Banker - I have just seen a message about you saying how thankful they were that you were okay....something about a car. WHAT HAPPENED?!?!? I cannot find your post about it. I feel shivers just thinking about it==sounds like you were lucky to make it. Please write as soon as you get this and tell me, so I can stop worrying. love, lynn :eek:

Hey lynn, check out the last page of "Michelle' thread. Marcia

Hey - I basically fell asleep sitting in traffic yesterday and hit the car in front of me. But it wasn't bad (no damage) so we didn't have to call the police. I could have freaked out - then my mind went into total denial and I completely even forgot it happened until last night. It's either the Sub or the mixture of Sub and xanax. I've got to do something because it's been happening a lot. But because I'm busy and not 'relaxed' in the car when the kids are w/me, it doesn't happen w/them. EVER! I just don't feel tired w/them. Probably because i'm constantly breaking up fights and talking to them, etc.

I'm pretty upset about this. And I'm having some problems w/my 8 year old that have me worried. Don't know what to do! I'm fine though. Thank you!

Banker-
i have a similar problem-the combo-of sub/ativan makes me very tired when im driving-my eyes keep closing-thank God you are all ok..but i get the same heavy tiredness.
I am cutting down the benzos during the day-its just too much sedation.
BTW-how is the diet/excersise program going/i have gained more weight!
Im going to an OA meeting w/ a friend next week..i have started working out again.Just 2 days in-but im scared..i feel out of control.The sugar cravings..very bad!
How are you otherwise/miss talking to you..
heather

Heather, that is what I was just saying... you have to be on Sub to understand. Well, the combination I guess. Anyway, I haven't excercised in about a week but i've been holding the same weight. I've been watching what i eat but you're right... at night. I've been eating a lot. I know exactly what you mean about the cravings. Anyway, I'm still pretty depressed. NOT looking forward to next weekend when I don't have the kids. I absolutely HATE being alone. Also, my sister asked me to go out w/her last night but I'm just do damn fat. Oh, I'm sure that if I dropped my xanax down by half, it would help w/the weight loss. You have to think that us being tired is slowing our metabolism down big time. What do you think?

Banker - Have just lost this loooong message I was half way through. #$%&^%$!!!!!!

So let me sum up what I'd said in it:

1. You are one lucky girl!!!
2. If you have to choose between the Sub and xanax--I think that the Sub is giving you an opportunity to rearrange your life again.
3. You need to speak both with your sub dr. and xanax dr. and find out exactly what chemical effect these drugs, in combination, are having on you. Tell them exactly what happened.
3. I don't take xanax, but every few days I take about a quarter or half a 5mg Klonipin (another benzo)--and sometimes--before I know it---I'm asleep. No awareness of closing my eyes and falling into this doze. It's like my mind just collapses and lets go. Fine if I'm sitting in bed...deadly if I were in a car. (One of my scariest driving experiences was a six hour nighttime drive at the end of a long work day, up to Killington, Vermont for a ski weekend. I became mesmerized by the monotony of driving on the NY Thruway...and I remember suddenly jerking awake--and realizing that I had driven for who knows how many seconds--asleep. I went in a split second from thinking I was tired...to falling asleep. Luckily I was driving with Alice...and we pulled off at a service area and changed drivers!!! I had a similar experience when visiting my parents in their winter Florida home many years ago. Al and I had borrowed our Mom and Dad's car for a visit to Disneyland in Orlando...and the next day en route back to their home in West Palm Beach, during a nighttime drive...I began to fall asleep. But this time I knew the signs...and Alice and I decided to stay at a motel--and drive the next day.) All this happened when I was on NO medication at all. Your driving when you are alone in the car during the day, with Xanax in your system, must be comparable to an exhausted person driving late at night.)

