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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
[email protected]Shown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by thealee on March 30, 2002, at 17:42:25
I have gotten myself into a real pickle. Due to a number of traumatic events in my life, two years ago I started to take buspar for anxiety. Later, Serzone for depression. I was doing well on both of those for well over a year. But insomnia was always a problem.. tried a number of different things.. herbals, nortryptilene -but settled on trazadone, at 50 mg. Also had a prescription to xanax, for "emergencies" - which I ended up using fairly often, toward the end. Insomnia worsened, and I was told to increase trazadone to 100 mg, then to 150. This, on top of everything else I was taking, seemed to change my body chemistry forever. I started experiencing "electric shocks" and tingling, pins and needles in all my extremities. I was told this was serotonin sensitivity. 8 weeks ago just toughed it off the xanax and trazodone alltogether. Then tapered off the Serzone, hoping to find a level that my body could tolerate. no go. After that started cutting back on the Buspar. I would have some good days right after I tapered, but then mostly bad ones. A month ago, stopped the last of the buspar. I still experience the pins and needles every day.. but the worst is the headache/logey/ flu-like feeling.. like my brain is only working at half speed. So now am I experiencing discontinuation syndrome? I've been told that it would be unusual for the meds I was taking. I kept some xanax for "emergencies" but have used it very sparingly. Was told by one doctor that what I was experiencing now was just anxiety.. and that I had to get used to the idea that I might have to be on some anti-anxiety med for the rest of my life. I resented that, but have found that when I do take some xanax (after gritting my teeth for days with these symptoms) I seem to improve. I have an appointment to have my hormone levels checked (47 year old female - could perimenopause be doing this?) and with a new doctor to see if there is anything that can help me. I want to feel like myself again, and its been a long time. But if I knew that toughing it out for another month, or two, I'd be over it, then I'd tough it out. Or should I submit to taking some sort of meds forever? Please help. Anyone else out there have an experience like this?
Posted by JohnX2 on March 31, 2002, at 1:01:20
In reply to serotonin sensitivity or discontinuation syndrome?, posted by thealee on March 30, 2002, at 17:42:25
> I have gotten myself into a real pickle. Due to a number of traumatic events in my life, two years ago I started to take buspar for anxiety. Later, Serzone for depression. I was doing well on both of those for well over a year. But insomnia was always a problem.. tried a number of different things.. herbals, nortryptilene -but settled on trazadone, at 50 mg. Also had a prescription to xanax, for "emergencies" - which I ended up using fairly often, toward the end. Insomnia worsened, and I was told to increase trazadone to 100 mg, then to 150. This, on top of everything else I was taking, seemed to change my body chemistry forever. I started experiencing "electric shocks" and tingling, pins and needles in all my extremities. I was told this was serotonin sensitivity. 8 weeks ago just toughed it off the xanax and trazodone alltogether. Then tapered off the Serzone, hoping to find a level that my body could tolerate. no go. After that started cutting back on the Buspar. I would have some good days right after I tapered, but then mostly bad ones. A month ago, stopped the last of the buspar. I still experience the pins and needles every day.. but the worst is the headache/logey/ flu-like feeling.. like my brain is only working at half speed. So now am I experiencing discontinuation syndrome? I've been told that it would be unusual for the meds I was taking. I kept some xanax for "emergencies" but have used it very sparingly. Was told by one doctor that what I was experiencing now was just anxiety.. and that I had to get used to the idea that I might have to be on some anti-anxiety med for the rest of my life. I resented that, but have found that when I do take some xanax (after gritting my teeth for days with these symptoms) I seem to improve. I have an appointment to have my hormone levels checked (47 year old female - could perimenopause be doing this?) and with a new doctor to see if there is anything that can help me. I want to feel like myself again, and its been a long time. But if I knew that toughing it out for another month, or two, I'd be over it, then I'd tough it out. Or should I submit to taking some sort of meds forever? Please help. Anyone else out there have an experience like this?
Just how much Buspar, Serzone, and Trazodone were you taking concurrently? There are drug interactions between Serzone and Buspar if my memory serves me correct.John
Posted by thealee on March 31, 2002, at 7:41:17
In reply to Re: serotonin sensitivity or discontinuation syndrome? » thealee, posted by JohnX2 on March 31, 2002, at 1:01:20
> > I have gotten myself into a real pickle. Due to a number of traumatic events in my life, two years ago I started to take buspar for anxiety. Later, Serzone for depression. I was doing well on both of those for well over a year. But insomnia was always a problem.. tried a number of different things.. herbals, nortryptilene -but settled on trazadone, at 50 mg. Also had a prescription to xanax, for "emergencies" - which I ended up using fairly often, toward the end. Insomnia worsened, and I was told to increase trazadone to 100 mg, then to 150. This, on top of everything else I was taking, seemed to change my body chemistry forever. I started experiencing "electric shocks" and tingling, pins and needles in all my extremities. I was told this was serotonin sensitivity. 8 weeks ago just toughed it off the xanax and trazodone alltogether. Then tapered off the Serzone, hoping to find a level that my body could tolerate. no go. After that started cutting back on the Buspar. I would have some good days right after I tapered, but then mostly bad ones. A month ago, stopped the last of the buspar. I still experience the pins and needles every day.. but the worst is the headache/logey/ flu-like feeling.. like my brain is only working at half speed. So now am I experiencing discontinuation syndrome? I've been told that it would be unusual for the meds I was taking. I kept some xanax for "emergencies" but have used it very sparingly. Was told by one doctor that what I was experiencing now was just anxiety.. and that I had to get used to the idea that I might have to be on some anti-anxiety med for the rest of my life. I resented that, but have found that when I do take some xanax (after gritting my teeth for days with these symptoms) I seem to improve. I have an appointment to have my hormone levels checked (47 year old female - could perimenopause be doing this?) and with a new doctor to see if there is anything that can help me. I want to feel like myself again, and its been a long time. But if I knew that toughing it out for another month, or two, I'd be over it, then I'd tough it out. Or should I submit to taking some sort of meds forever? Please help. Anyone else out there have an experience like this?
