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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

SSRI vs SNRI: Which is better for Anxiety & Panic Attacks.

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How often do you/did you take benzos? Daily?

Yes i'm wondering this too.

i'm not talking about abusing the shit out of them and getting a benzo addiction i'm talking about taking it when i'm having bad anxiety. some days are better than others, some are worse.
 
How often do you/did you take benzos? Daily?

Yes, I took them daily although the prescription bottle said "as needed". I knew NOTHING about benzo addiction. I took them just because he told me to. He didn't ever say "take them as needed". The idea was to be on them when I was manic but when they worked we assumed great this is a miracle cure so just kept taking them and no mania. I was 16 at the time and parents controlled my medicine and they loved the Klonopin because the one thing they hated worse was when I went into manic states. They would ask the doctor to increase my dose.

Eventually I ended up at 8mg Klonopin/60mg Temazepam daily for 11 years...doctor knows best
 
I wouldn’t recommend either Lyrica or Tramadol. I developed myself really bad anxiety and panic attacks after using those two (over 2 years) by the doctor’s directions. But that’s just me. Still I have to note that at first they worked like a charm for all of my problems. So I would say that not for long term use but short term maybe.
 
I wouldn’t recommend either Lyrica or Tramadol. I developed myself really bad anxiety and panic attacks after using those two (over 2 years) by the doctor’s directions. But that’s just me. Still I have to note that at first they worked like a charm for all of my problems. So I would say that not for long term use but short term maybe.

To each his own I guess. Effexor IMO is the last thing anyone with anxiety to take without benzos or some other effective antianxiety med. It's too rough to get to a baseline without too much discomfort.

I like tramadol. ER is the key. I saves a lot of headache from dosages. No one wants to pop 6 plus pills a day and peak and dip all day. They need to come out with a Lyrica ER. I hate losing count of pills...
 
SSRI's, in my opinion. I tried an SNRI (Effexor) but had to stop taking it after only a couple of weeks, cos it was giving me unbearable anxiety and panic attacks. My doc said it will pass, but I just couldn't stand it any longer.
 
i took another citalopram today and my anxiety is better but i keep jumping from happy to mad to sad to anxious. ugh. this is fucked.
 
To each his own I guess. Effexor IMO is the last thing anyone with anxiety to take without benzos or some other effective antianxiety med. It's too rough to get to a baseline without too much discomfort.

I like tramadol. ER is the key. I saves a lot of headache from dosages. No one wants to pop 6 plus pills a day and peak and dip all day. They need to come out with a Lyrica ER. I hate losing count of pills...

You like Tramadol? Well I'll trade you my pile of 60 or so Tramadol for a few benzos. lol
 
You like Tramadol? Well I'll trade you my pile of 60 or so Tramadol for a few benzos. lol

As a antidepressant... LOL

Recreational wise, it sucks...

It's a more effective cousin of Effexor to me...

The thing is... It is less anxiety causing because of it's opiate effects.
The opiate effects last about the same time as a person would be prescribed benzos to start with Effexor. The opiate effects become less apartent as your body adjust, but, the SNRI effects stay decreasing depression.

Also to note, Effexor causes seizures as a rare side effect just as Tramadol does...

Also they are metabolized in the same way, both leading to a O-Desmethyl metabolite.

They both come in ER formulations, so why not give them both a try at different times...
 
You like Tramadol? Well I'll trade you my pile of 60 or so Tramadol for a few benzos. lol



shiiit....I'll go a step further and give you 120 diazepam for your 60 tramadol. I F'ing hate Valium. I'm tempted to flush it down the toilet...garbage drug in my opinion.
 
SNRIs would probably be worse than SSRIs for such a condition. The increased amount of norepinephrine in your system would only increase anxiety, if anything. I don't think that SSRIs would be terribly helpful either. Consider benzodiazepines, although they are quite habit-forming and make you tired.

It depends, though. A SNRI like wellbutrin could possibly increase social confidence. Hard to say.

Wellbutrin (Buproprion) is actually a norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor, and does not have any effects on serotonin. Wellbutrin would be more likely to cause anxiety than SSRI's or SNRI's would.
 
Well, I am still a bit unsure. I think I will just have to try some SNRI's and/or SSRI's before I can judge. Otherwise, I think I would be happy with some Benzo's, preferably Xanax. I can handle them well, I thoroughly enjoy them, and they are VERY effective for my Anxiety. I don't know if anything can really outdo some Xanax for Anxiety prevention?
 
I don't know if anything can really outdo some Xanax for Anxiety prevention?

Mild opiates do the trick for me every time. (Lortabs). Xanax works for my anxiety too, but it puts me to sleep every time I use it. I use Xanax as a sleep aid now.

