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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
[email protected]Shown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by zuzu80 on May 15, 2004, at 13:43:31
Hello.
I am thinking about ordering some Adrafinil but I am not sure if it's a safe medicine. I heard all that about liver damage?! or dysfunction?!
Anyone has any idea about side effects? headache?
I am considering taking one pill a day (300mg) long term in the hope that it will help my Social Anxiety. I might also combine it with Klonopin.
Has anyone took it long term without problems?
I just want to mention that I'm a young lady 21 yo. So does that mean I can tolerate it better?!
Thanks for all help,
Christine
Posted by zeugma on May 15, 2004, at 14:05:22
In reply to Adrafinil - Is it dangerous ?!, posted by zuzu80 on May 15, 2004, at 13:43:31
Well, generally the younger you are the more tolerant you'll be of even toxic meds :)
Why don't you try modafanil (Provigil) instead? By all accounts it is safer and more effective. I don't know that it will augment the Klonopin for social anxiety. A lot of people recommend more traditional stimulants (Adderall, Dexedrine) for pro-social augmentation of Klonopin. Ritalin seems to be almost anti-social in its effects. I find Strattera to be effective for ADD, but absolutely neutral with regard to desire to socialize. One thing I am noticing, as I am lowering the dose of nortriptyline, a sedating antidepressant, is that the desire to isolate that was one of my most distressing symptoms carried over from my earlier all-out depression, and that left me vulnerable to relapse from specific environmental triggers, is/was in part the product of having little energy, period. Social anxiety makes your brain burn huge amounts of energy in social situations even if you are on Klonopin, and that can be extermely fatiguing. Are you on other meds for depression /anxiety?
Posted by Sad Panda on May 15, 2004, at 14:07:57
In reply to Adrafinil - Is it dangerous ?!, posted by zuzu80 on May 15, 2004, at 13:43:31
> Hello.
>
> I am thinking about ordering some Adrafinil but I am not sure if it's a safe medicine. I heard all that about liver damage?! or dysfunction?!
>
> Anyone has any idea about side effects? headache?
>
> I am considering taking one pill a day (300mg) long term in the hope that it will help my Social Anxiety. I might also combine it with Klonopin.
>
> Has anyone took it long term without problems?
>
> I just want to mention that I'm a young lady 21 yo. So does that mean I can tolerate it better?!
>
> Thanks for all help,
> Christine
>Hi Christine,
Have you tried many SSRI's, one of these may help with social anxiety. I take Effexor myself, but I take it for depression, social anxiety is a lesser problem for me.
Cheers,
Panda.
Posted by pseudonym on May 15, 2004, at 19:33:11
In reply to Re: Adrafinil - Is it dangerous ?! » zuzu80, posted by zeugma on May 15, 2004, at 14:05:22
In order to get Adderall or Dexedrine, is a diagnosis of social phobia enough, or do you need your pdoc to diagnose you as ADD? I understand there are no hard and fast rules, but my primary doc thinks of Adderall in about the same class as speed, and wouldn't prescribe it to save her life.
Posted by zeugma on May 15, 2004, at 19:50:49
In reply to Re: Adrafinil - Is it dangerous ?!, posted by pseudonym on May 15, 2004, at 19:33:11
> In order to get Adderall or Dexedrine, is a diagnosis of social phobia enough, or do you need your pdoc to diagnose you as ADD? I understand there are no hard and fast rules, but my primary doc thinks of Adderall in about the same class as speed, and wouldn't prescribe it to save her life.
I have a dx of ADD, and could get Adderall easily enough. For social phobia it would be an off-label prescription, which is fine, but stimulants are scheduled drugs, and I think pdocs are monitored for their prescription of such drugs. As my pdoc is an ADD specialist, he would prescribe Adderall readily to me if other (health) considerations did not intervene, but it took many anxiety-induced 'meltdowns' before he could be persuaded to prescribe me Klonopin.
A lot of doctors are simply not familiar with the dx of social phobia- it gets lumped in with (IMO far milder and less disabling) disorders such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and so appropriate treatment (from the data I have seen, Klonopin and nardil) is simply not given until their patients are reduced to such misery that either the dr. gives in and prescribes something helpful or the patient finds another pdoc who is more amenable to reason. SSRI's have some efficacy in social phobia (or in "social anxiety," which may or may not be the same thing), but their side effect profiles are about as bad as Nardil and much worse then Klonopin's, and their efficacy is much more equivocal (to say the least).
Posted by iansf on May 16, 2004, at 13:50:19
In reply to Re: Adrafinil - Is it dangerous ?! » pseudonym, posted by zeugma on May 15, 2004, at 19:50:49
> > In order to get Adderall or Dexedrine, is a diagnosis of social phobia enough, or do you need your pdoc to diagnose you as ADD? I understand there are no hard and fast rules, but my primary doc thinks of Adderall in about the same class as speed, and wouldn't prescribe it to save her life.
