[dmhobbit]

I have recently had a conversation with my p-doc about upping my xanax from 6mg a day to 8mg a day for panic disorder due to a lot of things going on stressfully in my life that my coping skills cannot touch. This is just a two month temporary upping of my dose and i checked webmd and the therapeutic range for panic disorder is from 1mg-10mg a day with a target of 6mg a day... so I don't want to stay on it long... just until I get past the issues (like finances, taxes, and mother's day in May, etc, etc).

I do notice that since I recently went up from 4mg a day in divided doses to 6mg a day my sense of calmness and ability to handle daily stress is much better... Between me and my p-doc we have agreed on a temporary 2mg 4x daily dose, rate, and time for my next refill which will be on Monday the 7th.

I do have coping skills but since I have been on Benzo's for 16 years when I suddenly stop or come up short I have a seizure and most recently last month when I ran short I had a mini-seizure, after a fork flew out of my hand and began trembling violently ran to my futon and laid down and all went dark for about an hour and when I got up had some difficulty speaking and moving about. So I know its no joke to run out of my benzo... thus the increase I am requesting so that these next two difficult months I won't run out. Back in 2005 I had a grand mal seizure that sent me to the ER trauma hospital center when i was without benzo for two days... so its pretty scary that it seems I cannot even miss one dose without risking my brain having a seizure or a full-blown panic attack.

Thanks for letting me share.

P.S. I am not doing any drinking of alcohol nor doing any illicit drugs.

[kaliope]

I didn't like taking benzos for my ongoing anxiety so I had my pdoc give me buspar instead. it isn't addicting. have you tried it?

[dmhobbit]

Originally Posted by kaliope

I didn't like taking benzos for my ongoing anxiety so I had my pdoc give me buspar instead. it isn't addicting. have you tried it?

Yea I tried Buspar many years ago and it just put me to sleep for two days so no more of that... but taken regularly, the Xanax hits the spot so to speak. Glad it works for you though!

Much Peace and thanks for sharing!

~dmhobbit~

[-jimi-]

I hope things go well. I know it's sometimes tedious to answer questions, but is Xanax the only benzo you tried and it was the best?

Just asking, since it seems to vary a bit which benzos are the best for different people. I basically didn't feel Klonopin at all, it was basically a placebo. Tried Valium but had to use extreme dosages to just feel a tad drowsy. Oxazepam takes the edge off in a nice and nonintrusive way, but is so sedating for me. So I'm sticking with Xanax myself.

Still, I seem to be extremely sensitive to the sleep med Halcion, so before I swapped the late dosage of Xanax for a rather tiny dosage of Halcion and it really kept the Xanax dosage down. It might sound stupid to be on 2 benzos but in my case it was very effective and kept dosages really low.

Now I have some mild amnesia from Halcion so I only use it as an emergency sleep med. Shame really since it ups my Xanax consumption by 50-100 % .

[unaluna]

I couldnt find where that was considered the going dose for xanax. That seems like a lot to me. As evidenced by your seizures when you miss a dose. Dude! It took me a while to get off less than 1 mg and im a big girl. Be careful.

[healingme4me]

Does seem like a big jump in dosage, but I'm sure your pdoc knows how to treat your panic disorder. Is it PTSD related? I've read it can be high, there. Is your neurologist, medicating your seizure disorder, as well?

Hope the increase works, for you. Do they have you in weekly to check, while you go through this?

Is your T, able to break through the panic triggers?

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