This is about where I was in my last post to you...when I lost all of it in Cyberspace! Banker--can you just imagine if you were in an accident--and you suddenly just disappeared from this board!! We'd all go nuts with fear and anxiety. We'd never know!!! We have no other way to reach you than thru this board. :eek: That ALONE is a good enough reason for you to stop taking xanax before you drive!!!! Can't you just see all these unanswered threads labeled "Banker--TALK to us." "Banker - where are you??" "Banker?? Banker??" You get the picture! :D Maybe TheCelt has some pill information for you......

What is the problem with your eight-year old? I'm a parent only to two dogs...but I'm sure all the moms and dads on this board would want to know what's happened. And--so do I.

I am convinced that certain antidepressants slow down your metabolism. And there cannot be a coincidence that both times I started these pills, my appetite for sweets (which I'd never cared for) leapt into action. Those "wee hours of the morning" snack attacks...when I suddenly find myself with a Reese Peanut Butter Cup dribbling down my face....or...telltale chocolate stains on my pillowcase the next moring!!! :nono: But, aside from this new craving for sweets and cream products, I also found that even when I ate normally, it takes longer for me to lose--and maintain--the old "thin Lynn." I'm back to normal now...but I have to watch everything that goes into my mouth!! (I have just lunched on one-third of a slice of pizza..a slice so dainty and petite I could barely find it on my plate!) :D

IThis morning I was at this "Bake for Democracy" event---all over the U.S., Democrats are selling cakes and cookes today, to raise money for Kerry. If you saw my tote bag...and what it's stuffed with...you would recoil in horror!

Okay, Banker....PLEASE promise you won't take xanax and get into the car!! Wait until you get to work. Or get home. You don't want to wake up to see St. Peter checking his ledger and muttering "Hmmmm.....we didn't have you booked in for years, yet...we haven't measured your wing size.....your halo is still at the warehouse....hmmmmm...." :angel:

Take care!!! And lotsa love, Lynn xx :wave:

PS MARCIA - Thanks, Marcia, for directing me to the original thread Banker wrote on. :)

Lynn - thank you! You are TOO sweet!

My sub doctor is the same one that prescribes my xanax so he knows and yes, the xanax adds to the tiredness. The thing is, some days I'm absolutely FINE while driving and others, it just knocks me out. Also, if I take my lexepro at any other time that before 10:00 a.m..... I'm completely out of it that night and until around 2:00 P.M. the next day. I believe the lexepro, sub and xanax are making me like this. And you're right - if I had to choose... I would have to choose Sub. I'm just too scared of what I would be like without it. But I've got to do something - make some kind of changes with this tiredness thing. It's so weird that I will basically be on 'auto pilot' all the way to the daycare and then the minute I get out - I'm completely awake. It's just odd. With the Sub - you have to be doing something to have all of the energy but if you're not - you're out! I promise I will do something about the xanax but I will need all of your help. I need to decrease my dose by half - at minimum for a while and then even more. If I did this, I would be o.k. I'm taking a pretty hefty dose so I just need to decrease it. I've also thought about changing from lexepro to Wellbutrin by itself. I tried it several weeks ago and was REALLY out of it but I know it's the combination of that and the lexepro since it makes me SO DAMN TIRED! I want to try Wellbutrin because of the weight issue I'm having. I'm serious - this weight gain is bad. Or maybe I should say that I watch everything that goes into my mouth (most of the time) and I cannot lose any more than the original 5 lbs that I lost about a month ago. It's rediculous! And keep in mind, I drink about 5 - 7 20 oz Diet Dr Peppers along w/about 5 cups of coffee throughout the day. Imagine how tired I would be without all of that caffiene? I'm depressed Lynn. BAD! I'm not happy w/how things are going w/my meds, or anything else in my life.

