lrouse wrote:
I still can't figure out how or why people would abuse xanax. It doesn't make you happy or sad it doesn't put you to sleep it doesn't keep you awake it doesn't make you see pretty colors it doesn't do anything extreme so what is it? Perhaps it does in higher doses, I just don't see it any different then a tylenol for minor aches and pains. It does it's job. Stops the anxiety and thats it. I don't get it.

medications affect each person differently--
1/2 of a .25mg xanax knocks me out-- after 3 days of taking it once or twice a day-- I literally can't function--

maybe because it makes us feel somewhat normal lol just a thought

Linda - I'm so sorry that nurse talked to you like that! Whenever I've had experiences like that it has always set me back in my road to recovery!

But the important thing is that your Doctor understands and cares about you and THAT is what really matters.

So what if the nurse has a bad attitude? Don't let it get you down. The Doctor is the one who prescribes, who sees you, who diagnoses and who makes the judgments. If you like your Doctor then cut her some slack about the nurse, and just be glad that there are only 25 days till June!

I once had a nurse say to me on the phone (in a very sarcastic voice) "Well, honey, if you were having a heart attack you wouldn't be chatting with me on the phone - you'd be dead." Needless to say I was horrified. And rightly so! But her words have come back to me over and over ..... and while I don't recommend nurses use that tone or those words to a person having a panic attack - she was right that I WASN'T having a heart attack!

I'm not saying YOUR nurse was right at all. I'm just saying that getting indignant isn't helping you and it isn't hurting her!

Stick with your doctor. Stick with your martial arts and your food choices Stick with your meditations, your yoga, your writing. Stick with your exercise routines and your workbooks!

You're doing great. Some nurse some where had a bad day and took it out on you. You're strong enough to withstand that - THANK GOD!

I have also been through this with the various nurses that have come and gone at my Primary Care docs office over the 23 years I've been there. My original Xanax scrip was written in 1989!! I just got a refill (again) a week ago.

No worries!

lrouse wrote:
I still can't figure out how or why people would abuse xanax.

The problem with these types of drugs (benzos) is that they work really well and stop the anxiety in its tracks. But if you take too many of them, after a while they stop working properly and you need to take a larger dose to get the same benefit. Eventually, that does not work and the dose goes up and up and up. They are very addictive so when you want to stop taking them you get some very nasty side effects because of the withdrawal symptoms. Then you not only have to deal with the original condition of anxiety but also the symptoms of drug addiction and withdrawal too.

Everyone's drug tolerances are different. I have found that if I take four a day for a couple of days, I get very angry and anxious when I stop taking them. Yet with other people that amount wouldn't affect them.

Ceejay, thanks for your kind words, it really wasn't the nurse talking to me insensitively, it was the doctor talking to the nurse and the nurse reiterating the Drs orders. I have always like both the nurse and my doc but we certainly have had our differences and I truly believe they don't know what to do with me.
They are really clueless about this PD stuff. I told the nurse about my occasional PVCs and PACs and she actually told me that if that happened to her she would have gone to the ER. I am not sure if she was complimenting my bravery or calling me an idiot LOL. This xanax thing is really hard on me still. I was given this pre_script_ion on April 9, 30 pills and no more until June. I only have two left. I have to justify how bad I am feeling before I take a pill which I guess isn't a bad thing. But it would be nice to know that I could call when I ran out for a refill and I wouldn't be questioned. Anyone who knows anything about xanax will tell you that one .25 a day or every other day, isn't going to make an addict out of someone. I so want to go to a different doctor but for some reason, that feels like a step back. It feels as if I would be starting all over again.....
I also wonder if worrying about my "safety blanket" isn't causing me to feel like I want it more then usual. Because I take them as needed, my consumption changes. Sometimes one bottle will last 6 months even a year and sometimes I need one a month. It really just depends on my anxiety level and my ability to deal with it. I am not sure what to do I am just having a real problem feeling like I will need to start over and I also just found out that my Doc will not be returning to practice until October.

Ceejay, thanks for your kind words, it really wasn't the nurse talking to me insensitively, it was the doctor talking to the nurse and the nurse reiterating the Drs orders. I have always like both the nurse and my doc but we certainly have had our differences and I truly believe they don't know what to do with me.
They are really clueless about this PD stuff. I told the nurse about my occasional PVCs and PACs and she actually told me that if that happened to her she would have gone to the ER. I am not sure if she was complimenting my bravery or calling me an idiot LOL. This xanax thing is really hard on me still. I was given this pre_script_ion on April 9, 30 pills and no more until June. I only have two left. I have to justify how bad I am feeling before I take a pill which I guess isn't a bad thing. But it would be nice to know that I could call when I ran out for a refill and I wouldn't be questioned. Anyone who knows anything about xanax will tell you that one .25 a day or every other day, isn't going to make an addict out of someone. I so want to go to a different doctor but for some reason, that feels like a step back. It feels as if I would be starting all over again.....
I also wonder if worrying about my "safety blanket" isn't causing me to feel like I want it more then usual. Because I take them as needed, my consumption changes. Sometimes one bottle will last 6 months even a year and sometimes I need one a month. It really just depends on my anxiety level and my ability to deal with it. I am not sure what to do I am just having a real problem feeling like I will need to start over and I also just found out that my Doc will not be returning to practice until October.