Stress Center Peer Support

I read somewhere that a person's body metabolizes meds through various pathways. Unfortunately, all of the psychotropic (?) Rx- like the SSRIs, benzos, and sleep meds all metabolize throught the same pathway. Supposedly, the first med a person is recommended to taper off is the anti-anxiety, next, sleeping meds, and lastly, anti-depressants. Allegedly, this is so a person doesn't have withdrawl-like symptoms. Has anyone else heard this? I recently asked my pharmacist about this, and she confirmed the whole pathway / metabolizism thing. HOWEVER, with the high addictive nature of benzos, I almost felt like this was an "out," since SSRIs are safer(?).

Here's the problem, after working on this program, I recognize I am not depressed and I've been an insomniac since I was in high school. For me, it seems most logical to eliminate Zoloft, then Ambien, and finally my Klono.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about this? I'm not planning to start tapering until I'm farther into the program, but I would greatly appreciate ANY opinions, suggestions, advice.

fischee

I recently came across the book Prescription for Natural Cures and it has a lot of interesting and helpful information nutrition, herbal medicine, homeopathic methods, and acupuncture / acupressure. It's not exclusive to anxiety and depression, but it does address many other stress-related illnesses (migraines, IBS,CFS).

Dear Fischee,

I have never heard in what order to quit your meds. My doctor suggest I quit Ambien after the Zoloft kicks in. How long have you been on either of the meds? I have been on Ambien nightly since 12-10-08. Which I think is too long but I sleep great with it and don't want to give it up. I have only been on antidepressants for 6 weeks but was recently switched to zoloft less than a week ago.
Have you talked to your doctor about this? Sometimes people know their body and what's better for them than anyone else. Maybe you can explain to your doctor what you want to do? What do you do about the insomnia if you quit taking Ambien? I think I have sleeping problems also but don't know what to do about it. I have never been on Klono, what's that for?
Please let me know I'm interested to hear your success story of getting of meds. I would like to get off of them too.
Have a great day, Wendy

Hey Wendy,
Thanks for your response. I've been on Zoloft off and on for 3-4 years (?) and the same with Ambien or Ambien CR. I just started with the Klono (it's a benzo) about three weeks ago. In the past I was on Xanax then Ativan for anxiety; my body became habituated to both, so my psych. switched me to Klono.

I really appreciate what you said about knowing my own body best (too many people seem to think a dr.'s diagnosis [maybe I should say opinion / guess] is the end all and the be all). I do have an appt. w/ my psych. this week, so I think I will ask him.

I'll keep you updated; though I'm not planning to taper anything for awhile.
fischee

Have you asked your dr. about Rozerem(sp) for sleeping? It's an Rx, but isn't habit-forming. Evidently it works on different receptors in the brain. I've tried it during low stress periods when I'm not so worried about getting sleep, and it's worked for me.

There are also lots of natural supplements available. Let me know if you'd like more info. Pretty much everyone in my family has had sleep problems at some point or another.

I started experiencing insomnia about 5 years ago and started taking Ambien--but in super small doses. Of course, eventually that didn't work anymore so I had to increase to a full 10 mg dose. Then one day, even that dose didn't work anymore so I started taking 10 mg and a half. Wow, was that a bad idea! I started having panic attacks and severe anxiety. Finally a doctor recommended that I see a psychiatrist because they suspected that I was clinically depressed and had an anxiety disorder. Long story short, I was put on Lexapro and then recently on Cymbalta and feel great--back to the way I use to many years ago. I didn't realize that my depression was causing my insomnia. Soon I managed to wean myself off the Ambien--because my shrink explained that it is a depressant so it only worsens your depression/anxiety. My doctor suggested Trazedone to help with sleep and it works great. I even manage to sleep without it sometimes and it's totally non-addictive and it's not a narcotic. So my recommendation is to talk to your doctor about whether taking Ambien is the best idea. It may be hurting, rather than helping you in the long run.