Sign-in to Ask A Doctor - 24x7
OR
Sign in with GoogleGet your health question answered instantly from our pool of 18000+ doctors from over 80 specialties
How Can Anxiety And Pain Be Managed Without Getting Addicted To Medication?
Titrating off a bunch of narcotics..../pretty much DONE. Doing much better with Gabapentine..... I have had two seizures from neck injury put me in a bad state.... Addicted to narcs with IBS..... Now tapering off Xanax...with clonapin. The GABA had made a huge difference in my anxiety level...in a week?? My goal is to have pain mgt, and anxiety mgt, without being addicted to bad meds.....
Fri, 3 Aug 2018
Hello and Welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service.
I have reviewed your query and here is my advise.
Medications for anxiety that don't cause dependence are SSRIs with citalopram and sertraline being in this class.
Using them will help with anxiety and does not cause dependence but a patient needs to gradually start and should be at least 6 months under control before considering to gradually reduce the dose for another 2-3 months and than stopping it. This means it may take 1-2 years on treatment before you will be able to consider tapering down and stopping it. This not due to dependence but the way the medication works meaning takes long to have an effect (the first 1-2 weeks you might even feel irritable with it) and it needs gradual tapering down to not cause relapse of anxiety.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Kind regards,
Antoneta Zotaj, MD
I have reviewed your query and here is my advise.
Medications for anxiety that don't cause dependence are SSRIs with citalopram and sertraline being in this class.
Using them will help with anxiety and does not cause dependence but a patient needs to gradually start and should be at least 6 months under control before considering to gradually reduce the dose for another 2-3 months and than stopping it. This means it may take 1-2 years on treatment before you will be able to consider tapering down and stopping it. This not due to dependence but the way the medication works meaning takes long to have an effect (the first 1-2 weeks you might even feel irritable with it) and it needs gradual tapering down to not cause relapse of anxiety.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Kind regards,
Antoneta Zotaj, MD
I find this answer helpful
Disclaimer: These answers are for your information only and not intended to replace your relationship with your treating physician.
This is a short, free answer.
For a more detailed, immediate answer, try our premium service
[Sample answer]
Related questions you may be interested in
Loading Online Doctors....