[Distelrath]

I am very new to paralysis and am still in the hospital. I woke up paralyzed on June 25th. Not being able to move my body (C6/C7 quad) is REALLY causing me to have tons of stress and anxiety. I've tried asking the neurologists for valium or equivalent to no avail. The psychiatrist acts as if Im drug seeking and refuses to give any either. A family member gave me some klonopin and it helped with the spasms and my mindstate tremendously. Do any of you have any advise as to how I should go about obtaining a prescription? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

-Ryan

[Doug]

try asking for a non narcotic type....zoloft....beuspar

[Distelrath]

Doug, on Aug 15 2007, 03:00 PM, said:

try asking for a non narcotic type....zoloft....beuspar

They have me on celexa (another antidepressant), which helps with the depression, but not the stress. They even put me on beuspar, but that made me feel god-awful... I'm starting to think it's hopeless.

[alyssa]

Try Ativan. It worked for me when I was in the hospital.

[LuckyinKentucky]

Don't ask for a particular drug ...after all we are the clueless patients right. Tell your doctor your symptoms and ask for his endless knowledge in trying to help....for best results remove sarcasm. In my experience doctors think there's a drug for everything, as long as you don't mind cycling through some ill fitting scripts you'll finally find whats good for you... And concerning the ill fitted ones be specific as to what they help and don't.

I had a doc at a pain management place treat me like that before... never went back.

Although you may not care what happens while on valliums that is just a side effect, it is actually a muscle relaxer. For mood & depression there are much better non-addictive/non-narcotic drugs.

[nomis]

And you may have a allow the possibility that the medical people believe no drugs is the best course for you. It's an option.
Normally, doctors are keen to medicate people because that is what they're trained to do. But some are also trained to observe that an anxiety reaction can be a healthy response to a difficult event and going through the pain of facing that reality is the best course of action.
We're not your doctors so we can't know what's best.
Try to have some discussion with at least one of your doctors to understand their approach.

[wheeliebear75]

You may not want too hear this but,........you may not NEED an anti-anxiety/depression drug. Lots of people go through depression when they 1st get hurt.......and some of that will settle with time and learning to adapt. Anti-depressants work on the chemistry of the brain. If you do not have a chemical imbalance they won't be very effective for you. People get depressed over being fired.......you had something a bit more significant happen than just getting a pink slip........so take that into consideration as well. You're just shy of 2mo. and that is like an infancy as far as learning and adjusting to SCI life. If you do get on any meds for anxiety and such.......it really does need to be handled by the psychologist. Oh and one other thing to keep in mind......those drugs are NOT a quick fix! They take sometimes weeks to achieve therapeutic levels, and even then it will only help not solve any issues you're having psychologically.

Not trying to deflate your sails or burst your bubble, these are just maybe things you may have not known or thought about.

[Nichole]

I agree with wheeliebear75. I've never taken any kind of these medications. Of course what happened to you is depressing and is causing you stress. Sometimes though you just have to work through your problems. Going through life medicated so you don't have to deal with reality doesn't seem right to me. Please don't get me wrong, i mean no disrespect to the people who take them, it just doesn't seem right to me.

[LadyPilot]

Distelrath, on Aug 15 2007, 08:44 PM, said:

I am very new to paralysis and am still in the hospital. I woke up paralyzed on June 25th. Not being able to move my body (C6/C7 quad) is REALLY causing me to have tons of stress and anxiety.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

-Ryan

Sorry to hear that you are so stressed out, quite understandable given the circumstances.

When I get stressed out and feel like I need help to cope with 'life' I use a herbal remedy called Natracalm. It contains Passiflora which has a sedative effect. It really works for me and the beauty of it is, it is none addictive.
Give it a try and if it doesnt work then approach your Doctor and say you need something which will just take the edge of your anxiety and stress in the short term.

Good luck and Welcome to a great site!!

[cdngrl]

When i came home i thought there was nothing wrong with me untill i started losing my hair because of stress. i went on all kinds of meds. i kept blaming my hair loss on the meds untill i realized i was on the meds becaude of the stress i went off the meds got my together and my hair started growing in