Why are Doctors so paranoyed about prescribing benzodiazipines for people who truly need them and show no potential for abuse?

[Hemispheres65]

I started seeing a Pshychiatrist in 2001 after a crush injury that left disfigured and jobless. Dr Wilson had no problem precribing me diazepam and later ativan which gave me my life back. I wasn't agraid to be around people, I could sit in chair for more than two minutes and my mood greatly improved. I was even able to overcome the fear of my disfigurment and returned to working. After seing him for about a year and a half, I noticed that i did not need the medincine hardly at al and eventually quit taking it all together. Well, about 6 months ago the anxiety and panic returned, I was laid off and eventually lost my job. To my disbelief, Dr Wilson was no longer at the clinic so I started seeing another so-called doctor. After reviewing my past records he begrudgingly prescribed effexcor and clonazepam twicw a day which is exactly how I took it. Well, I am in military hardware sales and travel all over the world. On several occassions i admit i called to ask if I could get a refill at the most a week in advance. Yesterday I was told that i was no longer going to be given clonazepam because they(the doctor and his nurse) decided I was either a drug addict or a drug dealer. I even provided them with my travel orders and they still were not impressed, in fact the nurse said that she could print those up on her computer at home. I realize that a handful of people abuse or sell these drugs, however I would guess that more than 90% have no problems with them at all. So what is the big stink? Is this something being taught at our prestigious Universities these days or what?

Thanks for any comments ; Hemispheres65

[ILADVOCATE]

I take Klonopin. My psychopharmocologist prescribes it without a problem. Some psychiatrists however, don't believe in prescribing benzodiazepenes. Most probably its because its a headache for them. Its a triplicate prescription and there is a record kept of how much they prescribe as these medications are technically controlled substances. Of course people take them safely but if someone misuses or abuses them the blame goes back to the psychiatrist. Some just don't want to handle the responsibility. It would make sense for a new person seeing a psychiatrist to be ruled out for signs of drug addication if there are concerns before starting this class of medication. And yes if a person has built up a tolerance to them or they become ineffective over time a psychiatrist would change them. No responsible psychiatrist would take a person off them if they were doing well and another psychiatrist was the one who had started them on it. They would consult the previous psychiatrist and continue them.  If they don't have a valid reason I would suggest a change but do ask them first what their reason is in case they have specific concerns.
  Clinics that see people for 5 minutes and just hand them a prescription tend to underserve people as a rule because you can't adjust and titrate medications in that time let alone see a person as more than a number and it can be difficult if that's all your health insurance will pay for.

[peggy64]

I would recommend you ladies look into progesterone. I am  having anxiety problems and I am using Progest E to help with this.  I hate using RX meds and have suffered with anxiety and agorophobia due to hormonal upsets.

And also, usually when one gland goes, others do as well, like thyroid, adrenal, hypothalmus...

[jakegorzen]

LOL, thats so true!
its the Anxiety that causes depression if anything.
Depressed we cant feel normal.
I believe with further study one day, they'll find out its not really like that allot of the time.
I Would never wish what we have on normal people, but sometimes I think it would be better if these people could feel what we feel, just for 1 day.
Then they'd quit there cr@p

[lynn57]

I love when Doctors try to blame your anxiety issues on depression.  It's hard to be really happy when you are dreading the next panic attack. Of course you are not the life of the party!

[dolphin845]

