I'm seeing my doc tonight, but am not sure what medication to accept. I have been on EffexorXR for more than a year, but I think I take it now more to prevent withdrawal symptoms than to do me any good.
I have taken Xanax in the past, but it knocks me down.
Clonezapam(sp?) is great but puts me to sleep.
How does Valium work? Or Prozac?
Is there anything that can help make me calm yet upbeat?
Or am I just hoping for more than is possible?


Christine
Husb. Matt dx 6/09 stage IVC, origin right Tonsil.
Mets to lung - right lung Wedge resection &
PEG 7/09 followed by chemo & 7 weeks rad.
With pauses for collapsed lung and infection.
Clear PET Dec09. CT Mar10-new lung nodules
Another Right Lung resection 08/10
PET 10/10 left lower lobectomy & 2 additional wedges
Pelvic bone growth radiation to be scheduled soon...

How many milligrams of Xanex did you get? Mine are 0.25 and I take half of one usually when I need it. It was years ago maaaany years ago I was on Zoloft than to Paxil. This was for when I thought my world was ending going thru a divorce, boy was I ever wrong it was just beginnin! Been off any kind of stuff like that since late in 98. Just Xanex whenever I need it with any situations that pop up that I need a little boost.

Mine were 25s too. If my doc doesn't have any other ideas maybe I'll try halving those.

If you are amxious, Xanax takes it away. If you are tired but head won't shut up, take a Xanax and sleep.... not for use every day.....Doc won't give me a script now.....I got too tired....didn't want to wake up. Selfish cow. Me that is.

Klonopin for me for 2 years now.....tend to carry stress in my shoulders (hunch them up) which then sets off the bulging disk in my neck. Klonopin has stopped that...only rarely does my neck give me problems now. .5mg 3 times a day. Recently upped to 1 mg but I can't tolerate that without sleeping or being stupid.

I say vaporize some medical marijuana and watch your anxiety melt away to giggles and a bad case of the munchies....without the side effects of a benzo

Doc gave me 1mg xanex, makes me not give a damn about anything... probably not a good thing, but the freedom from it all was nice for a few hours

Following up on EricS' post, here is a very interesting article about the possibility that using a vaporizer reduces possible HPV transmission. Bogarting that joint might decrease oral hpv among cannabis users It's from the PubMed web site of the U.S. National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health and not High Times magazine.

Hmmm very tempting since i cant smoke. Eric, you make marijuana more tempting everyday. lol

minh

Minh,

I'm offended. I DON'T smoke marijuana, that wouldn't be proper!!!

I "vaporize" marijuana. You can also steep it in hot water like tea or use it in baked goods...."smoke" she says...for Christ sake am I uncivilized?

Here's what I know and have experienced. I've been on anti anxiety meds and suffered the side effects. I've studied what effects they have on the body...and experienced them first hand. When I read up on clonazepam and lorazepam it scared the hell out of me.

Now that I use marijuana, I'm able to sleep at night, I have a reprieve from chronic pain and neuropathy caused from the various side effects of the surgeries I've gone through. It relaxes me, puts me be in a good mood and motivates me to eat solid foods. It also has had the added benefit of putting me in "the mood"...which was an issue due to the side effects of radiation drastically lowing my testosterone levels.

Does MJ have side effects? Sure, but when I compare it to a benzo or other anxiety meds it always comes up the lesser of the evils.

Anyway, just my thoughts, I hope you find something that works for you.

Eric

Eric

Here's an interesting study that will not be on the OCF news feed documenting the advantages of vaporization for medical marijuana over smoking. Thought you'd enjoy it.
Medical MJ vaporizer study
Glad to hear you are feeling better.
Charm

very true, mj has much lower side effects in comparison. Especially to the Effexor I was put on a few years ago. Had no idea those would be so hard to get off of.
Oh, if only we lived in a state that allowed medical mj...

Charm,

That article was awesome, thank you for that. I was having a discussion with an engineer that wanted numbers on the vaporizer, how much it could save him, reduction in carcinogens etc...I'll forward it on to him.

I wish I could say that I saved a lot of money vaporizing but I don't pay for my supply...the benefits of owning a pizza place is I can trade out as needed and my supplier "loves" our food.

