About This Blog
Patient Reception Area of Fond du Lac Psychiatry
- My office
This blog is a collection of my thoughts as a solo practice psychiatrist in Wisconsin. Any descriptions of patient presentations are completely fictional. My goal in writing is to educate people about psychiatry, including the factors that go into evaluation and treatment decisions. If you are looking for a psychiatrist and you think we would be a good fit with each other, I invite you to make an appointment in person if you live locally, and by telepsychiatry if you are at a distance in the State of Wisconsin.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
You commented on a question I asked last year. I have been on zanax for lots of years. My balance system went out bi-laterly (spelling) both ears years ago. At first they thought I had ms.. Than I was told that my balance system was gone..I threw up for years and now I just have a really hard time walking with out knocking into things. i use a baby stroller to get around when i’m in open spaces. I’nm alot better than i was but at age 62 still cannot ,ski, swim. or ride a bike. Any thing concerning balance I can’t do…I feel just trapped and want to detox off this medication. Every time i have tired to do this I get vertigo again and start throwing up..What is the answer for me? i know my balance system is gone but it’s so depressing having to take meds just to not throw up and have that spinning sensation in my ears…
What do you think?
The thing that comes to mind when you describe your symptoms is Ménière’s disease, and I assume that the condition has been considered and investigated by your doctors. You do not describe hearing loss but I have certainly seen patients who have severe vertigo with minimal hearing loss…. but I do not have an explanation for why Xanax has been so helpful for the vertigo, or why the vertigo gets so much worse when Xanax is discontinued. You can read about the condition here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9ni%C3%A8re's_disease
If you dose of Xanax is constant, and you are not increasing the dose over time, I would suggest that you try to avoid being too hard on yourself. The medication is safe for the most part beyond the risk of dose escalation; because of tolerance there is not much in the way of sedation from the medication.
One thing to try, if you haven’t already, would be to try other medications for vertigo and nausea (e.g. meclizine for vertigo and odantreson for nausea) and take those medications until you have been off Xanax for awhile, and then try to discontinue the meclizine and odantreson, both of which are less likely to cause dependence than Xanax.
Keep in touch, and good luck,
Jeff J
I FORGET WHY MY NAME IS IN THIS AREA BUT I DID JUST LEAVE A RESPONSE TO YOUR”LONG TERM OPIOID ANALGESIA WITHOUT TOLERANCE” ON ANOTHER BLOG SITE…HOPE YOU READ IT!……………JUDY
OH YES, AND I WISH I LIVED IN FOND du LAC!