I know you don't know me, but I am neurosurgeon at the local University Hospital and I also run a non-surgical practice of my own off campus. Anyway, the suggestions that have already been made are good ones, although based on what little information I see here, it really does sound like you and your doctor need to have a talk about
a preventative maintenance therapy that may or may not include medication. I have somewhat of a like/hate relationship with prescribing benzodiazapines to my patients because I have seen some patient become addicted to every one of them, even the more mild ones like klonopin(clonazepam) and restoril(temazepam). the only drug in this class i refuse to prescribe is Xanax(alprazolam) because I absolutely hate it and wish it wasn;t allowed on the market. I will grant that it is very good at quickly stopping the most severe panics attacks I've seen people come into the ER with but it stops working so quickly that it very easily and quickly becomes addictive and it is an absolute nightmare to detox from, even if you do it inpatient. I think Ativan(Lorazepam) is the best of the fast acting, shortish lasting benzos and as old and outdated as valium is, it still works pretty darn well with minimal addiction/abuse risk. I also want to add that i suffer from both acute and GAD, so I'm not just some doctor whose never experienced what you all go through and I do know how horrible anxiety/panic attacks can be as I've had to have other doctors in my ER give me versed on occasion. But based on the tiny bit of information i read here I would strongly suggest you sit down with your PCP or GP, unless you already see a neurologist or psychiatrist, then go straight to that person and just be honest with them about
what you're experiencing. and a little more free advice, doctors are not real keen on long, drawn out "stories" of explaining your episodes because you tend to make contradictory statements when you talk for too long and they lean towards, at the very minimum, thinking you're exaggerating the severity of the problem. I am very compassionate doctor but unfortunately not all of them are and, yes, some of them are just flat out pricks. so, step 1) try and journal a couple episodes in a concise and to the point manner; 2) make an appointment with a GP/PCP or skip them and go straight to a psychiatrist because a lot of GP's wont even consider writing a benzo script
because their schooling doesnt go into much about
psychiatric symptoms,3) i strongly urge you to not accept a xanax/alprazolam script
because i see that ending up becoming an addiction worse than the episodes themselves in a short period of time and in most cases this drug gets abused and the dr cuts you off cold turkey and then you are in for a real dose of hell. I know you think its bad now but try regularly taking a medication that, at first, helps aid in your neuorological system's production in the naturally occurring calming agent known as GABA and eventually your brain says, "well hell, i don't need to make this GABA stuff anymore" right around the time you start asking your doc for early refills and higher doses or trying pharmacy shopping and eventually end up without the xanax and a brain that has forgotten how to make that calming agent GABA. IT'S VERY VERY bad. I can already tell you I'd give you 1 mg klonopins to take 1/2 of twice a day and a whole one an hr before you go to bed, because it is a very good sleep aid as well in higher doses.
(It is against the rules on the Forum to advertise your practice or to give medical advice.)
Post Edited By Moderator (LanieG) : 8/8/2013 6:03:17 AM (GMT-6)