danglesmcgee
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2015
- Messages
- 128
Although I would also caution against obtaining benzos via any other means aside from an understanding doctor, anyone who is suggesting antidepressants or -- even worse -- antipsychotics, for whatever reason, is misguided.
If you have legitimate anxiety/panic issues (which it sounds like you do), no SSRI is going to bring you the relief a benzo will. I'm sorry, it just won't. As far as the antipsychotics go (i.e. Seroquel), they carry just as many risks and side effects as benzos do, albeit slightly different ones. Antipsychotics are extremely powerful drugs, and no one who doesn't ABSOLUTELY need them should ever take them -- period. I learned this after being prescribed Zyprexa and later Seroquel in my early 20's, and the withdrawal from the latter was fucking horrific. (Use the search function for 'seroquel withdrawal)
Suggesting antipsychotics as a replacement for benzos is flat out irresponsible.
I would suggest doing your best to find an understanding doctor willing to try at least one of the weaker benzos (Lorazepam). No one can tell you you're going to go down a disastrous path with benzos, only you can know that. That being said, obtaining them on your own is still a bad idea.
I have withdrawn from benzos in the past, and yes, it is everything you've been warned about and worse. However, I do have a benzo script now, and have for the past three years, and have not become physically dependent again. And while I don't condone abusing them, I myself do, but the fact that I cannot just obtain them at will staves off physical dependence. I do okay cycling the benzos, kratom etc... which brings me back to, simply: No one can tell you how you'll handle them, only you know.
FTR, my experience with gabapentin is that it is practically useless, and in higher doses extremely uncomfortable. I do have a younger brother who was opioid-dependent for about a decade and it works really, really well for him.
I have no experience with Lyrica, although I have tried a few times to get it from my doctor for depression/anxiety off-label (she won't do it).
Phenibut is hardly without its own risk of dependence and withdrawal, as I and many others here can attest (again, use the search function).
Sorry for going on so long...
i disagree. You can generalize every person. I know of 300 patients who have responded very very well to vanlefaxine or desvanlefaxine. its a very effective drug so long as its taken most importantly - consistantly and for AT least 12 months in order to fully get its therapeutic effects. seroquel is mostly intolerable due to its unintended side effects. however some people exploit it at lower dosages to get its sleeping effect. I think its generally excepted that CBT in combination with medication is the most effective treatment for chronic anxiety. CBT is a powerful process, you learn to re-program your thinking process and thus can eliminate the worst of it by actually facing the problem.