Benzos Oxazepam - What to tell my shrink?

My shrink is a bit of a cunt and works by the book. He gives me Serepax (oxazepam) to use as a PRN medication for anxiety and panic. Typically I use it once every 7-10 days, and never more than once every 2-5 days. He told me not to take more than 30mg (2x15mg tablets) when I feel panicked.

I noticed a while ago that 30mg is basically ineffective for me. It can help with vague nervousness and agitation, but does fuck all for real panic. Today I had to do a whole lot of intense and stressful shit from 9am-4pm. I dosed 30mg at 7am, 30mg at 10am and 30mg at 1pm.

I noticed after the second dose that I felt totally different to how I did after the first. It was totally effective and I had zero anxiety. I could conduct myself exactly as I wanted to. So I want to tell my shrink that I think the dose he suggested is too low. But I'm worried that if I tell him, he'll say that I am abusing the drug and not prescribe it anymore. What do you guys reckon I should do?

Also - I once before exceeded the dose he prescribed. He told me I could use it for sleep and I was still awake at 4am so I had another dose. When I told him he said that this was drug abuse and he made a note of it in his little fucking book or whatever, the prick. Maybe if he gave me decent meds or proper doses I wouldn't have to medicate myself.

you should ask for Seroquil for sleep its non addictive and VERY effective and docs have no issues with writing scripts for Seroquil it can also be used for panic attacks and ask if you can switch from Serax 30mg to Ativan 2mg sub lingual. (melt under your tongue) Both of these drugs are used for panic attacks and anxiety if you say you want sub lingual you'll drive home the point that the Serax takes to long or doesn't work. or you could just say hey this Serax doesn't work anymore can I switch to Ativan 2mg or xanax whatever mg.

suessmayr said:

Also - I once before exceeded the dose he prescribed. He told me I could use it for sleep and I was still awake at 4am so I had another dose. When I told him he said that this was drug abuse and he made a note of it in his little fucking book or whatever, the prick. Maybe if he gave me decent meds or proper doses I wouldn't have to medicate myself.

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So he suggested you could use it for sleep, when you said it didn't work and you tried a second dosage of it, for the intended medicinal purpose, he then jumped all the way to "that's drug abuse!"???

I would get a new doctor, one who understand that what you did is not drug abuse at all.

KINGCRIMSON said:

you should ask for Seroquil for sleep its non addictive and VERY effective and docs have no issues with writing scripts for Seroquil it can also be used for panic attacks and ask if you can switch from Serax 30mg to Ativan 2mg sub lingual. (melt under your tongue) Both of these drugs are used for panic attacks and anxiety if you say you want sub lingual you'll drive home the point that the Serax takes to long or doesn't work. or you could just say hey this Serax doesn't work anymore can I switch to Ativan 2mg or xanax whatever mg.

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Seroquel is not a drug I would ever willingly take, due to a plethora of side effects.

Man. Do NOT go recommending Quetiapine to someone if you can't even spell it's brand name seroquel.

Quetiapine is a nasty ass potent Anti-Psychotic drug, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

For panic attacks Alprazolam(xanax) is pretty much the best thing.

Alprazolam is good for certain varieties of panic and anxiety, but like anything else mileage varies. Based on what the op wrote, it doesn't seem like a more potent benzo is necessary.

If you're getting satisfactory results from the Oxazepam at therapeutic dosages (and what you've indicated is that you are), the best thing to do is note to your doctor that you are noticing positive results from the medication, but you still feel a little anxious after it takes effect. This is the truth, isn't it?

For mild anxiety the recommended dose is 10mg-15mg 3 to 4 times a day; for severe anxiety 15mg-30mg 3 to 4 times a day. You've indicated that on a day when you had severe anxiety, you dosed 3 times at 30mg. This is completely within the guidelines of the manufacturers recommended dose, and if your doctor told you not to take more than 30mg at a time when anxious, you've also followed his instructions.

http://www.drugs.com/pro/oxazepam.html (for FDA prescribers information).

However- while your Dr. told you not to take more than 30mg at one time, did he say you could not dose more than once a day for anxiety and panic symptoms?

If not, it sounds like you are taking the drug exactly as recommended. And it is good that such a comparitively 'weak' and 'mild' benzo is doing the job that many GAD, SAD, PD etc sufferers need more potent and higher dosage benzo's.

Just tell the fucker it doesn't work any more, describe your panic and anxiety in vivid detail.

I agree with Capt H you need a new doctor yours sucks. You should shouldnt have to deal with him telling you youre abusing drugs. What a fucked up doctor.

Tchort - The issue is that I have abused benzos before. Of course, the only reason was that they helped so much with my anxiety. But still, and even though it's been nearly a year since I 'abused' benzos, my doctor is very wary. This is the reason he gave me oxazepam to begin with. He referred to alprazolam as "the prince of benzos" and said that it's "almost too effective", so that addiction becomes a real problem. I've heard this from doctors before.

I know about the 30mg 3x daily thing. But the fact is my shrink said to use no more than 30mg (presumably in one day). I'm just worried that if I tell him that I used more and got great benefits he'll think I'm fiending again and stop writing. It was just so fucking liberating not being afraid of everything the other day, I'll be pretty crushed if I can't do that now and again.

KINGCRIMSON - I used to take seroquel but it caused me to lose a lot of weight which I'm only now losing. I'm cool with using it occasionally but no more than that.


And just generally I don't want to use anything like diazepam or lorazepam (both of which I've used previously) because of the long half-lives. I hate getting residual effects and prefer to just use a benzo rarely for a specific event. Alprazolam or even temazepam would really be ideal.

Captain Heroin - That's right. When I came off Avanza (mirtazepine) and started Zyban (bupropion) - which was recently - I obviously had alot of trouble sleeping, given that the former was very sedating and the latter is very activating. He was sceptical at first and just said to use the oxazepam. One (or maybe two) nights I was still awake at 4am so and so re-dosed. Of course, oxazepam takes a long time to take effect so I wasn't even sleepy until about 6am. He said explicitly that I had exceeded the recommended dose and that that counted a drug abuse and he made a note and dated it in front of me.

And I think that it would be difficult to transfer to another doctor because the notes that they would request from the current one would almost certainly say something like "is a bona fide drug addict and is beginning to display drug-seeking behaviour again" or some bullshit like that. Which couldn't be further from the truth. I'm nearly a year off benzos and 5 months off opiates and just trying to learn how to live again.

just be honest with your DR and be specific as to what your going thru and how ya feel, most dr.s wont make their patients suffer!

all we can really tell you is to be honest with your doctor. End of line.

closed.