avoidant personality disorder/diazepam/lithium
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avoidant personality disorder/diazepam/lithium
I was just wondering if anyone else has been diagnosed with avoidant personality disorder...my psychologist says I have it. I also have severe anxiety and depression. I'm also an introvert...is anyone else an introvert? I see my psychiatrist on Monday. I'm going to tell him that I want to stop taking diazepam (Valium) because I don't want to become hooked on it and it doesn't even help any more. I've only been taking it for about 3 weeks now - the weird thing is, the very first pill I took made me feel better, but after that the positive effects began to diminsh gradually to the point where it is doing nothing for me any more. Why would the medication stop working so fast? I haven't increased the dosage or anything...I've followed the prescribed directions as ordered by my psychiatrist (10mg up to three times a day as needed). And another thing is, I've usually only been taking it once or twice a day (not the full three times). During the last several days I've even started cutting back to half the recommended dosage, to 5mg, about once or twice a day. I know that benzodiazepines are only good for treating anxiety in the short term and that antidepressants are better for treating anxiety/depression in the long term (my psychiatrist told me this). But since I'm also on fluoxetine (Prozac), and that no longer helps, what other medication could help? I've also been on Effexor, Zoloft and Paxil but neither of these medications helped. When I was on Lithium, the ironic thing was that it helped me but because I was worried about the drug causing kidney damage I was afraid of taking it long term. So now I'm wondering if I should go back on Lithium or not...it may help again but then I'll start worrying about getting kidney failure. I know they do blood tests and everything to check for kidney problems, but I'm still worried about the drug causing problems in the future - what if it triggers kidney cancer or something like that. Anyway, sorry for babbling on so much. I'll let you know what happens on Monday when I see my psychiatrist. Take care everyone!
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Hi Matthew, I don't have avoidant personality disorder but I do have severe anxiety and depression. I am also on Prozac and it works for me. On of the meds I did try was lithium but it did not help. When you see your psychiatrist let them know about your worries for taking lithium maybe he/she can give you some reassurance about it. Hope it goes well monday and let me know what happens.
take care
hugs.
take care
hugs.
- Warmsoul/Jeanie13
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