Severe anxiety and panic attacks

@daveshaw
I have a very odd story. I have a sister-in-law who took clonazepam for 18 years. Her anxiety stopped just last year (long spiritual story) and she just stopped taking it cold turkey. No withdrawal symptoms whatsoever. Although she is still on other meds for bipolar so maybe that’s what she was able to stop with no bad consequences. Very strange.

@meingan That is very interesting. I am going to have a physical on December 23rd. I always ask if I should wean off and her answer is always no. At 74 my attitude is “if it is not broke why fix it “

I have recently started reading the Atlantic Magazine and came upon an article about insomnia and how prevalent it has become in our country and around the world.
The reason I bring this up is many times the taking of Klonopin and other benzodiazepines comes up and so many people are trying to wean themselves off these drugs.
The article mentioned a study in Denmark where over 7,000 Danes who were taking Klonopin reported taking it for long periods of time and only 7% increased their dosage.
The point I am trying to make is that the drug was effective whether treating panic attacks, anxiety or depression. I don’t believe it is regulated there like it is in the United States and for 93% of the people in the study it was a way to deal with crippling insomnia.
My point is if you are dealing with crippling anxiety or depression and it can help you live a normal life why do we demonize it so much in this country. We take statins to control our blood pressure and metaformin to prevent full onset diabetes. Now people take various weight loss drugs to lose weight knowing that for them to be effective they must continue to take them the rest of their lives.
This brings me back to Klonopin and other benzodiazepines that are demonized on this site. If they can improve the quality of your life and let you live a normal life in combination with an SSRI why has the medical community in this country condemned them?
Many people have found an SSRI that works for their depression and anxiety and know they probably have to take it the rest of their life. Why can’t we just call depression a disease no different than diabetes and start treating it as such.
The stigma is finally starting to lift in this country as more and more prominent people are going public with their struggles.
The point being made in the article was that if they medications can help you lead a normal life are they worse than dealing with crippling insomnia, anxiety and depression the rest of your life. We know opioids kill thousands and thousands of people every year. How many SSRI’s or benzodiazepines kill people every year? I would say the answer is none.
What kills people is suffering from depression and anxiety to such an extent that it causes them to take their own life.
Just something to think about. Many will vehemently disagree with me but if this just helps one person live a better quality of life it will be worth it.

@meingan That is very interesting. I am going to have a physical on December 23rd. I always ask if I should wean off and her answer is always no. At 74 my attitude is “if it is not broke why fix it “

@daveshaw , I have no idea how old you are or if you have Medicare, but I just started and was told that Medicare doesn’t cover a physical. I could hardly believe it. Is this true? Just wondering if anyone knows a way for it to be covered.

@daveshaw , I have no idea how old you are or if you have Medicare, but I just started and was told that Medicare doesn’t cover a physical. I could hardly believe it. Is this true? Just wondering if anyone knows a way for it to be covered.

So sorry. Can only tell you my experience. Had always been insecure kid tho treated well. Not until early 20’s, starting great new job, worried I would not make the grade. No good socializing much. Married great gal at 23. Mother passed 2 yrs later. While at work, many people around, started feeling funny, little dizzy, began to feel might be having some kind of “attack” of whatever. Walked shakily to my office. Heart now pounding. Started to walk to student health center (worked at community college in CA). Half way had to ask counselor friend help get me there. Non-med staff took me in to lie down, saw I looked poorly, called paramedics who took me to hospital, meeting wife. My doctor happened to work there & came. By now I starting to calm a bit. Dr. concerned but not alarmed. He may have figured it out. Soon I much better, in control, Dr. re-assuring; said okay to leave but no RX, etc. Two days later I met with college psychologist & explained all plus small lingering anxiety as result of prior incident. He listened mostly. But in end, prescribed me the fairly new drug Xanax, at 1mg X 4 per day. Saved my life. I was way past the time for treating attacks by joining a club, mindfulness, volunteering, CBT, community support, deep breathing. Maybe later. But none of that - including daily functioning would be possible in my state after what had happened; and continued irregularly. And I & like-others often fear and avoid the place where that first big one hit. AT WORK for me. The source of income for all life’s needs. With the drug I could return, even feeling self-assured, even inspired and more productive.
Of course back then there was not much talk about long-term use. A psychiatrist I found prescribed me monthly for quite awhile while not looking into root causes. He eventually moved on and his replacement took me on. Not much changed except my beginning to worry about perhaps for some reason not being able to get my refill on time, or at all. Thus appeared another worry to deal with. Always and everywhere to have with me my life preserver in case the worst should happen. And very rarely did. But I needed it to help quell still smoldering but lessened generalized anxiety caused in part by concern over not having Xanax. Finally I turned to hit-and-miss therapists. Once, a somewhat elderly lady was stoically listening to my tale when I took my eyes off the floor and looked over to my right. The poor dear had dozed off. Bemused and bored myself, I quietly rose, silently opened the office door - turning to assure myself that she was only asleep, and departed. Don’t remember what ever happened after that. This behavior was atypical among my therapists. See! I’m rambling again. Sorry. All best hopes for success to you.

@celia16 I am 74 and I have Humana Gold Plus for my Medicare coverage.
I have a physical scheduled for the 23rd.
I have no idea how old you are but everyone is entitled to one complete physical a year.
Good luck to you.

@daveshaw , I have traditional Medicare and Humana Supplement plan. I will check again with medicare, but I was told this by several people. And, that’s what I have found online as well. It covers a Wellness visit, but not a standard physical exam. I’ll check on it again. M