Librium (medical question....but I think I can get away wit it!)

In My Humble Opinion
1

Ok the first thing I want to say is

I AM UNDER A DOCTOR’S CARE

The second thing i wanted to say is

I AM UNDER A DOCTOR’S CARE!!!

So I’m hoping this can stay open. As I’m really looking for opinions and more imprtantly, what I can ask my doctor (WHO I WILL BE CONSULTING WITH SOON!)

Anyway, I’ve had the worst year of my life. And one result is my drinking too much. My doctor thought librium would help.

It’s helped. A lot. Not just wit the drinking but with the anxiety I’ve dealt with my whole life.

I’ve had other prescriptioens for anxiety before. Prozac (but that’s really more for depression and I don’t think that’s really me problem). Lexapro (horrible…did nothing but knock me out. Kep me or lord from Lexapro ever again!). Efexxor (also more for depression plus it screws up your sex drive. For god sake, without a sex drive I will have a good reasone to be depressed!). Klonapin (sp?) which is for anxiety but just makes me feel high and that’s the last thing I need…I want to be straight (as far as drugs go I mean)

So nothing’s worked. Till librium. God this is wonderfu. Doesn’t make me high, helps me not want to drink, stops the comulsive thinking, lets me get things done. my god, just tonight I wrote 1000 words on a story I was thinking about that I hadn’t been able to write at all for the past 6 months.

My question I guess, is, well, I can’t keep taking it. My PDR says no more than 4 months. The question is, if this works and nothing else does, what might else work?

I’m also interested in any other experience related…alcohol detox? anxiety? other drugs? Anything.

And I will say one more time I AMUNDER A DOCTORS CARE AND I WILL BE SEENING HIM SOON.

I guess I’m looking for things to ask him about, and maybe personal experiences.

So I hope this can stay open.

2

IANAD and all that, but speaking from experience, reduction in anxiety, increased productivity and a feeling of greater well-being can also be a direct result of not drinking. So, it’s great that the Librium has helped you get a handle on that, but it may be that after 4 months you won’t need it, especially if your problems have been significantly related to real life events.

3

Also be aware that for certain segments of the population (the heavy drinker segment mostly), librium is a lot like booze in pill form. I’ve used it to manage alcohol withdrawal in my patients, but I don’t use it for anything else.

Benzodiazepines (librium, valium, ativan, xanax, etc) are generally not good medications to use chronically in people who have a history of alcohol abuse.

4

I’m not going to diagnose you. IANAD for another few months.

For anxiety and/or depression, the first line we use is either Celexa (although Lexapro, a very closely related drug to Celexa, you say didn’t work for you) or Paxil. These are usually used for depression but they work very well for anxiety. They may zonk you out, though, which you report with Lexapro. Prozac and Effexor work nicely too, but they tend to cause a bit of agitation in the anxious, especially in the first two weeks. This goes away and they end up working very nicely, if you can get through the first bit.

That said, all of these drugs that work in this fashion (the SSRIs), and work well for anxiety/depression, mess with your sex drive (or cause anorgasmia). If one really does that, you should try another, people have different side effects. There are quite a few, and don’t give up until you find the right one. There are second and third line drugs to be tried as well.

What Qadgop said about the benzodiazipines, too. They are generally best used as temporizing factors (like in those first two weeks after you start an SSRI and the anxiety increases or until you find the right SSRI). We (I’m on psychiatry now) don’t like giving them for more than 2 months. They shouldn’t be used in recovering alcoholics or those with heavy alcohol abuse.

5

Hmmmm…this is all very interesting.

I do realize I can’t continue with Benzodiazepines (valium? xanax? on god no!)

I was, though wondering if it worked for me if there’s something else that might be good to try.

I have to admit I’m kind of fustrated (well, us anxitious nerourtic types we get testy :wink: ) with the constant…“oh this didn’t work, try this!” I realie it’s not a broken leg…not like you can see what’s wrong, set it and have done. It’s your brain. But it’s difficult. Certainly when you have to spend a month on a pill that then makes you feel worse than how you felt before.

And anyway, Benzodiazepines can’t be used for very long…I know that. But I do wonder if that helping me might be a clue to what might really help.

Far be it from me to question your medical opinion :slight_smile: which I’ve always had the greatest opinion for, but…well I take you point and as said I’m not expecting to continue with it…I found it quite the opposite of booze in a pill. Didn’t make me want to drink. Didn’t make me feel drunk. Quite the contrary, made me feel like doing something useful. Made me feel coherent and I can’t sat i have for the past few months.

Anyway, that’s why I was looking for something that WASN"T booze in a pill (including xanax, valium, klonapin (sp?) and a ot of things that DID make me eel fuked up…

Is there anything LIKE Benzodiazepines that might help?
(And yes, I’m asking for medical advice so maybe i’m skirting the edges here, but I AM going t the doctor Fri. and he’ll be te one i ask and who will prescribe so I how it’s all ok.)

6

Hmmmm…sorry about the many typos and malapropisms.

Man, maybe I do need new medication.

But like I said, and advice, or what i can suggest to my DR. of friday is still very welcome.

Thanks

7

Remember when alcohol worked for you? I mean, really, really worked? It makes so many alcoholics feel so good and work so well in the early days of their drinking. It makes them relaxed, sociable, coherent, and seems to focus them on their tasks at hand, with just a small drink. Many problem drinkers remember this period with great pleasure, and always long to find it again. That gentle hug from God, that affirmation that they’re ok and will continue to be ok. Sadly it doesn’t continue to work that way for most problem drinkers.

The benzos work like this in the beginning, too.

Maybe it won’t work like that for you. But don’t bet the farm on it.

8

I’m on an anti-anxiety medicine called BuSpar (pronounced byou-spar). It’s one of the few commonly prescribed anti-anxiety medications that’s not a benzodiazepine. It has made a huge difference in anxiety for me.

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Buspar has a pretty good track record as far as treating anxiety effectively without all those nasty addictive side-effects. So does imipramine.

Having said that, I leave the decision as to what to use for anxiety in the hands of psychiatrists these days. Of course the psychiatrists I work with on a daily basis don’t generally recommend any benzos for anxiety.

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Speaking of benzos, what the hell is up with Xanax. I’ve eaten a few differnt types of benzos over the years but nothing for the past 2+ decades. Recently a doc gave me some half-milligram tablets of Xanax and one of them knocked me out for the night and kept me more-or-less stupid for most of the next day.
I cut the tab in half and tried it. Same result on a quarter milligram.
I remember eating valium like it was candy in the mid-'70s and was never that hung-over the next day.

Testy

11

Well…you make a good point. But it didn’t feel like a big ol’ hug from god (there was a time that was just what what I was looking for. Not so much now.) Just makes me feel like I can function. And as I said, whatever it does, I know I can’t keep taking it.

Interestingly the one thing that got metioned when I was looking stuff up is…Buspar! Sounds pretty good actually…I think I’ll bring it up with my doctor tomorrow. That and imipraminem which I’ve never heard of.

Thanks everybody! (And yes, any other comments are still welcome ;))