>
>
> Just how much Buspar, Serzone, and Trazodone were you taking concurrently? There are drug interactions between Serzone and Buspar if my memory serves me correct.
>
> Johnat the end, I was taking 200 mg of Serzone, 150 mg of Trazadone (this only for a week or two) 15 mg of buspar and .25 to .5 mg xanax. When I look at this list now, I can't believe how stupid and trusting I was.
Here's another possibility.. in my research, I"ve found www.benzo.org.uk (check it out). I think its possible that what I was dealing with originally was a pretty bad drug interaction, but now, what remains is benzodiazepine withdrawl. I used the xanax on and off for two years, and it was always my back up drug when the various insomia aids did not work. Toward the end, I was using it almost every night for a month, and I found that I had developed a tolerance - that is, .25 used to work, and then I needed .5 mg. even though I wasn't on it for the typical long time frame at the typcial higher dose, I wonder if my symptoms are all about the fact that I just quit it cold turkey eight weeks ago ?
Posted by JohnX2 on March 31, 2002, at 8:06:14
In reply to Re: serotonin sensitivity or discontinuation syndrome? » JohnX2, posted by thealee on March 31, 2002, at 7:41:17
> > > I have gotten myself into a real pickle. Due to a number of traumatic events in my life, two years ago I started to take buspar for anxiety. Later, Serzone for depression. I was doing well on both of those for well over a year. But insomnia was always a problem.. tried a number of different things.. herbals, nortryptilene -but settled on trazadone, at 50 mg. Also had a prescription to xanax, for "emergencies" - which I ended up using fairly often, toward the end. Insomnia worsened, and I was told to increase trazadone to 100 mg, then to 150. This, on top of everything else I was taking, seemed to change my body chemistry forever. I started experiencing "electric shocks" and tingling, pins and needles in all my extremities. I was told this was serotonin sensitivity. 8 weeks ago just toughed it off the xanax and trazodone alltogether. Then tapered off the Serzone, hoping to find a level that my body could tolerate. no go. After that started cutting back on the Buspar. I would have some good days right after I tapered, but then mostly bad ones. A month ago, stopped the last of the buspar. I still experience the pins and needles every day.. but the worst is the headache/logey/ flu-like feeling.. like my brain is only working at half speed. So now am I experiencing discontinuation syndrome? I've been told that it would be unusual for the meds I was taking. I kept some xanax for "emergencies" but have used it very sparingly. Was told by one doctor that what I was experiencing now was just anxiety.. and that I had to get used to the idea that I might have to be on some anti-anxiety med for the rest of my life. I resented that, but have found that when I do take some xanax (after gritting my teeth for days with these symptoms) I seem to improve. I have an appointment to have my hormone levels checked (47 year old female - could perimenopause be doing this?) and with a new doctor to see if there is anything that can help me. I want to feel like myself again, and its been a long time. But if I knew that toughing it out for another month, or two, I'd be over it, then I'd tough it out. Or should I submit to taking some sort of meds forever? Please help. Anyone else out there have an experience like this?
> >
> >
> > Just how much Buspar, Serzone, and Trazodone were you taking concurrently? There are drug interactions between Serzone and Buspar if my memory serves me correct.
> >
> > John
>
> at the end, I was taking 200 mg of Serzone, 150 mg of Trazadone (this only for a week or two) 15 mg of buspar and .25 to .5 mg xanax. When I look at this list now, I can't believe how stupid and trusting I was.
>
> Here's another possibility.. in my research, I"ve found www.benzo.org.uk (check it out). I think its possible that what I was dealing with originally was a pretty bad drug interaction, but now, what remains is benzodiazepine withdrawl. I used the xanax on and off for two years, and it was always my back up drug when the various insomia aids did not work. Toward the end, I was using it almost every night for a month, and I found that I had developed a tolerance - that is, .25 used to work, and then I needed .5 mg. even though I wasn't on it for the typical long time frame at the typcial higher dose, I wonder if my symptoms are all about the fact that I just quit it cold turkey eight weeks ago ?There are a lot of "anti-benzo" web sites. Sometimes I think they may go overboard. But it generally is not a good idea to quit a benzodiazepine cold turkey. The Serzone inhibits the metabolism of the Buspar (causing more Buspar to circulate in your body), so generally one would be a bit cautious and prescribe much less Buspar because of this. Usually Buspar is prescribed at 30 mg for anxiety, but you were taking 15 mg. When I took Buspar, I felt brain zaps whenever I shifted my eyes around, it was kind of weird.
