No Doctors want to treat me for anxiety

That sounds very frusterating, in my case I have been prescribed Valium even though I have abused alcohol and its on record since it played a role in one of my trips to the psych ward....but I am honest about the fact my alcohol abuse was due to self medication, and self harm not addiction and thus far I have been able to use the valium responsibly intrestingly enough I did horribly with clonazepam(klonopin) it was too addictive and made me to apathetic but also a benzo so yes those sorts of drugs can be addicting maybe some more than others I haven't experienced that with the valium. But if you've never even abused drugs I don't see why they wouldn't prescribe benzo meds to you if your anxiety is that bad and you have no desire/intention to abuse them. Are you seeing regular doctors or psychiatrists? I guess you'd have to keep trying to find one that can be more helpful, if you're going to regular ones maybe see a psychiatrist.

Anyone on this thread can have my benzo addiction with a bog red bow wrapped around it. Being a "good and compliant patient" is what led to my benzo hell. After all, when I was first prescribed k-pin it was a new miracle medication for anxiety. I took it just as prescribed. Now a couple of decades later I have cognitive problems (can't remember much of my life since I started taking k-pin, it's heartbreaking to me). Ha, I remember, though, the name of the p-doc who prescribed k-pin for me. Ironic. Anyway, at this point I'm experiencing the "paradoxical reaction" that benzo use usually eventually causes. In other words, the medication is causing me to be anxious and agitated, but I can't stop taking it without the absolutely horrendous physical withdrawal symptoms.

My thoughts way back when I'd been on k-pin for a few years and intuitively knew I needed to start to come off it, but couldn't, were along the lines of "Meh, I'm still young...I'll be able to get off the stuff when I really need to". But the years have flown by...and here I am.

It seems klonopin keeps coming up as a problematic benzo in this thread, I had problems with it as well. Is there something about it that perhaps makes it more addictive and problematic than others?...because I don't experience the problems I had with that with Valium which is in the same class. Just curious about peoples opinions on this.

Hi Hellion, From what I've learned and experienced, klonopin is an especially difficult benzo because it is so helpful at first, then so tremendously addictive...I do believe it has to do with the drug's half-life. There's a lot of info online about klonopin withdrawal.

Valuim has the longest half life. Some of the metabolites last like 100 hours.

Xanax has a very short half life.

Klonopin fairly long like 8 or ten hours I think.

I don't know what would make it more addictive or if it is.

I am fairly certain that Kolonopin has a long half life in the system than 8-10 hours. I have taken it before and it was what my mother took with very good results, well the could have been good if she were not abusing pain meds. I just figured it was a safe bet to take the same stuff she did and she did zoloft and klonopin. She suffered obsessive thoughts, she would think about having left the stove on all the time, and she would do this weird thing where she picked up a random object and like clacked her fingers on the bottom and sit it back down. She was also bulimic and lost all her teeth. She is dead and insight she may have given into my issues and thought processes died with her.

Oh you are right. 30 to 40 hours. Holy crap I didn't know it was that long. Maybe that is why at such a low dose I have had absolutely no anxiety.

I don't know which one is your best bet. I do not have much experience with them. First time I have ever taken them as a psyche med in 20 years of treatment. My pdoc chose klonopin over the others I know at least partly because of the half life. I just demanded he give me something that would work and we both knew I was talking benzo's.

I've tried Xanax and Valium and they did nothing for me. Klonopin is the only benzo that helps my anxiety/panic. I wish I could be med free, but I don't see that happening.

If antidepressants are so non-addictive, were do the withdrawals come from?

Well that is a good question. It depends on how you define addiction. It doesn't fit the standard definition. You don't get high on them. If you stop taking them you don't get this overwhelming feeling to keep taking them. I am a recovering addict and have switched AD's many times. I have never had bad withdrawals but every one tells me that is cause I always switched. I have never had a craving to take an AD.

Some drugs like alcohol or pot don't have a bad withdrawal but an addict will get this obsession to go back for more and more even without withdrawal. Some people who aren't addicts can get physically addicted to opiates or benzo's or coke or meth. But they can quit and go through the withdrawal and never go back. An addict will get through the withdrawal and go back anyway even after feeling good. My strongest urges to drink came after the hangover was all over and i had not had a drink for a week and I was feeling great and then game on again. It had nothing to do with withdrawal. My ex wife when we first met was a weekend coke head, and pot smoker, and drinker, and cigarette smoker. Definitely partly physically addicted to coke and for sure to cigarettes. She got pregnant with our daughter and quit everything cold turkey without one complaint about withdrawal including cigarettes. Hasn't touched a thing since except for an occasional glass on wine. She is not an addict.

So there is a difference between addicts and non addicts. Some drugs are physically addictive to non addicts and cause a high and have bad withdrawal, but it is more they are dependent on them because of the withdrawal. As soon as the withdrawal is over they are fine.

AD's can have very bad withdrawal for some but to me it is totally different than an addict and totally different then benzo's or opiates as far as being physically addictive. But does that mean they are dependent on the AD because of the withdrawal. I dunno. i guess it is true that those who have bad withdrawal are physically dependent on AD's but not everyone has bad withdrawal so can you say they are addictive I don't think so. The vast majority of non addicts will get physically dependent on benzo's or opiates and have bad withdrawal. But not everyone including addicts have bad withdrawal with AD's.

