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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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I Am A 73 Yr Old Woman And Have Been

I am a 73 yr old woman and have been on Klonopin (.5 mg) and Doxepin (10 mg) for about 4 years for depression after I was laid off in August 2011. I April I had two trips to the emergency room for a bacterial intestinal infection and stopped taking both drugs, had a hard time getting over the infection and constipation caused by the drugs, took me until some time in June. Afterward I don't remember well, but only took the Klonopin as needed and the doxepin nightly. I fell into a very deep and scary depression and my doctor started me on various "new" anti-depressants to which I had bad side effects, including hallucinations on the nortriptylene (30 days on) and quit them. I decided I wanted to stop all the drugs which I did approx. 11 days ago. The first week was euphoric and I was thrilled. (I didn't realize it but I was auditory hallucinating loud TV noises during the night and thought it was my downstairs neighbor). About day 8 I began to have nausea, frequent bowel movements (not watery), chills, sweats, shakiness, blurry vision, increased tinnitus volume, weakness, etc. the classic symptoms. I talked with my doctor, told him I wanted to be off both drugs and he said that since I had already done 8 days, he thought it would be ok to continue to clean out my symptoms. Today I looked online and found that it can take up to 3 months in some cases to detox from Klonopin and I've been afraid to look up doxepin. What do you think I should do. I must work, I have no retirement but social security. I'm very angry that I was even given these drugs without a warning about them. I would never have taken them. I don't want to be on drugs, but I must keep an income. I appreciate any advice you can give. Thank you.
Sun, 27 Sep 2015
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I Am A 73 Yr Old Woman And Have Been