how I feel but it's just anxiety. Got a wedding to attend and again I'm worried I will be anxious any tips on how to manage?