Day 11

My wife went to emergency yesterday to ask the doctor to diagnose the tension in her jaw and neck.  Luckily for her, Emergency was not busy that night, as only one critical case happened and less than 5 people were waiting when we signed in with their triage nurse.

After waiting for about an hour, the doctor on staff saw her and made a brief exam of her neck, jaw and ear.  As I expected, the doctor found nothing.  I tried to convince my wife earlier that there was no physical ailement causing the tension in her jaw - it was all from her anxiety disorder.  However, she was not convinced and persisted in seeing a doctor.

The doctor told her that her jaw was normal, and the tightness was caused by anxiety.  I asked the doctor to prescribe some sleeping pills for her condition.  He cautioned against making any such prescription, as he said he does not know my wife's history, and it was better that my wife's family doctor make the diagnosis and prescribe appropriate medicine.  However, I told him that due to the long weekend, our family doctor would have a backlog of patients to attend to on the first business day after the long weekend, and we would be on a waiting list to see her.  I asked again, can he prescribe some sleeping pills just as a temporary measure until we were able to see the family doctor.  He relented and prescribed some small dosages of lorazepam (0.5mg).

Lorazepam, as I found out from Google, is actually a drug used to treat anxiety disorders.  Its primary function is to calm the nervous system.  The main side effect of this is to induce sleep.  Lorazepam is habit forming, so now the new challenge is for my wife to be able to wean herself off Lorazepam.  In fact, all of these drugs used to treat anxiety and depression (Trazadone, diazepam and other benzodiazepines, SSRI inhibitors, MAOI's, etc) are basically a dark, slippery slope down into the weeping and gnashing abyss of no return.  A lot of the time, even the physician does not know the best medication to treat depression and anxiety disorders, and as a result, the patient becomes a guinea pig of sorts, trying out different drugs or even different combination of drugs to see what works best.  Not surprisingly, this and the rise of the internet age has led to many people trying to self-diagnose.
Prevention is the best medicine, and these kinds of drugs are to be avoided at all costs.  The way to avoid them is to keep your body in an active, healthy lifestyle of healthy diet and exercise, and to listen to the warning signs that your body sends out, because it will send out warning signs.