Of the benzodiazepines, one of the better ones is Klonopin. It has a lower potential to be habit forming and it has a long life in your body (so you don't bounce up and down).
Something else that you may want to look into as an alternative is a medicine called Neurontin. This is a non-addictive antiseizure medicine that treats peripheral tingling type symtoms *very well* and helps many people with anxiety.
Best Wishes
John
Posted by kostyshock on August 15, 2002, at 21:31:33
In reply to Re: serotonin sensitivity or discontinuation syndrome? » JohnX2, posted by thealee on March 31, 2002, at 7:41:17
> > > I have gotten myself into a real pickle. Due to a number of traumatic events in my life, two years ago I started to take buspar for anxiety. Later, Serzone for depression. I was doing well on both of those for well over a year. But insomnia was always a problem.. tried a number of different things.. herbals, nortryptilene -but settled on trazadone, at 50 mg. Also had a prescription to xanax, for "emergencies" - which I ended up using fairly often, toward the end. Insomnia worsened, and I was told to increase trazadone to 100 mg, then to 150. This, on top of everything else I was taking, seemed to change my body chemistry forever. I started experiencing "electric shocks" and tingling, pins and needles in all my extremities. I was told this was serotonin sensitivity. 8 weeks ago just toughed it off the xanax and trazodone alltogether. Then tapered off the Serzone, hoping to find a level that my body could tolerate. no go. After that started cutting back on the Buspar. I would have some good days right after I tapered, but then mostly bad ones. A month ago, stopped the last of the buspar. I still experience the pins and needles every day.. but the worst is the headache/logey/ flu-like feeling.. like my brain is only working at half speed. So now am I experiencing discontinuation syndrome? I've been told that it would be unusual for the meds I was taking. I kept some xanax for "emergencies" but have used it very sparingly. Was told by one doctor that what I was experiencing now was just anxiety.. and that I had to get used to the idea that I might have to be on some anti-anxiety med for the rest of my life. I resented that, but have found that when I do take some xanax (after gritting my teeth for days with these symptoms) I seem to improve. I have an appointment to have my hormone levels checked (47 year old female - could perimenopause be doing this?) and with a new doctor to see if there is anything that can help me. I want to feel like myself again, and its been a long time. But if I knew that toughing it out for another month, or two, I'd be over it, then I'd tough it out. Or should I submit to taking some sort of meds forever? Please help. Anyone else out there have an experience like this?
> >
> >
> > Just how much Buspar, Serzone, and Trazodone were you taking concurrently? There are drug interactions between Serzone and Buspar if my memory serves me correct.
> >
> > John
>
> at the end, I was taking 200 mg of Serzone, 150 mg of Trazadone (this only for a week or two) 15 mg of buspar and .25 to .5 mg xanax. When I look at this list now, I can't believe how stupid and trusting I was.
>
> Here's another possibility.. in my research, I"ve found www.benzo.org.uk (check it out). I think its possible that what I was dealing with originally was a pretty bad drug interaction, but now, what remains is benzodiazepine withdrawl. I used the xanax on and off for two years, and it was always my back up drug when the various insomia aids did not work. Toward the end, I was using it almost every night for a month, and I found that I had developed a tolerance - that is, .25 used to work, and then I needed .5 mg. even though I wasn't on it for the typical long time frame at the typcial higher dose, I wonder if my symptoms are all about the fact that I just quit it cold turkey eight weeks ago ?
>
>
>
>
>
> This kinda sounds like me, I was having anxiety and went to the er a couple of time thinking i was having a heart attack. Well ever since i was put on .5mg of xanax for a couple of months and then Ativan for 5 days i quit cold turkey and haven't felt the same since, can't sleep I was the type of sleeper i would hit the bed and start snoring now its toss and turn eyes wide open. My shrink says its the anxiety not the withdraw or shock you put to your body when you did it cold turkey. bullshit, i know its that, and i haven't had it since and i'm not as bad but i am taking buspar so i don't know. i just want to be drug free.
Posted by bookgurl99 on August 20, 2002, at 23:20:45
In reply to Re: serotonin sensitivity or discontinuation syndrome?, posted by kostyshock on August 15, 2002, at 21:31:33
When I discontinued Serzone, I felt very strange. I had lots of trouble with memory and thinking clearly. (May or may not have been related to the Serzone, but just thought I'd throw that out there.) I've also had little zaps -- like electricity travelling down to a finger or foot, having it move involuntarily, as well as zaps in my head. It's been -- 4 mos. since I discontinued Serzone and I'm just starting to feel normal. Part of me wonders if it just has a really tough withdrawal for some people.
This is the end of the thread.
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