Chlordiazepoxide

I suffer from OCD and anxiety. Lately, It has become somewhat serious. Due to a variety of side effects, I no longer take SSRIs. My psychiatrist is trying 25mg of Chlordiazepoxide (librium) three times a day. The anxiety has definitely gotten better. Only problem is that the meds make me feel a bit unsteady, loopy and clumsy. My doctor said to let my body become accustomed to the medication.

Anyone have any experience with Chlordiazepoxide?

Thanks very much,.

Thanks Hibee.

Hi Medved.

After 12 days on the medication there are both hits and misses. I am sleeping better/more completely, and my overall level of anxiety (which had become pretty serious) has improved significantly.

What I have not liked is that I always feel medicated. and just not myself My speech has slowed and I always feel unsteady or about to fall. And as you said, I worry about becoming addicted to the Benzodiazepines. Although librium seems to have less of an incidence of this happening. Another weird side effect is that I seem to always be agitated and/or angry.

Thaks very much for yourvresponse and concern. I'll keep you posted on my experience.

Yeah, I hope the agitation/anger dissipates.

Thanks all for your thoughtful responses. As of yesterday, I am weaning off Chlordiazepoxide. Like before, just making me feel unsteady, anxious, beyond clumsy and generally not feeling well. I have tried so many drugs in order to help with my OCD/GAD/depression and all of them have had worse side effects than benefits (at least in my opinion).

Right now, I am through with psychiatry. It's just a bunch of doctors loading you up with various serious drugs until they find (maybe) something that works. And coming offf is a disaster. Guesss I will just need to live with my issues.

Thanks again, folks. GG

i had a terriable shrink who keep giving me horriable stuff or good choices that didnt work. finally in desperation i studied every ssri and picked one i thought had the best chance of working. it did! been right as rain ever since. its celexa the weakest ssri at the lowest dose.

Thanks very much for the responses. Best of luck on you journeys as well.

Karen -

How do you manage to deal with all of the side effects from these medications, especially when starting them?

I might be able to deal with that if I were retired. But as it stands, I have a very demanding job and I just cannot function well when I am dealing with major start up side effects.

Hi gang.

Thanks for taking the time with your responses. My psychiatrist weaned me off the generic librium and wellbutrin. Felt like I was walking around like a zombie. I am now free of drugs but suffereing for it. Next step may be to try the emsam patch. Anyone have a history with using it? Thanks again, folks. Wish I could give you all a hug.

@Medved,

My side effects seem to come about two months into the medication and they don't go away. Most people get side effects in the beginning and they subside in about 10 days. Unfortunately mine don't go that way.

Buspar-didn't work
Paxil-sexual side effects
Zoloft-diarrhea
Prozac-weight gain
Lexapro-sexual side effects and weight gain
Wellbutrin-agitation

I can't tolerate the SSRI's at all. But tried SNRI and it worked well. I may have gained a little weight but I take so much medications that I am not sure what caused it. I take Pristiq, xanax and abilify. I think an increase of the abilify caused a little weight gain.

But when the side effects didn't go away I just switched medications. I have been taking xanax for about 30 years and didn't have any side effects. I have been taking pristiq for 10 years. I switched from effexor when it went generic (which I took for about 15 years). Pristiq is generic now too but I take a kind that seems exactly like the brand name. It looks like it too and I think some of it is psychological because it looks like the brand name to me. I tried one that looked different and after two months I was depressed again. So some of it could be in my head, but as long as it works.

Luckily I am retired. But it was hard switching medications and dealing with side effects while working. You never know what to expect. I was a housewife most of the time though luckily.

I hope your day was good today. I hope I answered your question. Sometimes I tend to ramble.

Hugs, Karen...

medved said...
No experience here but make sure you ask the doc about diet restrictions and drug interactions. There may be a fair number of them. Hope it helps!

Hi medved.

Day two of EMSAM and so far all seems well. Maybe even feeling less depression and more energy. Who knows where this is heading? And there are no dietary restrictions at the lowest level which I'm on.

As promised, here's my update: Just too many side effects from the EMSAM patch. Worst were insomnia, higher blood pressure, frequent indigestion (and I have reflux/EOE which was nonexistent for months before starting EMSAM), chills, and shot my anxiety through the roof. Overall, I did not feel well on the patch so have discontinued. Any trials for SSRIs/SNRIs require me to be two weeks off the patch. The amount of time needed for the drug to be eliminated from my body.

That's about it. Hope you all are doing well and thanks for contributing to this thread.