I agree.  I have had several Dr.'s who want to put me on SSRI's and I can't take them.  I'm DONE trying different ones.  I get every side effect possible making matters worse - like I need more bad symptoms in my life!  I do well on benzos and most days I don't need them daily.  It just depends.  I can function and I feel well on valium on those bad days.  I'm 49 years old and I want a good quality of life.  I don't want to spend my life suffering laying in bed or on the couch.  I'd rather be dead.  I'm not sure about the Dr. I have now and how he's going to feel about keep prescribing the valium for me.  He's a fairly new Dr. and I have my third visit in Feb.  I don't see him often.  
I'm in the middle of getting my hormones balanced and it's been HELL for a year now.  I finally found a NP who said my body is going thru hell because my hormones are so out of whack.  When my estrogen goes low,  anxiety pops up.  If I take 2.5mg. of valium,  I don't spiral down and go into a panic attack.   I'm told by my NP that I won't always need the valium once I'm balanced but that could take up to another year.
She doesn't like me taking valium and I just told her that I can't function when anxiety hits me and then I'm couch bound and wishing I wasn't here any longer.  She suggested maybe I was depressed and I told her, "no, it's not depression - I enjoy my life but not when I'm so sick and filled with anxiety that I can't do anything."

[lynn57]

My other Doctor put me on the Klonopin because an SSRI alone did not take away the clustered panic attacks weekly.  Also the SSRI's cause insomnia for me.  He later took me off the Effexor and left me on Klonopin 2x a day.  I dropped to 1 1/2 on my own as I felt better.  My doc then left town. I had a flare up of panic attacks  and I went back to the medical group. They refused to up my Klonopin back to the original 2mg.  Also they do not prescribe three month prescriptions.  I had no choice but to add the Celexa, buspar and neurontin.  I quit the buspar as it made me nervous.  But I'm still taking more drugs than when I started.  I never upped my 2 mg. dose.  I only cut it down when I was able( never increased) , so why the nasty attitudes.  I have never abused a drug in my life.  I never upped my dose even when I had the worst panic attacks.  You find something that keeps you stable and everything gets changed.  I explained that my old doctor (they had the records) found that Klonopin worked the best for me when taken on a steady basis.  The PA's answer was "your doctor doesn't work here anymore" I've never seen her since!

[silverberg]

Being really honest here, I would rather have a doctor that is reluctant to give me a benzo then a doctor that would, with no thought. I take xanax (FOR ME) this works.
what amazes me is usually on this forum, when somewhen mentions a benzo, you read allot of neg. stuff. 1) benzo's are very addictive 2) after awhile one will require more 3) benzo' s have a withdrawl that can be bad, if you do not taper correctly 4) benzo's can actually (give a panic attact) if the level in your system drops! 5) most benzo's are for short term use only. I only can speak for myself but I have been doing alot of work to get back to my everyday life. I take .25 mg tid ( 3 x's a day) and really work on not taking more. I know that working with my psych. on issues helps and soon, I will require less. anyway take care.

[remar]

I agree this a sad situation for people that really need this type of medication. Drs. don't like to prescribe it because alot of people have abused them, and they are additive. I was taking an antidepressant and a benzo. When I started having problems with the antidepressant and wanted to quit it my dr. said he would'nt give me any more antianxiety meds, just like that, no refills, nothing. Why would a dr. want to keep someone on a med that's possibly hurting them, the antidepressant, but take away the one med that was helping, the benzo? Remar

[lynn57]

Boy, I can relate. My doc moved out of state and left me with a Doc that hates Benzos.  Even did a drug screen on me before prescribing.  I'm in my 50's.  Don't drink or smoke.  He didn't know me and I was left with a stranger.  I have been tapering off the Klonopin and am below a mg. per day, with celexa and neurontin at night.  I feel like he is adding drugs that may be more harmful in the long run than 1mg of klonopin 2x a day.

[jakegorzen]

Im going through this right now
Klonopin gave me my life back, after a chaotic all of a sudden GAD flare up.
Now the Gave me grief, after I told them I lowered my dose and dont even need that much now.
They told me they wouldnt give me anymore.
Of course these are "free health care" nurse practitioners, which Ive been told are notorious for this  because there graded more or something.

I gotta suck up the cost and just pay for a real Dr. because this is crazy them not giving a medicine to a person whom needs it.
I feel your pain, what makes it worse is them treating us like addicts, and not prescribing them, make us even more anxious

[glass2121]

yes they dont like giving them whitch s so unfair when they make it a bit better bet they take them