WARNING: Do not trust doctors

[KRIEGER]

They are as greedy as all of us. Do not take any addictive medications they might prescribe to you. It will destroy your life, regardless of what you believe those first few months. Three years ago, I had an extreme case of anxiety, stress, insomnia, etc etc etc. So I went to Dr. Vaughn (our family trusted doctor who has unwillingly turned my mother into a nutcase) for medication to resolve my mental unstableness. He started me out slowly on anti-depressants and other garbage. It didn't fucking help at all. I wasn't even depressed to begin with, so I went back to the doctor to let him know, and that is where hell on earth began.

He then seemed to push his powers to desperate measures as he prescribed me to 1mg Clonazepam (Klonopin) and 1mg of Alprazolam (Xanax). They were a miracle. For the first time in my life, I had felt "perfect" in a sense that I needed nothing else ever again. Well little did I know, I would soon become a slave to these pills. I cannot go through my days without them, or else I will get the chills, my teeth will grind, my entire body will uncontrollably shiver. They don't even seem to work anymore. All they do is keep me from having horrendous withdrawing side effects. It's honestly hell on earth, and I don't know what to turn to now.

All I am saying is, DO NOT TRUST DOCTORS. They will convince you that they have an answer to your problems, and they are laughing all the way to the bank at YOUR expense. At this point, I feel as if I'd rather be an alcoholic. Which is completely asinine because I hate loud and obnoxious drunks. I hate drugs in general, and I think they're ruining our country, BUT WHO AM I TO SPEAK, HUH?

DO NOT TRUST DOCTORS.
/rant off

[azamugg]

good rant Kreiger and a worthy one..........................you are in a unique situation called "clarity" and if you don't go for rehab then you are missing the boat..........literally and figuratively

go

PM if you have questions bro

[Noah.Dreams]

Rehab is the only way out of this hell. Five days and you'll be a new man.

Keep us posted, buddy.

[Cianne]

I think a better statement is don't trust family physicians to dole out psych drugs. Get a referral to a specialist before you get on anti-depressants, etc. Many family physicians are clueless on drug interactions outside of what a rep says.

Like the other two said though, getting into a good rehab program is the only thing that is going to break the cycle.

[BAMAPERRY]

I took Paxil for a year back in 99-2000. It destroyed my life before I knew what was happening. I quit cold turkey, and damn near wound up committing suicide. The best thing for you to do would be to ween yourself off of them. Good luck.

[AUTiger94]

I have been prescribed all manner of drugs in the treatment of my bulging discs. One in particular (Kadian-Morphine) f'd me up good. After a while the pain seemed more intense than before and I was obviously hooked. I quit cold turkey and that was about 5 days of living hell complete w/ stomach aches, tunnel vision, etc. all while teaching. Fun stuff.

Anyway, good luck Krieger. I hope you get it all resolved.

[TDArkansasOhmy]

That's a terrible thing for a kid at 18 to suffer with anxiety, stress, insomnia, etc etc etc. In today's medical world we live in, it's just too damn easy for quacks to prescribe little pills to make things all better and to get patients off their backs for the time being with their "Quick Fix" they send you out the door with.
To each their own on what should be done in cases like this. But clearly you can't continue on the course your presently on.
Good luck with your recovery

[ugafan48]

That's why I don't go to doctors.

[GatorHunter]

He then seemed to push his powers to desperate measures as he prescribed me to 1mg Clonazepam (Klonopin) and 1mg of Alprazolam (Xanax). They were a miracle. For the first time in my life, I had felt "perfect" in a sense that I needed nothing else ever again. Well little did I know, I would soon become a slave to these pills. I cannot go through my days without them, or else I will get the chills, my teeth will grind, my entire body will uncontrollably shiver. They don't even seem to work anymore. All they do is keep me from having horrendous withdrawing side effects. It's honestly hell on earth, and I don't know what to turn to now.

First off...that doc is a complete idiot if he prescribed you two benzodiazepines at the same time...especially at those dosages. I would never give a patient 1mg of Xanax as a starting dose. .25 is usually enough. As far as the klonopin...half that dose is enough. However, if the patient continues to take these meds...they will build tolerance and, like most other drugs, they'll require higher doses to get the same results. These drugs are suppose to be used "temporarily"...they were never meant to be prescribed long-term. There are countless other drugs....SSRI's and tricyclic antidepressants that would help you. These drugs work great and don't have nearly as many side-effects. However, these drugs can take 2-4 weeks to become therapeutic, so, a short stint with a benzo can help.

The best way to "get off" benzos is to titrate your doses...slowly by .25-.5 reductions. If you're taking 1mg of Xanax 2-3 times a day..cut it to .5 on two of the doses for a week, then .5 all 3 doses for a week...then, cut one of the doses to .25 and so on...do this until you've worked it out of your system.

DO NOT STOP A BENZO COLD TURKEY...YOU COULD GO INTO CARDIAC ARREST!!!!!!!!

I would definitely recommend that you give an SSRI a try. Prozac or Paxil work great...Prozac tends to "pep" you up and Paxil tends to bring you down. Take Prozac in the AM and Paxil in the PM.

I took Paxil for a year back in 99-2000. It destroyed my life before I knew what was happening. I quit cold turkey, and damn near wound up committing suicide. The best thing for you to do would be to ween yourself off of them. Good luck.

BP...I've never, ever heard of someone committing suicide after stopping an SSRI. Now...I've heard of people committing suicide while taking an SSRI...but they were gonna do it eventually anyway...the SSRI just made them feel "good" enough to pull it off.

