She has tried committing suicide. She got panic attacks. She works 24/7 if she can help it to avoid being at home. The family can’t understand. Neighbourhood doctor gave her Xanax 0.5mg. (Xanax, Alprazolam ) Without proper warning. She has taken an overdosage, been knock out unconscious. She carried the whole strip around and pop a pill when she felt overwhelmed.
She drives, work hard labour and told me that no one will listen that she is feeling very uncomfortable.
I spent an hour talking to her but gotta rush off. Any Xanax user out there can tell me some of the effects? I had done a quick search and yes, she experience some of the symptoms.
I warned her that she is not to stop taking it and also not to take more than 2 per day (as prescribed).
Please leave some comments? You can remain anon, doesn’t matter. I will deal with this when I come back. Oh ya, keep her in your prayers please. She is ‘searching’ for a religion but I cannot bring her to my church or anything like that. ‘Cos her mom and my hosts of other relatives will strangle me and make life difficult for her. So, I told her to follow her own brother to his church or her sister to the temple. Complicated, eh?
Forget to add – I had given her a contact for a psychologist 2 months ago but her family said she is not crazy, so what for see doctor?
Go see a ghostbuster. Or see an energy healer. If you want their numbers, get from me. Ghostbuster in Penang, energy healer in Kajang.
That’s what always got on my nerves.
“You’re not crazy, so what for see doctor?”
She’s already attempted suicide, dumbshit.
If it gets in the way of her life, and there doesn’t seem to be any other way to help the person, what harm would it do to her for her to go see someone qualified to help people in her situation?
Oh, no wait, it’s not harm to her that you’re concerned about, it’s harm to your ‘face’. Hope your ‘face’ will still be there when your daughter finally gets the suicide bit right. I’m sure the face will love and cherish you the way your daughter doesn’t right now.
Idiots.
Can she consult the phychologist herself? Sigh. Parents would always try to deny that their kids need medical attention until it is too late, then they blame medical experts. My dad said that all these medicine must be taken at the exact amount prescribed by doctors because once you take in more than you should, you would have the habit of taking in more and more and in the end it will cause major harms to your nervous system or worse still, death
Since she’s working why does she need family consent to see the doc? Any chance she can see a psychiatrist on her own? Neighbourhood doc won’t do as she needs specialist help. Her family is probably right in that she is not crazy but she definitely is having some mental health problems. She needs help urgently as she sounds like she has become dependant on the meds.
According to the statistics, 10% of Malaysia suffer from some sort of mental depression. In facts, she is NORMAL.
To counter depression
– take a vacation. DO NO stay at home. Sometime it is the ROOT of the problem (stuff, events,etc)
– Eat happy food or good food- banana, water melon, orange, ice-cream, D2 durians, lobster, Hongkong Tai-chap Crap, puffer fish,etc
– Watch steven chow movie
– Have a good XXXX (Why you looking at me, I mean fill in the blank lar)
If her family is Buddhist or Taoist, she should join a Buddhist prayer group. The prayer chants can help calm her nervous system. I’m sure the family won’t object.
I agree that prayer chants help calm ppl…when I visit the temple every Wesak…fuh…I feel so..you know..like at peace like dat..nice
Relax … you said she got panic attacks?
Give her 2 x 10mg Diazepham to help her relax.
1 x 7.5mg Midazolam at night for sleep.
Yeah … plus I guess she needs Prozac instead. These are all precribed drugs which could be easily abused, except for Prozac. Seek professional help.
Is she having depression or just some acute period of panic disorder?Probably either SSRIs but then need to lookout for the washout period since she s taking xanax.
I think she abusing the drug. Psychologically dependant on it now.Perhaps need to taper down/withdrawn it slowly. Psychiatrists/Pharmacists or the drug company could provide u more info i think.
I guess it’s always easy for ppl to give advice and all when they themselves have never been in depression. I’ve never tried xanax so i don’t know the effects… but depression and suicide is a plea for help. There’s not much what we can do for a suicidal person.. but to be there for the person. I know.. cos i suffer from depression from time to time.. i have attempted suicide countless times.. yet when i told my mum i purposely throw myself down the stairs.. she just said it’s okay it’s just a phase u will get over. Why have i not gone for professional help on my own? Very simple answer i don’t have the money to do so and my parents refuse to see their daughter is not normal. I guess the first step to healing would of course be professional help and anti depressants. But when u’re like me with access to none.. u swing in and out of depression hoping somehow someday something will change and u will heal..
Consult the medium to check if she’s been possessed due to low tide in her life cycle. Get the antidote from the medium. Must do the ritual fast b4 it gets any more worse. Why I say this….becoz the same thing happened to my brother years ago. Wrong place and wrong time.
Everybody can get depress so easy… but how do we handle it is the most important thing. I think she should talk to a psychiatrist. But the most important is her faith and her believe.
Ppl here screams depression everytime they donch wanna work here .. because they can claim unemployment. It’s their easy way out. After having my baby .. i felt so overwhelmed too.. I always got panic attack.. and when i told my pre-natal clinic .. they had me labelled as having psychaitric problems. So i do not like to tell my doctors that.
