Just wondering if anyone knows any medications which are truly and acutely anxiolytic and work for anxiety other than benzos? I'm looking for options for myself when I see my shrink next.
I was going to mention hydroxyzine, which I found to be surprisingly effective for anxiety, but it's major drawback is a ridiculous tolerance gain and it's ineffective after 2-3 days.
I cannot take any SSRIs or anything. Buspar is out of the question. I am not really interested in Baclofen either.
anyone have any other ideas or suggestions? even off label stuff? I'm not trying to get high, literal anxiety relief, anything effective.
Benzodiazepines are the only clinically proven, safe anxiolytics available today. The anti-benzo hysteria began perhaps 15 years ago and attempts have been made to introduce other drugs, not clinically proven anxiolytics, as substitutes. There is no evidence SSRIs or similar drugs are any better than placebo. Most antipsychotics will work as anxiolytics, but the side effect profile is orders of magnitude worse. All cause life-shortening changes in blood sugar/lipid profiles, movement disorders that with time are irreversible, and increase the risk of sudden death 10x over baseline.
If you are in the US, I would say searching for a pharmacological intervention is a bad idea. If that is the case, focus on eliminating all commonly available drugs that cause anxiety - alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, and marijuana. Eat a diet free of processed foods, "junk" food, and effectively anything you do not make from fresh food yourself. Many such foods contain "flavor enhancers" that are modified morphine-like peptides made from milk and gluten, or are manufactured like beta-carbolines, many of which interfere with dopamine reuptake similar to cocaine or themselves bind to the benzodiazepine complex in a way not dissimilar to benzodiazepines themselves. Eliminate wheat and dairy products from your diet, as their morphine-like properties are calming, but appear to cause withdrawal themselves. No one becomes obese eating nature's "Sweets" like strawberries, apples, oranges, or even bananas. Pizza, candy, and ice cream? Different story.
Exercise has much more clinical evidence than any other pharmacological intervention that any physician can recommend, let alone random people on the internet. It is hard, I know, but it works.
In a sane world, I would say just use benzodiazepines. For the majority of users, withdrawal isn't really any worse than other psychotropics. And they are safe enough that you can take them for the rest of your life without risking sudden death, having a permanent movement disorder, and so on.
But we do not live in a sane world. We live in one, at least in the US, that increasingly is demonizing any drug that has a withdrawal syndrome. They will become increasingly difficult to get, solely because doctors will not risk prescribing them as their professional insurance increasingly is making it difficult thanks to loony websites like benzobuddies instigating frivolous lawsuits over drugs that have 70 years of clinical use.
