For a Paxil-free life, she'll take the long route

[Celebration]

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-hew-panic3-2008mar03,0,4602546.story

My panic attacks began in college. They would occur during situations in which escape proved either difficult or embarrassing: in class, in my cellblock of a dorm room, on the highway. They became a daily event and interfered with my daily activities, so I did what countless direct-to-consumer television ads told me to do: I went to my doctor.

He gave me a script for Paxil, mumbled something about how half the population takes this sort of stuff and told me to take it easy.

After a week or two, the panic attacks just stopped. For this, I was thankful. I could drive, go to class and spend time in my dorm room. But Paxil had one pretty undesirable effect on me: I started to lose interest in just about everything. I stopped initiating social activities (who needs that sort of thing?) and was no longer motivated to perform well academically.

.............................................

When I started graduate school, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up academically if I were reading scholarly literature through a foggy, Paxil-coated lens. So, I started tapering, very slowly this time -- by just more than a milligram per month.

................snip.......................

After my motivation and emotions returned, I started doing what I should have done when my panic attacks began: I became an information-seeking machine. I read books. I sought out alternative therapies. I took an anxiety-management class, tried acupuncture and learned about mindfulness meditation.

Things started to improve, and the good news is this: Things are still, miraculously, improving. I'm now aware of how my freshly Paxil-free body reacts to anxiety-producing stimuli -- my heart races and my muscles tighten -- and because of this, I know when to start calming myself down.

[angstlessk]

1. I used to have panic attacks where I felt if I did not immediately leave

where ever I was at the time I would die, heart palpitations, flush, shaking, etc and I would walk out of where ever I was no matter what..caused turned heads and of course I could not fly!!!

I had a panic attack in front of a roommate, and knowing it was a panic attack and watching her freak out, I laughed and explained it was 'just' a panic attack..that was the last one I had!

[Celebration]

5. that is interesting!

You just had to verbalize what you knew was true, and it worked! The simultaneous laugh may have helped too.

[JCMach1]

2. I had a severe flu-like reaction to Paxil... it literally MADE me sick

It took nearly 6wks to get all the meds out of my body and the nausea to end.

This is BAD stuff :(

[mike_c]

3. interesting post....

I've wrestled with depression much of my adult life and finally understand that, like your anxiety attacks, my depression is a stress response. For me, the key to managing depression-- and all of the life-sucking crap that goes along with it-- is largely a matter of stress management. Anyway, the last SSRI I took was Lexapro (escitalopram) and I stopped taking it twice, for some of the same reasons you described. It DID help with depression, but I didn't like the side effects. The first time I stopped I went cold turkey. The withdrawal symptoms were awful, but I didn't understand what was happening and apparently neither did my doctors-- they threw their hands up after some neurological tests came up negative and offered to send me to a neurologist if the symptoms continued. Gradually they decreased.

Unfortunately, not knowing their origin, when the depression returned I went back on Lexapro. Last year I went off again, but this time I'd seen information online about the withdrawal symptoms so I tapered. It was still uncomfortable. With that experience I don't EVER want to go back on SSRIs again unless it's permanant, and since I don't want to live the rest of my life with the side-effects, I simply have to find other management strategies. As I said, all signs seem to point to stress management.

[emilyg]

4. Getting off Paxil must be done gradually.

[DemExpat]

6. I took that same long route 25 years ago

and am still free to do most everything I want to do in the world after being totally crippled for a decade by panic attacks in the 70s and early 80s.

Medication only offered me temporary relief, and gave me a false sense of safety and health while drugging many feelings and senses that made me feel alive. The trade-off was far too high for me, so I quit too.

When I learned to confront my anxiety and to even welcome it defiantly, it, after practice, totally lost its power and the physiological processes leading to hell stopped in their tracks. Being able to calm myself down naturally, on my own strength, also helped me with feelings of powerlessness, and lessened my deep depression about being able to affect my position in the world and my life.

DemEx

[Celebration]

7. good for you!

I think a lot of panic attacks can be handled like this. I wish more folks would try it.

Situational anxiety (like getting on planes) I handle with Valerian.

I do have a daughter that has to have just a tiny amount of thyroid medicine in order to avoid panic attacks. Since her blood tests don't really indicate that she needs thyroid medication, she tried getting off it twice, and each time the panic attacks returned. I would much rather her be on that tiny amount of thyroid medication than Paxil.

[DemExpat]

8. My daughter, now 26, learned to calm down her "high-strung"

nervous system - which she inherited from me, of course :-) - by learning relaxing breathing exercises from a psychiatric nurse specialising in these for phobia/panic attack sufferers.

It helped her when she was 20 and starting to have these reactions to stress to nip it all in the bud, as it were, and has given her the tool she needed to prevent any escalation in the panic attack process. So happy about this for her!

I take Valerian and Passionflower when I fly as well - just takes the edge off enough for me to relax myself with other techniques. :-)

DemEx

[cosmik debris]

9. I only had to read one paragraph to see the problem.

"I did what countless direct-to-consumer television ads told me to do"

Perhaps I am being too harsh on this patient, but generally speaking, people who do what the TV tells them to do are dumber than a bag of rocks. It gives the appearance that the patient is trying to blame the TV ads for their own gullibility.

But wait, there is more evidence. Next the patient decided to adjust their meds without consulting the doctor that the TV told them to consult. Apparently the doctor only gets one shot. If he doesn't get it right the first time, the amateurs take over.

On reading the whole story, it seems that the patient made a bad decision based on a TV ad, but the patient is unwilling to take responsibility for that bad decision. I'm glad she finally discovered the right path, but it doesn't make sense to blame others for your own decisions.

The two lessons I took away from this are: DON'T TRUST/BLAME ADVERTISERS! and Don't expect your doctor to get your prescription right on the first try. Psychoactive meds require frequent adjustment of doses. The doctor requires feedback from the patient. Don't blame the doctor OR THE MEDS if the patient is unwilling to participate in their own health care.

[Celebration]

11. For what it is worth

I am totally against prescription medication being allowed to advertise, period. There are very narrow economic interests that benefit-- namely, the drug companies and the media companies. Unfortunately, these ads DO cause people to ask their doctors to prescribe certain medications, and the doctors often DO prescribe it. Otherwise, the ads would not be run.

The patient didn't say that she didn't consult her doctor on ratcheting down her dose. She didn't say that she did either, so it is impossible to know that.

Actually, I think she does take responsibility for her bad decision, and the way she took responsibility was to eventually get off the stuff. I believe that the purpose of this piece was to show others that might be in her position that 1. they don't have to start taking Paxil or something similar if they have panic attacks. 2. she was able to very slowly get off the stuff, and feel a lot better, and others might benefit from knowing that this is possible.

The message of the piece was clear--don't buy into the advertising hype.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

10. There are other drugs to treat anxiety

and non-drug therapy. But might as well throw the baby out with the bath water.

David

[Celebration]

12. What baby?

Seems like she is doing fine with no medication. Why should she be prescribed something else?

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

13. Clearly she found a way to control her anxiety.

Through non-drug therapy which I said was fine. Those therapies don't help everyone just like the medicines don't. She liked what the paxil did for her, she didn't like the side effects. Maybe another drug would have helped and not had the same side effects. Maybe a lower dose wouldn't have had the same side effects. Mental health issues are misunderstood enough without stigmatizing the people who take medication. That's my only point.

David

[Iris]

14. And a good one.

Thanks for pointing this out.