I can't talk about my 8 year old yet. I'm so upset about it, I just am trying to get up the courage to even type it. O.k. here it goes... he told me last night (we were talking about the difference between Dems and Reps and I was talking about gun control. I told him about a kid in my school that shot himself while playing w/his dad's gun. He is a gifted child and VERY mature for his age. I was basically telling him so he would know the dangers of playing w/guns (which I would never own one because of all of the stories i hear about kids shooting themselves, no matter how much you have the gun 'locked up'. Anyway, he then mentioned suicide and used it in the wrong 'English' so I rephrased the sentence and asked him how he knew what that was. He said a kid at school had mentioned it in a joking manner. Then, he started tearing up and told me that sometimes when his little brother is mean to him, he thinks about getting a knife from the kitchen and killing himself. I'm absolutely devestated. I spoke to him about going to talk to a counselor and he said 'no, I want to be a normal kid' and no matter how many times I told him he IS a normal kid and that sometimes, everybody just needs someone to talk to he still said NO. Depression runs in his dad's family BIGTIME and obviously in mine but his father's family has numerous members that cannot even work because of it. Also, my ex's uncle was scitzophrenic (msp?) and I worry so badly about my children having mental illness.

I spoke to his dad about it and he thinks that he's a happy, normal kid and that we have nothing to worry about. I spoke w/my sister about it who's a teacher and she said because he IS gifted, that he just thinks ALOT and it's one of those 'what if's' and that she didn't think he would ever do it. The kid has everything he wants - he's basically my fav (shouldn't say it - but first borns... can't help it). Anyway, he is a very sweet, sensitive boy and his little brother CAN be very ugly sometimes... But, his little brother doesn't get treated like the 'king' that my oldest does because he can be a trouble maker. I just have to stay on him more than my oldest. I know this adds to my middle child being so mean sometimes. He's ALWAYS been mean. He can just say things that are really ugly like I don't love you and stuff like that. Well, my oldest, being so sensitive and having such a HUGE heart just cannot take it. I tried to explain my middle child's problems to my oldest last night and he acted like he understands why he acts the way he does sometimes... It's basically because he doesn't get enough attention. I'm just really upset and freaked out.

My oldest DOES seem to be very well adjusted. Even his teacher said he's the most popular boy in the class and has NO problems w/his self esteem because "He is IT". And my oldest admits that - that everyone loves him... Especially the girls. Anyway, I'd better go but I'm just upset and worried. Life is so hard sometimes and I cannot imagine what I would do if my oldest EVER did anything like that. I think I need to take action - but I just don't know. I'll be making ANOTHER appt. w/my counselor next week to discuss but she is not a child expert so I just don't know.

K - thanks again for thinking of me and caring so much. I don't know what I would do without all of you here...

The thing is, some days I'm absolutely FINE while driving and others, it just knocks me out. Also, if I take my lexepro at any other time that before 10:00 a.m..... I'm completely out of it that night and until around 2:00 P.M. the next day. I believe the lexepro, sub and xanax are making me like this.


It's so weird that I will basically be on 'auto pilot' all the way to the daycare and then the minute I get out - I'm completely awake.


I promise I will do something about the xanax but I will need all of your help. I need to decrease my dose by half - at minimum for a while and then even more. If I did this, I would be o.k. I'm taking a pretty hefty dose so I just need to decrease it. I've also thought about changing from lexepro to Wellbutrin by itself. I tried it several weeks ago and was REALLY out of it but I know it's the combination of that and the lexepro since it makes me SO DAMN TIRED!


Banker, Am I reading this right? You are taking Xanax AND Lexapro, on top of suboxone? I am assuming your sub/Xanax doctor is the one prescribing Lexapro? You are taking three psychomotor impairing drugs, at seemingly variable levels. How much Xanax do you take a day? Isn't 4 mg the maximum daily dose? And Lexapro? Aren't they both for the same thing? I know Xanax is an antidepressant for panic attacks, and I think Lex is another antidepressant. I don't want to sound harsh, but as a father, when I read that someone says they are literally driving around zoned out or falling asleep, I hope you recognize this as a big wake-up call, before something you don't want to contemplate happens.

My point is that you are so helpful and supportive of everyone here, but you need to take care of yourself, too! I'm worried about you, that's all.