![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
[email protected]Shown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Jaynee on February 22, 2003, at 17:00:47
I am on Celexa 20mg. I am thinking I may have to up it to 40mg. Never tried that much before, but I am really relying on ativan, so much, that I am begining to get worried. I really like the ativan. A beloved uncle just passed away and I seem to be wanting to numb myself with the ativan more and more. He died a day before I left for vacation in Hawaii, and I hate to fly, so I just took ativan the whole time I was there. I had a great time and was "very" relaxed. My stomach doesn't bother me when I'm on ativan. I guess my long drawn out question is will Neurontin help my anxiety, without the physical dependence? My GP doesn't like handing out Ativan. Will bumping my Celexa up to 40mg help?
Thanks in advance.
Posted by Emme on February 22, 2003, at 19:58:42
In reply to Please share experiences with Neurontin, thanks..., posted by Jaynee on February 22, 2003, at 17:00:47
First of all, I'm so sorry about your uncle.
As for anxiety meds, I personally found ativan to be more potent than clonazepam, which is more potent for me than neurontin was. Neurontin was subtle and smoothed out raw nerves and provided some background anxiety and mood control. YMMV of course.
I guess I'm wondering, though, why you and your doctor are worried about your ativan usage? Have you ramped it up a *whole* lot? How long have you been taking it? It sounds like you think you are using it to avoid feeling grief? Perhaps you need its help right now during this stressful time and will use less when your stress level eases off a bit. I find my clonazepam usage varies an *awful* lot depending on what's going on. You said your stomach doesn't bother you when you're on it, so it's clearly helping you.
It's a very personal decision, what to put in your body and I don't mean to push strongly or anything. But if the medicine is helping you, why not monitor your usage and go with it for a little while?
As for the physical dependence, well, my personal feelings on my own benzo usage are that I don't really care (sounds cavalier I know). I'm grateful for anxiety control and I tolerate it better than so many things. If I need to get off of it, I'll taper off with doctor's oversight and management. (If my stress levels are low, I can drop right down to just a crumb as it is anyway.)
Emme
Posted by cybercafe on February 23, 2003, at 0:12:40
In reply to Please share experiences with Neurontin, thanks..., posted by Jaynee on February 22, 2003, at 17:00:47
> I am on Celexa 20mg. I am thinking I may have to up it to 40mg. Never tried that much before, but I am really relying on ativan, so much, that I am begining to get worried. I really like the ativan. A beloved uncle just passed away and I seem to be wanting to numb myself with the ativan more and more. He died a day before I left for vacation in Hawaii, and I hate to fly, so I just took ativan the whole time I was there. I had a great time and was "very" relaxed. My stomach doesn't bother me when I'm on ativan. I guess my long drawn out question is will Neurontin help my anxiety, without the physical dependence? My GP doesn't like handing out Ativan. Will bumping my Celexa up to 40mg help?
>
> Thanks in advance.i took as much as 1200 mg of gabapentin at once... but found it's not as powerful as clonazepam
Posted by Jaynee on February 23, 2003, at 13:58:13
In reply to Re: Please share experiences with Neurontin, thank » Jaynee, posted by Emme on February 22, 2003, at 19:58:42
Emme,
I am already cutting down the ativan on my own.
For the longest time I only used it PRN, but since Christmas I have found that it really helped my stomach problems, which has been causing me major grief. So I have been taking it more. I really like the break from the excessive burping and pain. I am with you in that I don't care about physical dependence if it takes away the pain, and lets me function "almost" normal. I have only been taking .5mg a day, some days none, and some days I even only take .25mg or half a .5mg. The odd day I got up to 1mg, but I am trying to stay away from that. Personally, I don't think this is much, but my GP is really benzo phobic. I have asked to see a Pdoc, because they tend not to be as benzo phobic, but my GP isn't sure if I need to see one. But I will push hard to see one. Personally I don't think GP should be able to prescribe Psychiatric Drugs.I have been experimenting with benadryl, so I will see how that works. At least I can get that when I want it. I just hope it works.
Also because I don't need much ativan, I thought that maybe the Neurontin would work for me?
Thanks for your help.
Posted by Emme on February 23, 2003, at 16:48:50
In reply to Re: Please share experiences with Neurontin, thank, posted by Jaynee on February 23, 2003, at 13:58:13
Hi. Yeah, it does sound like you need the advice of a pdoc, especially with a benzophobic GP. If you feel you need better expertise to treat your anxiety, your GP would be cruel to fight you on going to a pdoc. It sounds like you are pretty conservative with your ativan usage. It couldn't hurt to try neurontin. The range of therapeutic doses is so large - you could start off trying a little bit and experiment upward to see what happens. And if it doesn't pan out, getting off is easy.
I liked it and found I could easily adjust the dose up or down. I'm no longer taking it because my white blood cell count dropped slightly (neurontin can sometimes do that apparently). No biggie, nothing serious, but I guess my GP figured better safe than sorry.
Good luck.
Emme> Emme,
>
> I am already cutting down the ativan on my own.
> For the longest time I only used it PRN, but since Christmas I have found that it really helped my stomach problems, which has been causing me major grief. So I have been taking it more. I really like the break from the excessive burping and pain. I am with you in that I don't care about physical dependence if it takes away the pain, and lets me function "almost" normal. I have only been taking .5mg a day, some days none, and some days I even only take .25mg or half a .5mg. The odd day I got up to 1mg, but I am trying to stay away from that. Personally, I don't think this is much, but my GP is really benzo phobic. I have asked to see a Pdoc, because they tend not to be as benzo phobic, but my GP isn't sure if I need to see one. But I will push hard to see one. Personally I don't think GP should be able to prescribe Psychiatric Drugs.
>
> I have been experimenting with benadryl, so I will see how that works. At least I can get that when I want it. I just hope it works.
>
> Also because I don't need much ativan, I thought that maybe the Neurontin would work for me?
>
> Thanks for your help.
Posted by not exactly on February 24, 2003, at 5:04:45
In reply to Please share experiences with Neurontin, thanks..., posted by Jaynee on February 22, 2003, at 17:00:47
I posted to another thread about my experience with Neurontin - see http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030125/msgs/137900.html
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
[email protected]
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.