>
>
More to the point, I suspect your doctor would't prescribe Adderall to save YOUR life. That's certainly been my experience. They wouldn't think of prescribing something that could help but has risks, but they don't balk at all at condemning someone to a constricted and unfulfilling life that leaves them lonely and struggling to survive financially. That's somehow OK. That I've often contemplated suicide because of my frustrations is apparently not a concern. "Big deal, you end up dead. At least you won't be addicted to anything when you die. Isn't that better?"
Posted by zeugma on May 16, 2004, at 17:42:12
In reply to Re: Adrafinil - Is it dangerous ?!, posted by iansf on May 16, 2004, at 13:50:19
> > > In order to get Adderall or Dexedrine, is a diagnosis of social phobia enough, or do you need your pdoc to diagnose you as ADD? I understand there are no hard and fast rules, but my primary doc thinks of Adderall in about the same class as speed, and wouldn't prescribe it to save her life.
> >
> >
> More to the point, I suspect your doctor would't prescribe Adderall to save YOUR life. That's certainly been my experience. They wouldn't think of prescribing something that could help but has risks, but they don't balk at all at condemning someone to a constricted and unfulfilling life that leaves them lonely and struggling to survive financially. That's somehow OK. That I've often contemplated suicide because of my frustrations is apparently not a concern. "Big deal, you end up dead. At least you won't be addicted to anything when you die. Isn't that better?"
>Well, we live in a litigation culture, and it's all about covering your own a**. I have an extremely low opinion of SSRI's, and I believe their great popularity relative to drugs that work better (TCA's and MAOI's) is that they are not lethal in overdose. Ironically, this doesn't mean that fewer people kill themselves on SSRI's: it just means that the doctor can't be blamed, because he/she didn't prescribe something that could be used to commit the act.
Similarly with scheduled drugs, benzos and stimulants. The FDA thinks nothing of doctors who prescribe tons of SSRI's, even though there DOES seem to be a correlation between impulsive acts committed early in SSRI therapy (due to a peculiar kind of disinhibition) and suicide. Maybe these drugs will be scheduled soon, already I think that prozac is the only drug in this class approved for childhood depressions because of its relative lack of discontinuation syndrome. My pdoc had to be prodded by his colleague, who knew me well, and knew that I had literally tried every other option to manage an anxiety that was threatening my livelihood, to prescribe a benzo. I have gone through terrible frustration due to run-of-the-mill pdocs who thought SSRI's were magic pills, and more enlightened specialists who were familiar with older drugs such as TCA's (which are the only things that ever alleviated my depressions) but who balked at benzos because my anxiety was 'psychological' (I am quoting what he said: as if my depression, ADD, et al. weren't 'psychological' too!). Benzos and stims IMO are LESS risky than many newer treatments, but because they are scheduled, pdocs dislike prescribing them because they might be held accountable at some point, either for 'addicting' someone, or for making an 'inappropriate' number of scripts for controlled substances. I am ranting, b/c I'm not feeling especially good at the moment, but I wanted to respond to your post because I have been there myself more than once and it is infuriating.
>
Posted by kemist on May 16, 2004, at 18:07:21
In reply to Adrafinil - Is it dangerous ?!, posted by zuzu80 on May 15, 2004, at 13:43:31
I found it quite a benign stimulant, but I take it only as required (usually when I've been up programming too late and don't feel to chipper in the morning!).
cheers,
kemistP.S. I'm not a nutter, I'm one of those "smart drugs" people.
Posted by iansf on May 17, 2004, at 1:10:17
In reply to Re: Adrafinil - Is it dangerous ?!, posted by kemist on May 16, 2004, at 18:07:21
> I found it quite a benign stimulant, but I take it only as required (usually when I've been up programming too late and don't feel to chipper in the morning!).
>
> cheers,
> kemist
>
> P.S. I'm not a nutter, I'm one of those "smart drugs" people.Uh... I suspect you don't mean the use of the term "nutter" to be derogatory, but it's not exactly kind. The implication is that the rest of us are nuts and you're not, which I think is probably not what you intended to convey. I hope it's not anyway. But you might be a little more careful with phrasing, just to avoid insulting anyone unintentionally.
>
Posted by chemist on May 17, 2004, at 1:12:28
In reply to Re: Adrafinil - Is it dangerous ?!, posted by kemist on May 16, 2004, at 18:07:21
...a chemist? interested in connecting with people of similar backgrounds while seeking information....all the best, chemist
This is the end of the thread.
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