But I dunno its complicated. I think I understand why people have bad withdrawal from AD's when someone goes off meds and doesn't switch. It all has to do with the receptors getting all whacked in the synaptic cleft in the brain. Why people have bad withdrawal when switching from one SSRI to another SSRI I have no idea...or if it even happens. I was trying to find out in another thread if anyone has ever had that. Bad withdrawal when just switching from one to another in the same class.

When I was on Effexor, I was going through withdrawals every day before the new dosage. Every day I sat counting down minutes for 2-3 hours until med time and the huge relief from the nastiness. There was no drug seeking for a kick, but a huge one for release from withdrawals. It took everything I had not to take the med earlier and earlier every day. After taking it I was totally euphoric.

The euphoric feeling is probably like placebo because you know your going to relief and your brain knows relief was coming before the drug kicked. This is a lot like addicts experience all the time. A coke addict starts getting a coke high as soon as the coke is on the mirror and they start chopping a line. Changes take place in the brain before ever taking the drug. well known phenomenon.

So I dunno it is a complicated issue. The placebo effect does not just happen it addicts. I don't think you can call it addiction because not everyone has withdrawal and they don't get you high. The first time you took Effexor did you get high? The withdrawal comes from messed up brain chemistry after the drug is removed that is true for any drug that has withdrawal. Or even sugar.

AD's cause physical dependence. Your body becomes physically dependent upon the medication, so withdrawal occurs when you decrease the med too fast.

Jimi, I have the same thing with my meds. I start feeling withdrawal a few hours before med time. But when I take the meds, I just feel stable, not euphoric. I wish I felt euphoric. But I can definitely live with stable.

I think the euphoria was just from when the withdrawals stopped, you know. It was probably such a relief because those withdrawals were nasty.

I don't get high on Xanax, so it is not addictive to me? Doesn't kind of sound right.

If withdrawals is the main issue with both types of meds, maybe they actually do have a lot in common?

But if you are not an addict then maybe you are not addicted to xanax.
Although benzo's are highly addictive but much more so for addicts. But then I take Konopin and I don't really get high on it. Low dose. higher dose I probably would. And the withdrawals are supposed to horrible.

I don't think you can put benzo's and AD's in the same category.

Then there are some drugs that anyone is gonna get high on no matter what. My Mom came home from some procedure on anesthesia and she was as high as a kite. She is as far as you can get from an addict.

It is certainly complicated and I guess it is how you define it. Addiction or dependence. I think there is a difference. But I am a recovering addict and was addicted to alot of things over the years so I am coming at it from that angle. I definitely was never addicted to AD's in my view.

I'm still dependent on the benzo. Dependent on the SSRI. So for me it is the same. I know several people in my situation where they never abused the benzo. Just because something can be abused doesn't mean it is automatically abused.

I agree with you. Addictive personalities are much more likely to abuse them however. Most people who are not addicts will not abuse them.

But here I am a recovering addict taking benzo's. Most docs and people would say that is an absolute no no. I am not abusing them though. I take them exactly as prescribed. It is risky for me and I thought long and hard about it. Its a risk I am willing to take.

In a sense I am dependent on Lamictal and Fetzima because they are working and I need them to help by depression. They are not addictive though. And I don't really look at it as being dependent either.

The only way to know if I was physically dependent on them would be to totally go off and not take anything else and see how the withdrawal was. I am not doing that anytime soon since these are working better than anything I have tried.

So I got my benzos and I am feeling much more calm and centered. Still kind of depressed and gloomy but then again I am going through a pretty stressful situation at work. I find I am more productive, if I see dishes that need washing I just rise them off and load them up in the dishwasher without thinking about how awful and icky it is. I sleep very well and waken refreshed. Before the meds everything just seemed like too much trouble and now I Fjust find myself doing what needs to be done pretty effortlessly.

I'm glad the benzos are helping you. Although I'm a recovering alcoholic/addict, my pdoc has prescribed Xanax to me for sleep. I do not feel the least bit interested in taking it any other time (abusing it).

Great to hear. Success for all three of us even though two of us are recovering addicts.

I see you are on welbutrin I wonder if I would have better results with that than zoloft ?

Wellbutrin can easily give someone already dealing with anxiety more of it.

If you don't like the Zoloft there are other antidepressants.

Zoloft, an SSRI should be dealing with panic and anxiety and OCD. If not maybe it isn't working. There are many other SSRIs as are there many other groups of anti- depressants. Benzos like activan are great for short trauma periods but they are addictive to those with an addictive personality.

Your psychiatrist could give you a low dose of an anti-psychotic which are prescribed for depression and anxiety too. They are not addictive and have given people great results. The most popular are Seroquel and Zyprexa.

I have never known of SSRI's to be effective for panic and anxiety. Drug companies may claim they are but I think the real world shows they are not effective. Maybe for some they are but not many.

AAP's bring up another set of issues. I would rather take a benzo then an AAP for anxiety. Even though I am a recovered addict.

For me the only med that had even a mild effect on panic was effexor. The SSRI's never had an effect on panic for me, I can easily get a panic attack on meds. I can also get anxious like the stressed out type. My SSRI helps me to reduce rumination and obsessive thoughts. In that way they help anxiety but only if the anxiety comes second to unpleasant repetitive thoughts, if the anxiety is primary my med does not help, unfortunately for me ONLY benzo helps with that.