C, I'm with you, I live in a backwoods state that doesn't have medical marijuana laws, so I'm breaking the law. I always considered myself a rebel anyways. But the joy of living in a small community are many...especially when you're a staple in that community. The mayor is my business partner. The Chief of Police's wife & the prosecuting attorney's daughter both work for me...where I'm not "untouchable", I'm pretty insulated especially considering everybody has watched my story unfold and have been witness to what I've been through.

Anyway, I "champion" MJ because of the benefits that I've experienced from it. I'm not a Dr, I'm not a dealer, there is absolutely no benefit or kickback that I recieve from promoting it...just the knowledge that I'm helping people by sharing what it's done for me AND to help debunk the bias associated with it from decades of propaganda. It's a drug, like alcohol, like pain meds, like benzos, like any other drug out there it has benefits and side effects. Anyway I'll stop as I'm rambling now.

R U HIGH? Sorry I just had to say that!(cuz of you rambling) Good for you cuz Ron does the same thing but not vaporize. It does make him eat so that's a big plus!

It certainly was a huge help for my Erik during treament (both of them) Appetite, anxiety, helped with sleep and even helped to control pain. Its side effects were better than the Morphine patch, that made Erik itchy and edgy.
As for something legal- I have been on zoloft and wellbutrine for years. It seems to work, sometimes I have to bump up the zoloft, but usually its only for a few months.

EricS

Oh how I worry about you brother. My college persona was uber rebel and in your face drug use (statue of limitations has expired) I know you are young and I have not forgotten how I thought my tenured professors were such hypocrites for not admitting their marijuana use but a very valuable lesson I learned as a criminal defense attorney (I switched to civil law because I was too good at getting nasty criminals off) was: It's the prosecutor's job to prove the offense, it's your constitutional right not to admit guilt (5th Amendment).
so Eric, please edit your post on this thread to delete any admissions. At least don't be so specific. Trust me on this. It's a wicked world we live in. I'm extremely sensitive to the legal ramifications of honesty in this context. A dear friend from grammar school who is my age will be going to federal prison for 4 years for helping out medical marijuana patients. He's kind and good and made no money but was too honest. Please think of your wife & kids.
Everything you posted is true and factual but for purposes of internet postings, "I have a friend who is just like me and I have seen this to be true" is the way to go.
The Japanese have a saying: It's the nail that sticks up that gets hammered down.
You are a wonderful spirit, rise above the literal and see this on the cosmic plane as just another dance of Maya (Illusion) or my Catholic background: Prudence.
I realize this may sound paranoid, but even paranoids have real enemies.
Charm

Suez & Jenny

Thanks so much for posting (and don't worry, neither of you were so specific as to merit any concern). I always thought there should be a Cancer Caregivers for Cannabis group since my experience is that so many patients find so much relief.
IMO, medical marijuana is the best anti anxiety as well as anti nausea drug available. Plus it has no known overdose or fatal dose unlike all our other cancer TX drugs
Like Sex, this is a topic mostly avoided here at OCF.
Keep the Faith
Charm

bah bah bah Baaad....Baaad to da Bone...

u r craaazy Eric! luv it!

Although boring, my answer is Wellbutrin.

Eric - I must second Charm's warning....I work for a criminal defense atty. You may be insulated but where I live (IN) they would track down that post and use it...happens all the time here and over the most insane BS.

Ok attorney people, I'll have to quote JayZ here..."I may not have passed the bar, but I know a little bit..."

Burden of proof is on the prosecution. In a digital environment it's very difficult to prove who in fact posted those comments. You can track it to a computer, but you can't prove who was at that keyboard typing. Just going off of what was posted, you'd still have to convince a judge to get a search warrant to find an illegal substance. Even "IF" that happened, good luck finding anything to make it worth it or even get a conviction.

And IF I get convicted of anything I'd expect my fellow OCF'rs to stage a rigorous campaign to set me free...kind of like Nelson Mandela I mean let's face it, if OJ can get acquitted I'm sure we can come up with something!

LOL! yes, I'm sure we could come up with something and I can just see the protest marches and rioting now

I'll back you up 100%!

Eric
Jay who? Oh, you mean Beyonce's Husband. All I'm saying is that keeping a high profile (guilty of bad pun)did not work out all that well for Wiz Khalifa (from my old college stomping grounds in Pittsburgh) on his Wake n Bake tour so far in a small town.

Still I agree you could get off just like Nelson Mandela - who only served 27 years in prison before the protests worked.
But count me in on protesting too.
Charm