Prescription Creep

bookofjoe2.blogspot.com

4 points·bookofjoe··4 comments

That’s a really strange case. Getting one benzodiazepine for anxiety is pretty normal but to be getting more than one seems like malpractice since the side effects are serious.

It's not unusual, "strange" as it may appear to you. Malpractice? No. Bad practice? Yes. No lawyer would take such a case. Source: I served an an expert medical witness in over 100 cases, plaintiff and defense, between 1985 and 2015.

The SSRI is not unusual, in fact it is supposed to be the first line for anxiety. Propranolol is normal for performance anxiety that manifests physically.

Myself I had terrible anxiety when I was younger that came out of my schizotypy. I lost it somehow in the last decade and I am not sure why. I did do a long course of SSRIs when I was trying to develop/sell something that was a decade ahead of its time. My psychiatric NP added Gabapentin because she thought it would help me make sales calls and I can say back then I didn't have the slightest fear of cold calls. I stopped the SSRI but have stayed on the Gabapentin.

I also had a kind of midlife crisis circa 2021 that changed things for me and more recently had a more complete awakening. I "go out" as a character who screams "this is a person who couldn't possible feel embarrassed." Part of that awakening was the development of intense autonomic control that brings up my parasympathetic nervous system in such a way that I have a soft inviting smile on my face even when I am wrestling with devilish problems inside. Maybe it helps that I've been on Nebivolol, another beta blocker.

Interesting and instructive. Thanks!

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