But i got a supportive hubs… and family… so it’s easy .. for me.. that i don’t feel this so often.. and my hubs and family listen.. when i tell them.. i am feeling depressed.. or overwhelmed.
I think her family need to be supportive honestly.. half the battle is won.. if the family is supportive.
yeah..the prayers at the temple is very soothing and calming.. should try to get her to go there (even tho no particular religion yet) and just relax..
MG is right. She is an independent woman, she should make her own judgement whether should see a psychologist or not. BTW, did you talk to her about spiritual support? Sometimes it helps.
toxicle: take prozac with xanax? No way. There are some cases where xanax interacts with SSRIs in a not so nice manner. I once took Xanax, Prozac, Dogmatil and Prothiaden everyday albeit under controlled doses prescribed by my doctor. The effect made me more depressed than I was, and even when the meds were whittled down to Xanax and Prozac only, I was still highly confused.
My faith in Christ helped me, and I only actually started showing improvements after I was taken off medications, and after much counselling by my psych, not compounding more meds into my body…
Think you should write to YuenLi or your niece YL. If she’s depressed, Xanax might not really help. Best to see a psychiatrist and psychologist for counselling.
Jinny: No … not Xanax and Prozac together. Stop Xanax and start Prozac
As far as I’m concerned, I’d go for the multiple-prong approach. She doesn’t need just a psychiatrist to prescribe medication and a psychologist to help her sort out her issues, but also some kind of emotional and spiritual support. Whatever works, but she really sounds like she needs a support group.
And the advice about Prozac… yipes. I’ve never taken that, but I hear it’s got some rather nasty side-effects. What I did take was Venlafaxine, which is a little rough on the physiological system at first (nausea, aversion to caffeine etc) but otherwise didn’t mess me up too badly.
Coming off Venlafaxine was bad, though, at least for me, but I went cold turkey, so that sort of explains it. Last time I take the advice and urging of non–professionals, that’s all I can say.
If she’s having an anxiety disorder and has gotten so distressed by it that she tried to commit suicide, then she should be seen by a psychiatrist.
Xanax is probably not a good longterm idea for dealing with this. It’s a sedative, calms a person, may cause some drowsiness. However, body builds up tolerance, and there may be withdrawal if you quit cold turkey (although if just 0.5mg twice a day isn’t too big a dose). But after a while, the body learns to get used to is, and one finds that one becomes overly dependent on the drug.
Cognitive behavioural therapy may be helpful. Venlafaxine is not indicated, although sertraline (zoloft) and fluoxetine (prozac) may be helpful.
For the most parts, pretty well tolerated by people although some nausea, sexual dysfunction may be experienced.
Sorry, since i’m not a psychiatrist this is about the extent of my knowledge. Good luck.
I am so touched with all the concerns and all the real life experiences. Thank you sooooo much, folks.
Let me try to elaborate more. She is a very jovial person who had to take care of her disabled daughter. So pressure was great. Then, when the daughter died, it was even more pressure. She wanted to ‘follow’ her because all around, people are telling her the daughter needs someone to feed her, take care of her etc etc. If she is not working for me twice a week, I guess she would have really done it.
Currently, I think I am the only one who makes sense. I told her it is ‘normal’ for her to feel guilty about the daughter’s death. We, bereaved parents, all feel the same, even if we had done everything. ‘Cos you see, people were telling her ‘wah, now you are free, no need to take care of your disabled daughter’.
She had gave up on her current faith because she can’t afford the money and time to do all the rituals. Her dad died as a Methodist, baptised just before his death. Her bro is a Methodist too. Her mom is a staunch Buddhist and mom got 3 sisters (who are my SILs) who are very against anything not Taoist. And will faint at the mention of Christianity. So, she was torn between trying to grasp on to Christianity without offending them and at the same time, felt bad that she is not following the Taoist rituals and cannot understand Buddhism (chants in Mandarin). And I had to stay away because I don’t want them (SILs) to think that I brain-washed her.
She has three wonderful grown sons who are still schooling. I often reminded her that there is no reason for her to die because she is so much luckier than most people. The only thing she was afraid about dying is where is she going to end up with. Not the real world she will leave behind but her fear that she may end up in a different place from her daughter. So, it is one helluva tough job for me to talk to her about faith without ‘selling’ the heaven promised in Christianity.
Re why not see a psychologist, I guess she wanted this support to come from her own spouse. I had talked to the psychologist before about the rates and method of treatment etc. The doctor told me psychologists do not prescribe meds but rather talk to the next of kin (family) than the patient.
I am going to see her again tomorrow and will give her the psychologist telephone number and address and get her to see the doctor, with or without the spouse. I will go with her, if she needs to. I am her aunt-in-law, but younger than her.
As for the meds, I must warn her not to toy around with them. Who knows she may get an overdose one of these days.
Once again, thanks.
I repeat, xanax is not for depression. What she needs is support. Andyou are the one that can best help her. Good luck