A Host of Anxiety Drugs, Begat by Valium

Kava kava I don't know about. It seems like another overload: valerian, melatonin and kava kava seems like it needs something like fruit juice or vegetable juice to drink with. I'll try it to see what happens, with a juice.

"dump the medicine.....it is most likely too old and if taken could make you sick.........lots of people get sick or have digestive upset with pain killers."

No, I'm keeping them because those organic chemicals don't degrade when kept air-tight. The ones that degrade are anti-biotics. If I break some part of my body during the next earthquake, firestorm, flood (riot?), I have a med kit for when nothing else is available and travel is impossible. I live 1 mile from the '94 earthquake and was sitting on guess what at 4:30AM that morning.

The directions on Valerian say take 1 hour before bedtime with a glass of water. If you take a combination with melatonin or Kava Kava, drinking juice is fine. I drink lots of juice, but milk or fatty foods before bedtime will limit the effects of sleep aids.

When you buy herbal remedies like Valerian, make sure you get the kind that say "Standardized Extract" or something similar, which guarantee a standard portion of the potent part of the plant. Standardized extracts will almost always cost more than non-standardized, but you know what you are getting is the real thing in measured amounts.

I will be passing by a Rite-Aid and Walgreens this weekend and read the labels. I must be in bed by 8PM to awake by 4.5 AM. I like veggie juice with a splash of hot sauce stirred in. If I sleep later, you will know:):)

SSRI discontinuation syndrome. Awareness as an approach to prevention.

Antidepressant discontinuation: a review of the literature.

The symptoms are generally mild and transient for the TCAs and the SSRIs but may be serious for the MAOIs. They are much more common with a shorter acting SSRI, such as paroxetine(Paxil), than with the longer acting agent fluoxetine(Prozac).

If you want to stop a SSRI, ask your doc to switch to Prozac with its longer half life, first to a dose where you don't have withdrawal symptoms from Paxil. There may be some trial and error. Then ask your doc to start a tapering dose of Prozac weaning you over one or two months to the lowest possible dose of Prozac, which you may have to cut or break in two for the last week.

The longer it takes to wean off the Prozac, the more likely you won't have withdrawal symptoms. There are no guarantees in medicine. If your doc doesn't want to do it, consider a different shrink or doc. Be sure to click on "Related Articles".

Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary

do you know how severe w/d will be after my pdoc switched me 1-1.5mg of lorazepam for sleep for 4.5mons and then to wean me off with klonopin i take .25mgAM and .25mgPM and will be tapering over a month. am i going to have problems??? i went c/t on the lorazepam for 6 days cause i didnt know there were any dangerous side effects. any suggestions on what you think. no one here in the usa is familiar w. the ashton manual. what do you think?????????

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