[timNem]

Hunter, we should start a Wellness Forum category where we can ask you questions and get free advice from a physician :D Seriously.

[GatorHunter]

Hunter, we should start a Wellness Forum category where we can ask you questions and get free advice from a physician :D Seriously.

That would be cool...the only thing that rivals my desire for watching/talking about CFB is medicine. Both are common in one particular way...they're always changing. Feel free to ask away and hopefully, I'll have a helpful answer.

[JerryBeeds]

I actually trust doctors very much. Who the hell else are you going to go to when you're sick? Kevin Trudeau?

[JessJess6713]

Don't condemn doctors, you'll need them to help you with your problems. You cannot solve chemical balance problems on your own.

Like any other group of people there are a few crazy, reckless doctors out there. You just have to find a good one. Birmingham has some very large and current medical facilities.

Medicine is a science, but it is not perfect. It IS reliable and better than not receiving treatment. Cianne was right on when he said you should have seen a specialist.

Remember to NEVER be afraid to get a second, third, or how ever many opinions you need to feel comfortable with a decision, especially concerning drugs or surgery.

Doctors spend a lot of time working hard, studying, and learning how to help people. If you have two or three unaffiliated doctors telling you something, you should listen. If you think your doctor is off base, go get some more opinions. Just don't fall into that alternative medicine non-sense. I hope you can solve your problems. Best of luck.

[GatorHunter]

Don't condemn doctors, you'll need them to help you with your problems. You cannot solve chemical balance problems on your own.

Like any other group of people there are a few crazy, reckless doctors out there. You just have to find a good one. Birmingham has some very large and current medical facilities.

Medicine is a science, but it is not perfect. It IS reliable and better than not receiving treatment. Cianne was right on when he said you should have seen a specialist.

Remember to NEVER be afraid to get a second, third, or how ever many opinions you need to feel comfortable with a decision, especially concerning drugs or surgery.

Doctors spend a lot of time working hard, studying, and learning how to help people. If you have two or three unaffiliated doctors telling you something, you should listen. If you think your doctor is off base, go get some more opinions. Just don't fall into that alternative medicine non-sense. I hope you can solve your problems. Best of luck.

Good post.:thumbs:

Really...it's like anything else. When I go to buy tires...I do a little research. I look up a tire web-site and see what tires I need and get an ave. price. If I were a person with no medical knowledge in need of attention...I would do a little research...or, if may be easier to do the research after the fact. If a doc were to prescribe me valium (another of the benzos) for "nerves" and tell me I could take it as needed...I would probably look it up and learn that I shouldn't be operating a vehicle while taking it...the doc may not have given me that useful nugget of info. I will admit...I see patients all the time that come into my office with a list of meds they're taking...and I look at the list and say "WTF?!?!" When looking for a health care provider...ask around, ask people you trust who they see...just like buying tires.:)

[volimhtown]

Interesting topic. For starters, to address something TD stated, who are REALLY the "quacks"?? The people who are prescribing the pills OR the growing numbers of idiots in our society who increasingly want to believe and demand that their problems be fixed by simply taking a pill? Damning the doctors is both stupid and is just another of the growing ways our society conveniently deflects personal responsibility. I guess it's just much easier to play the roll of the victim!

Not to make light of Krieger's personal situation as it certainly sounds like his doctor was wrong in making the decisions he made, but if you're suffering from "extreme anxiety, stress, insomnia, etc etc etc." at the age of 18 :eek:, common sense (in my opinion) would suggest that your problems are too well rooted and a bit more complex than can be solved by a pill or two. I'm not taking the side of the doctor, but it's much more irresponsible to proclaim to everyone "not to trust doctors" based on one bad experience. Doctors are just like everybody else in every other profession.... there are good ones and bad ones. You don't judge the entire bushel based on one spoiled apple!

Plus, UNLIKE every other profession, medicine is NOT an exact science with relation to diagnosis, cures, and courses of action. Medications will have different effects on different people. What works for one person may not work for you. Why do you think there are so many different cold and headache medications that you can buy? And we ALL know someone who swears to a specific brand of medication that works wonders for them, but does nothing for us. Every body has different reactions to different things. The other side of the coin is that nobody knows our bodies better than us. It's ok to scrutinize a prescribed course of action. As Jess said, a second and third opinion is not a bad thing...especially when fixing to take such potent medications.

Finally, again like everything else, it's a good idea to educate yourself about the product BEFORE you take it. Understand the potential side effects, addiction, and long term effects of taking such medications. And then finally, really scrutinize whether or not you really NEED to begin such treatment. We over medicate ourselves WAY too much as a society....especially for mental related problems!

[azamugg]

that was concise for you Vol.....tired?

[volimhtown]

that was concise for you Vol.....tired?

Aren't you the funny m*ther f*cker!! :D

Hope all is well with you and yours, Bro!!

[KRIEGER]

I suppose 'not trusting doctors' is a bit over-dramatic. But I just realized how insane I went when I lost my pill bottle a couple days ago, thus I created this thread out of anger. I haven't been on the last couple days because I've been frantically searching for my klonopin bottle. Another thing that sucks about benzo's... THEY F'N OBLITERATE YOUR SHORT TERM MEMORY. I don't even remember creating this thread until I came across it again just now. Thanks for all the support and whatnot, but I'm not going to rehab. I have willpower, and I hate NA meetings. It's filled with meth heads. Anyway I talked to my doctor, and he said pretty much the same thing that gatordude said... "simply cut down the dosage day by day", but when I run out completely I might have trouble (which I already know I will). He told me to come see him and he will try Ativan instead of Satan. I can't look into the future, but it will be a miracle if this works.