Clik here to view.
On Tapering: Why Paxil is Like a Bank Loan
Note: On Friday, Longshot Magazine gave potential contributors 24 hours to write about debt. Financial debt, social debt, genetic debt — anything. [Then, their team edits, paginates, and prints an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Day My General Practitioner Prescribed Paxil
I found myself reading this news story the other day and furiously nodding my head during the intro: “Nearly 80 percent of all prescriptions for antidepressants are written by non-psychiatrist...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Day (After) My General Practitioner Prescribed Paxil
(Note: This is the second post in a short series in which I recount my first experiences with Paxil. The first post can be found here.) I was a junior in college, panic was making a daily appearance,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Month(s) After My General Practitioner Prescribed Paxil
(Note: This is the third post in a short series in which I recount my first experiences with Paxil. Posts one and two can be found here and here.) Two or three weeks into my Paxil treatment and I’d...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Video: Why Do I Blog About (My Own) Mental Health? #mhblogday
As part of the American Psychological Association’s Mental Health Month Blog Party, I’ve decided to create my first video blog post. Now, let me qualify the word “first”: for the past few months, I...
View ArticleMy TEDx Talk: Anxiety — Hibernate, Adapt, or Migrate?
Awhile back, I wrote about how nervous I was to speak at my local TEDx event in Williamsport, PA. I was pretty scared. Would I get lightheaded? Would I pass out? What if I couldn’t remember anything I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tales From The Anxiety Med-Go-Round: Why I Hated Paxil
I haven’t talked about meds on this blog for some time. And it’s been an intentional choice. It’s been a whopping 6 years since I took my last shard of Paxil. (Yes, shard — in my final weeks of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tales From The Anxiety Med-Go-Round: You Can’t Live On Saltines
I’m an advocate of being open and honest about mental health. I try to lead by example (with this blog!) by talking candidly about my anxiety disorder. But there’s one thing I haven’t been sharing....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tales From The Anxiety Med-Go-Round: The Buspar Brain Zaps
Earlier, I wrote about how I began to struggle with panic attacks again — in a pretty severe way — about three years after withdrawing myself from Paxil, an SSRI medication that treats anxiety...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tales From The Anxiety Med-Go-Round: Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me
The scene: late summer, on a leave of absence from my cubicle-farm workplace. The culprit? Panic. Really bad panic that was keeping me, for the most part, stuck in my apartment. Most days, I was too...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tales From The Anxiety Med-Go-Round: That Twinkle In My Eye
Earlier, I wrote about how I began to struggle with panic attacks again — in a pretty severe way — about three years after withdrawing myself from Paxil, an SSRI medication that treats anxiety...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tapering Off Of Celexa: My First Two Weeks
I made my first dosage cut about two weeks ago. Before we talk numbers, I just want to reiterate something — the word about. Yeah. See how I’ve used it in the opening sentence? About two weeks ago....
View ArticleClik here to view.
You Asked: Was Celexa An Effective Treatment For Your Panic Attacks?
Recently on my blog, a commenter named Ted posed the following question in the comments to this piece about how I’m preparing to withdraw from Celexa: You’ve left one relatively major part of your...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Withdrawing From Celexa: Yeah, Um, That Didn’t Really Work
Years ago, before panic attacks became one of my defining characteristics, I decided I wanted to be one of those crunchy mothers-to-be who avoids all medication at all cost. I’d be growing a tiny human...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Zoloft and Klonopin Sing A Frustrating Lullaby
It’s no big secret or anything. Anxiety meds can make you sleepy. Like, really sleepy. From my bottle of Zoloft, an SSRI used to treat my panic disorder: “May cause drowsiness.” From my bottle of...
View Article
