Hi Nan, I can so relate to this. I started going to a local Mental Health Center after being accepted for SSI--which is good news and bad news. Good news, it helps with a lot of my bills and stuff. Bad news, I can no longer see my old psychiatrist, who understood my anxiety issues and gave me Valium to help me with that (and no, I didn't get hooked!) Now I see a t-doc who's nice but can't rx meds, and I was "assigned" a p-doc who is almost impossible to get in touch with, and impossible to talk to. I told him that I was undergoing extreme anxiety, almost to the point of panic attacks, and that my former p-doc had prescribed me Valium which had helped me without causing me any dependency problems, etc. He brushed me off too, just said he didn't "believe in" rx'ing stuff like Valium, and basically left me hanging. So I told myself, "Forget that doc!" and went instead to my GP, who is about a million times more understanding. It's my GP who's prescribed my Cymbalta and Klonopin, which are helping me. So--do you have another doctor to turn to? Even your GP, as I did? You shouldn't have to get stuck with someone who's totally unsympathetic and "stuck in his ways". And believe me, I KNOW how awful the anxiety can be!!! So my suggestion is, try to find a more understanding doctor, there's no law that says it HAS to be a psychiatrist. Good luck!!

if HE doesn't write those pills that worked for you, ask who in the clinic DOES. insist on a second opinion from his attendinding. if they have good reason to switch you from one to another...that is one thing. but they can't just refuse to explain the reason for discontinuation or to find a helpful alternative. it has to do with that oath they took. when explaining this situation to the clinic's admin, avoid the diversion into your story. all they need to hear is that it was perscibed for anxiety from past trauma which gets re-triggered...esp during thunderstorm season. it is not tough to understand. my mother was once in a car accident in a snowstorm and while she did survive, she developed a phobia related to snow. she used to worry about when it'd start snowing again from August straight through first snowfall in january. and then she would want to stay inside if it even looked a little like it might snow. drugs helped.

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Every time I go to get my meds I have the same fear of experiencing what you experienced; I fear they will tell me they can't give it to me anymore. So I sympathise. I do understand the dangers involved, but at the same time, after twelve years it is kind of difficult to change. I hope you will find a doctor you like, and if the old medicine is no longer viable, I hope you can try something new that will help you. There are many types of medications and even herbal preparations that can be quite effective, even though maybe not quite the same. Before I went back on my meds, I got by with some herbal remedies until I saw the doctor, just so I could go to sleep...just a suggestion. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. But they are worth a try in despirate situations. Better than getting sick with alcohol.

What has anyone encountered when their psychologist just stopped writing the prescriptions for meds that were working just fine, and not being abused ? I am in such a "funk", because in Febr., my doctor (who BTW was a new guy at the clinic) refused to continue my Klonopin. He simply stated that HE doesn't write those. Kinda dumb, when I was simply in his office for my ordinary (had been going there for four years) med check appt.. I had few, if any episodes of deep depression for about six years, and very few anxiety attacks (which, when ya have a heart history - who wants those palpitating heart feelings...duh !) and as we entered Spring in Pennsylvania - there are numerous Thunderstorms. Hey, Doc, are you NOT hearing me ? I experienced a horrible house fire in 1972 - lost Everything ! Including a dear Canine "family member". And it was caused by Lightning ! Uh ? Kinda wasn't too far into the grown-up degree of NOT climbing under a bed, and had a new baby, new family home, etc. - and WHACK ! Gone in under two hours. Watched at age 19 - as "what was my whole life" burn across the street (had run to a neighbor's house in underpants and a diapered baby on my chest to get out of the house). Kinda traumatic. Ok. I see the news everyday, often tales of fires that others' endure. But, in my head.....that does NOT minimize the amount of TERROR I feel when the clouds start their noises. He totally blew me off. Had to get ready to see the next person, and just handed me my Elavil Rx and said make an appt. for 3 mos. I did attempt to speak to Mental Health officials who could send me elsewhere, and file a complaint on him, but they even dragged their heels - that I am only now (Aug) six months later, able to get "IN" to see a "private" practitioner (which will COST ie. my Ins. co-pay - vs. the Clinic which was fully covered). And, I can't be sure even this "private" office will actually HELP me. I've back-slided (?) that far. It's depressing alone. That (Feb.12 2005) was the END of my Maintenance on Depression. I gradually tried to keep sane. I tried to keep up my Internet (prior to him) addiction to learning computer repair and web designing - so I could make a few dollars from home - doing something I had found I