Transitioning off a med to clear up my Class III? What to expect?

[Rushie]

There are two sides to this coin. I completely agree PCPs should not be handing out drugs to people who don’t need them. At the same time people who need them should be getting them and sometimes they aren’t. My point is not that “all doctors hand out drugs too easily” nor “doctors are too stingy handing out drugs”, but that both happen, and what’s needed is judicious evaluation about what’s best for each patient, rather than DEA limits on prescriptions, or liability fears, or throwing pills at a patient because the patient (or his parent, or wife) wants them.

Or his child. We desperately need Xanax to smush up and put in my mother’s applesauce. How do you get a doctor to prescribe them for a demented 94 year old with balance problems? I know they give benzos to nursing home inmates. But I guess they also strap them into their wheelchairs.

 

[Half Fast]

We desperately need Xanax to smush up and put in my mother’s applesauce.

Have you tried Craig's List?

 

[Anon]

You quoted the key elements of Anon's post. He was on the SSRI for two years, but only took the Xanax for 60 days. He was denied not because he took an SSRI (there's a protocol for that), but because he took Xanax (briefly) at the same time.

I agree 100% that PCPs are much too quick to hand this stuff out and they don't have adequate training to do so. Had Anon tried the therapy sessions first he could have avoided the whole problem. It's a shame his PCP didn't recommend that before doling out Xanax and an SSRI.

Ding ding ding! Half Fast gets it. I was on an SSRI for two years. At the beginning the PCP also prescribed 60 days of Xanax, of which I realistically used only 15 of the 60 pills. I've successfully been off the SSRI for several years after a mere 3 or 4 counseling sessions to literally help me pause, breath, and slow down. It's amazing what a couple sessions did in comparison to two unnecessary years of SSRI usage.

But those 15 days of Xanax usage at the beginning of that saga have labeled me unfit to obtain a PPL for life. (Yes, I'm already pursuing Light Sport, but that's beside the point.)

Shame on me, but I still see the same PCP to this day. He's fully aware of the situation and I can tell he feels bad without actually saying the words "I should have referred you to counseling instead of writing an RX."

 

[Rushie]

Have you tried Craig's List?

LMAO!