I just wanted to share with all you awesome people here that I am so much better! I thought I would never get back to normal, and well, I am close. And even unbelievably, I think the meds I’ve been on for vertigo have actually made my life better OVERALL! I have had a mild anxiety disorder and the vertigo meds seemed to have really addressed that well. I think this is my med plan for life. Sleeping better, feeling better, and I gave my first public talk in years 2 nights ago! It went incredibly well. Better than my talks before because the meds keep me so darn calm! Sleeping 8 hours every night.
ALL IS WELL.
I know there is always so much negativity in these forums - but I want to share a positive outcome.
My med plan is weird - microdoses of everything. But it’s working!
Venlafaxine 37.5 in the day
amitriptyline 15mg at night
trazadone 25mg at night
klonopin 25mg at night
I still can’t use elevators without feeling “off” afterwards, and longterm computer use is also a trigger. But I’m able to have a glass of wine with dinner again! Yay! And basically eat healthy, and don’t really avoid too much.
Congrats Shazam. We needed this ,my med routine is starting to look like yours. I have a problem sleeping on effexor. Is that why you needed trazadone?
I’ve taken trazadone for sleep for 25 years. A half tab of the smallest dose. It was the only thing I was taking when the vertigo hit, and occasional klonopin for anxiety. If I had to drop anything, it would be the traz. But I’ve tried to stop it and don’t sleep as well.
@shazam Congratulations!! Thanks for posting the positive story. You know we need to hear as many of them as possible!! One question, do you take klonopin every night or as needed? Above you said occasional but you listed it in your meds. I’m just curious if you or your doctor is concerned about being on it long term? I’ve been on 0.5 mg Xanax 2x/day per the first neurologist I saw for at least 5-6 years now, tried to get off it once and had severe physiological withdraw symptoms, and am stuck on it until my dizziness can be better controlled by another medicine so I could attempt to handle the withdraw.
I was on it occasionally before the vertigo hit full time. Now I’m on half a tab every night. I never feel the need to go up. And don’t worry about the long term. It works wonders for me. When I had postpartum depression 17 years ago, I had agonizing, paralyzing anxiety. And klonopin pulled me thru. Getting off it back then was really tough but I managed. I am SO thankful for that drug. My friend Klonnie. (That’s what I call it.)
good to know, thank you. Yes I don’t feel the need to go up on the Xanax either except that it doesn’t work for the dizziness nearly as well as it used to. But, occasionally if I am dizzy for hours in bed and can’t sleep I will take 1/4 or 1/3 of a tablet extra but it usually makes me even dizzier so I’ve pretty much stopped taking extra. I occasionally feel slight inter-dosing withdraw, oddly enough usually before my PM dose which has less time between doses, but nothing bad enough to increase. Usually the dizziness just gets worse as the xanax wears off approaching the next dose.
I went up to 1.5mg on xanax within a week. I was using it mainly for sleep and noticed i was getting less sleep everyday on them and i had to up the dose each day. First day, I took .5mg and I slept for 6-7 hours. Next day on .5mg I slept only for 4-5 hours. I bumped it up to .75mg and slept for 6 hours and next day at .75mg only 4 and so on. Within a week, I was at 1.5mg and only managed to sleep like 5 hours and wake up with shivers.
@Young_Lee Ugh sorry to hear you experienced that with the Xanax! I can see how it wouldn’t help sleep. If I have to occasionally take extra for extra dizziness during the night I don’t get good sleep quality on it. I may get 45 min to 1 hr, but for me that is better than nothing. I definitely never want to have to take a regular dose around bedtime.
I’ve been wondering how you were doing? I’m so happy for you! I’ve also found my magic meds with Nortriptyline and am doing much better these days!
Sharon!!! So glad to find you here and to know you’re well. I think we may be the only people on this forum who have actually met each other! And thank goodness I met you. I might have been wandering in the weird woods of vertigo for a long time!
So glad you’re doing better. At the moment, I’m hiking in the Mojave desert. Taking away all computer use and elevators, I am almost at 100%. Dr. Whitman keeps saying he thinks I have Mal de Debarquement, caused by elevators. Could be right!