Posted by chemist on April 21, 2005, at 18:15:52
In reply to Alprozalam addiction. Whats it take?, posted by Shame on April 21, 2005, at 12:20:46
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> I'm in the midst of changing meds... Dropping the Prozac and the Welbutrin in favor of Lamical. I’m BP2, and get anxious and agitated at times. Now that my prozac/Welbutrin blood levels are dropping, I'm getting more agitated, and I go through periods of rage (nothing physical, I'm just "Oh-My-God-Holy-Cow pissed at everything). My psychiatrist didn’t seem to worried, but when I went to see my GP, he thought that cutting me a script for alprozalm would take the edge off. He gave me 60 1mg tabs to use 2-3 times a day or 'as needed' with refills. Now I DO have panic attacks, but usually 1/4 or 1/2 mg is sufficient if I catch it early.
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> How much does it take to develop a dependency? What are the symptoms? I don’t take more than a couple a week when I get really bad just because I’m too worried to take it any more than that. Anyone have any input?
>hello there, chemist here...your intake of alprazolam to date is truly p.r.n. and not likely to lead to a problem...the issue of a GP vs. a psychiatrist is troubling, to me: your GP is not as qualified to monitor your intake of a drug used in psychiatric medicine (for the most part), and if 0.25/0.5 mg p.r.n. is what it takes to ease you from a panic attack, then stick with a dose in that range. i can assure that 2 to 3 mg of alprazolam will indeed ``take the edge off.'' you are switching medications, and it is common for one to experience the unpleasant effects during tapering and titration. if you need to take a bit more than your usual dose, do so, and keep your psychiatrist in the loop. when your allergies kick up or a nasty cold manifests itself, see your GP: leave the psychiatry to the psychiatrist...and the dependence issue will not appear in the short time and with a small dose you indicate....all the best, chemist
poster:chemist
thread:487472
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050418/msgs/487597.html