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<blockquote data-quote="susiestar" data-source="post: 527895" data-attributes="member: 1233"><p>Clonidine is the medication you are thinking of that helps with withdrawal and anxiety. It also comes in a patch form that lasts for five days so you don't have the ups and downs of taking a daily dose.</p><p></p><p>I would NOT encourage xanax. Your difficult child NEEDS to be able to be independent to some degree and having you handle her medications takes that away. I doubt she would EVER be able to take xanax on her own - very few addicts can even after decades of recovery and sober living. I am also shocked through to the bone that the therapist even suggested it. Heck, even my pain doctor thinks that ANY other benzo but valium is better for treating anxiety even in people who do not have addiction problems. Xanax is so short acting that it probably the most problematic of the benzos because you get that in and out effect so fast. Valium actually CAUSES depression if taken for more than a week or two or maybe three - it is a known and super common side effect which is why it generally is not rx'd for regular use.</p><p></p><p>Amitripytline is a tricyclic antidepressant that is quite good for anxiety. It can be abused so would probably need some oversight if difficult child were to use it, but nothing at all like xanax. Temazepam and lorazepam are longer acting and less addictive than xanax if a benxo is needed. Klonopin is also used for anxiety though I don't know much about it.</p><p></p><p>If they use ssri type medications, be sure to go with one that is just an ssri and not an ssri/snri type. Prozac is ssri but lexapro, effexor etc... are ssr/snri medications. Effexor is weird because at low doses it is only working on seritonin but if you go above 75mg/dose it is more working on norepinephrine and it is likely to cause quite a few anxiety related disorders. Plus if you do not take effexor at exactly the right time you get withdrawal from Hades setting in. Taking it 30 min late will have withdrawal setting in and it is super unpleasant for many people. Not sure why, but among the people at the alanon/AA meetings here, the ones with sub abuse issues tend to have much worse withdrawal and side effects from ssri/snri medications. One visiting speaker was a pharmacist who said that this is because the effect of addiction and the various substances on the way the brain works. It can be VERY hard to get off of effexor because the withdrawal literally convinces you that you are losing your mind. I know quite a few people who had NO clue about this and their docs didn't say a word but when they wanted to stop taking it they were in for over a month of withdrawal. there are ways to help that, but if another medication can be taken then it is a good idea. On of the common side effects of effexor is social anxiety/phobia and agoraphobia even in people who have NEVER had any of that kind of anxiety before. This is why I am cautioning you - if it can do this to someone who has NO hx of anxiety, what it would do to someone with anxiety problems is mind boggling.</p><p></p><p>There are lots of people who have NO problems wth ssri/snri medications, but from what I have learned, if you do have problems they are going to be totally horrible. I would actually suggest a shorter acting medication than ssri/snri medications if the anxiety isn't constant - temazepam or lorazepam or clonidine maybe. Simply because they are much older medications and so much more is known about the side effects of them that we still don't know about snri/ssri medications.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="susiestar, post: 527895, member: 1233"] Clonidine is the medication you are thinking of that helps with withdrawal and anxiety. It also comes in a patch form that lasts for five days so you don't have the ups and downs of taking a daily dose. I would NOT encourage xanax. Your difficult child NEEDS to be able to be independent to some degree and having you handle her medications takes that away. I doubt she would EVER be able to take xanax on her own - very few addicts can even after decades of recovery and sober living. I am also shocked through to the bone that the therapist even suggested it. Heck, even my pain doctor thinks that ANY other benzo but valium is better for treating anxiety even in people who do not have addiction problems. Xanax is so short acting that it probably the most problematic of the benzos because you get that in and out effect so fast. Valium actually CAUSES depression if taken for more than a week or two or maybe three - it is a known and super common side effect which is why it generally is not rx'd for regular use. Amitripytline is a tricyclic antidepressant that is quite good for anxiety. It can be abused so would probably need some oversight if difficult child were to use it, but nothing at all like xanax. Temazepam and lorazepam are longer acting and less addictive than xanax if a benxo is needed. Klonopin is also used for anxiety though I don't know much about it. If they use ssri type medications, be sure to go with one that is just an ssri and not an ssri/snri type. Prozac is ssri but lexapro, effexor etc... are ssr/snri medications. Effexor is weird because at low doses it is only working on seritonin but if you go above 75mg/dose it is more working on norepinephrine and it is likely to cause quite a few anxiety related disorders. Plus if you do not take effexor at exactly the right time you get withdrawal from Hades setting in. Taking it 30 min late will have withdrawal setting in and it is super unpleasant for many people. Not sure why, but among the people at the alanon/AA meetings here, the ones with sub abuse issues tend to have much worse withdrawal and side effects from ssri/snri medications. One visiting speaker was a pharmacist who said that this is because the effect of addiction and the various substances on the way the brain works. It can be VERY hard to get off of effexor because the withdrawal literally convinces you that you are losing your mind. I know quite a few people who had NO clue about this and their docs didn't say a word but when they wanted to stop taking it they were in for over a month of withdrawal. there are ways to help that, but if another medication can be taken then it is a good idea. On of the common side effects of effexor is social anxiety/phobia and agoraphobia even in people who have NEVER had any of that kind of anxiety before. This is why I am cautioning you - if it can do this to someone who has NO hx of anxiety, what it would do to someone with anxiety problems is mind boggling. There are lots of people who have NO problems wth ssri/snri medications, but from what I have learned, if you do have problems they are going to be totally horrible. I would actually suggest a shorter acting medication than ssri/snri medications if the anxiety isn't constant - temazepam or lorazepam or clonidine maybe. Simply because they are much older medications and so much more is known about the side effects of them that we still don't know about snri/ssri medications. [/QUOTE]
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