Panic attack...meds "break" sobriety streak?
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Bethlehem, PA.
Posts: 1,781
Most Doctors are well aware of the potential for abuse, the amounts they will prescribe are usually self limiting. It would be very hard to go on a valium or ativan binge on the amounts they prescribe. These substances can be a great aid in the early stages of recovery. Anxiety and depression can be very debilating and treating those issues with the proper meds can be very helpful in our overall recovery. I would see no shame in using them if necessary.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,002
I've dealt with panic and anxiety attacks since I was a child. I know what it's like to get them. They used to control my life and still can if I allow them.
If you are taking meds because you are treating something that is not relapse. If you are taking meds to get high, well you can pretty much figure that out.
Tom
If you are taking meds because you are treating something that is not relapse. If you are taking meds to get high, well you can pretty much figure that out.
Tom
Computer Surgeon
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Posts: 124
Originally Posted by tommyk 
Lorazepam = Ativan (benzodiazepine)
Have benzo's been a problem for you in the past? Are they your 'drug of choice'?
My own experience is to try and 'gut it out', get through the hard time with the thought in mind that the lorazepam is there if you need it. Sometimes just knowing it is within reach is comforting.
Would it constitute a relapse? Not if taken as prescribed, in my opinion.
(I've always said that I'll take benzo's before I'd drink, and/or before I'd shoot myself.)
Have benzo's been a problem for you in the past? Are they your 'drug of choice'?
My own experience is to try and 'gut it out', get through the hard time with the thought in mind that the lorazepam is there if you need it. Sometimes just knowing it is within reach is comforting.
Would it constitute a relapse? Not if taken as prescribed, in my opinion.
(I've always said that I'll take benzo's before I'd drink, and/or before I'd shoot myself.)
That said, I did take one Friday after my 2nd post. It helped immensley and I was able to calm down. I have a call in to see my doctor when he returns from vacation regarding a more long-term solution.
Ideally I don't want to be medicated at all; I was on Zoloft and Xanax for depression/anxiety before and I hated the side effects.
Thanks for all your replies folks.
BTW, I'm 90 days sober today.
Computer Surgeon
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Posts: 124
Originally Posted by miss communicat
Hi PaperAnchor
How are you feeling today? I ask because usually, panic and anxiety attacks will pass. I remember this, and then I recall the vicious cycle of having one attack, it ending, and the worry over the next one. Its a very uncomfortable, draining way to feel and i am sorry you are going through it. It will get better though.
The longer I have been away from alcohol, which is a brain and nerve poison, the better able I have been to watch my own anxiety attacks arise, fall, and subside. I now trust in them going away more than I did in the past.
That said, in my first and second years of sobriety I realised that I needed prescription medication to manage my anxiety and depression and I never considered that by doing so I was not sober. I stayed diligently focused on my recovery, on Steps 1-2-3 daily, and proceeded to take steps 4 - 7 as soon as I felt able to. At the completion of Step 5 my anxiety attacks diminished to nearly nil.
But to answer your original post, I feel that taking prescription medicine for anxiety and panic disorder may really be beneficial for you, and that it is better sometimes to accept help from a medical doctor than it is to white knuckle it or to suffer needlessly.
as long as you remain honest with yourself and accountable to another human about your use of the medication, and stay openminded to the suggestions of others in sobriety, and are willing to consider trying a combination of things in addition to the lorazepam such as AA meetings, Stepwork, and therapy for ongoing support, you will continue to recover well.
How are you feeling today? I ask because usually, panic and anxiety attacks will pass. I remember this, and then I recall the vicious cycle of having one attack, it ending, and the worry over the next one. Its a very uncomfortable, draining way to feel and i am sorry you are going through it. It will get better though.
The longer I have been away from alcohol, which is a brain and nerve poison, the better able I have been to watch my own anxiety attacks arise, fall, and subside. I now trust in them going away more than I did in the past.
That said, in my first and second years of sobriety I realised that I needed prescription medication to manage my anxiety and depression and I never considered that by doing so I was not sober. I stayed diligently focused on my recovery, on Steps 1-2-3 daily, and proceeded to take steps 4 - 7 as soon as I felt able to. At the completion of Step 5 my anxiety attacks diminished to nearly nil.
But to answer your original post, I feel that taking prescription medicine for anxiety and panic disorder may really be beneficial for you, and that it is better sometimes to accept help from a medical doctor than it is to white knuckle it or to suffer needlessly.
as long as you remain honest with yourself and accountable to another human about your use of the medication, and stay openminded to the suggestions of others in sobriety, and are willing to consider trying a combination of things in addition to the lorazepam such as AA meetings, Stepwork, and therapy for ongoing support, you will continue to recover well.
I quit smoking last week, against the suggestion of my sponsor. He thought another change like that would be too soon in my early sobriety. So...I think that may have had something to do with my anxiety. I don't want to smoke anymore; my grandpa died of lung cancer before I was born. I'm smoke-free today, and so far, anxiety-free.
I really appreciate your reply, miss communicat.
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