If you do go down the opiate road, be careful and limit your doses to twice/week tops.
 
I was prescribed 20mg Fluoxetine (Prozac) (an SSRI) for exactly the same condition you are describing and it turned me into the walking dead. Absolutely ZERO ambition to do anything. I would happily lay in bed and stare at the ceiling all day long. After about 10 days of that shit I flushed the rest of the pills down the toilet cold turkey.

I'm unsure what an SNRI is and what the difference would be between the the two.

Nowadays I treat my anxiety/social situation problems with opiates OR benzos. I trade off between 30mg Valium (a benzo) or 20mg Hydrocodone (a semi-synthetic opiate). I only dose up on average 6-7 times a month (which is about as often as my anxiety gets unbearable). I switch back and forth between the two because both have the tendency to build tolerance within the body and/or create addiction - neither of which I want.

I'm a STRONG opponent of SSRIs. I nickname them "drone pills" because they make it so you can't feel any heightened emotions - good or bad.


hey man you just said what i wanted to wordforword. they really do turn you into the living dead. drone pills is a spot on EXCELLENT name.

anyway, your anxiety seems similar to mine albeit a little worse. benzos honestly are a godsend for me with dealing with anxiety. they take that voice out of my head(im not crazy) thats constantly over analyzing every single situation im in. im always worried about what people are thinking about me. when in reality, theyre probably not saying anything. even if they are why should i care? benzos helped me so much. i know its treading on thin ice but talk to your doctor about clonazepam (klonopin=brand name) its perfect in every way. its lasts as long as you neeed it to. and its not too sedating like xanax. i tried kpins for the first time yesterday(i posted a thread lol) and theyre SO MUCH BETTER THAN XANAX. plus, if you cant get em from a doc theyre cheap as fuck cause everyones so hype about xanax.
 
I thought this was about SSRI's and SNRI's? Why are we on benzos all of a sudden.

I hate to see all of you newbies not know what you are getting yourselves into.

Benzodiazepines are only meant for temporary relief, not a permanent medication regimen.

They will erode your brain and ability to fight your anxiety. They will inevitably leave you in ruin. They will leave you worse than when you started on them.

You will run into dependence. There is no question about it. There is just no way around it.
Why fuck up the receptors that are keeping you from completely flipping, by sending them into hyper-drive and up-regulating those receptors, and raising the dose, turning you to this inevitable cycle of trying to keep up with it...

Benzos alone are not the answer, you will be head first into a new tangle that is far greater than your little anxiety you are belching over now...

Be so warned, that you have a letter with these exact words coming out of your ass!
 
For the record, I'm not advocating benzos for the OP. As K'd in AZ mentioned they might be prescribed in the short term for acute anxiety before the SSRIs kick in. SSRIs didn't work for me, but it appears that they might work for the OP given his condition.
 
Here's the thing. I think that antidepressants are too big of a class... There is simply too many options to go through before you are considered "Treatment Resistant."

Literally every major pharmaceutical company is making a killing simply because of our trials and tribulations...

I hate to see us suffer so unwillingly.
 
The first medication I was prescribed for my diagnosis GAD - Generalized Anxiety Disorder was a benzodiazepine.
Eventually another doctor (when my own doctor was away), pretty much forced me on Effexor because benzos were 'bad'. I agree with the others here; Effexor flattened me, maybe it was necessary, but I feel at times that it triggered a moderate anhedonia, lack of interest in life. The extremes of emotions were at times unbearable so I guess I shouldn't complain, but in reality benzos used wisely should be the ideal treatment because it doesn't take your 'highs and lows', which are necessary to enjoy life, they just calm the nervous system which at times is necessary with an already anxious CNS.
 
NRI's give me anxiety some times, but i love DXM.


the sweet spot for me is somewhere between 90-150mgs. i get a speedy, yet anxiolytic effect. i can't describe it but it is everything i have ever wanted. it helps with SAD, GAD, and depression all in one...or atleast for me... and the results are instant.

some people work better wit other medications, but the best for me is DXM + marijuana + multivitamins

DXM is the best a/d and anxiolytic that is an SNRI. my thought is because all of it's actions...

Dextromethorphan has been shown to possess the following properties, mainly in binding assays to various receptors of animal tissues. Low Ki values mean strong binding or high affinity; high Ki values mean weak binding to the target or low affinity:
Uncompetitive NMDA receptor (PCP site) antagonist (Ki = 7,253 nM).[18][19][20][21]
σ1 and σ2 sigma receptor agonist (Ki = 205 nM and 11,060 nM, respectively). In a comparative investigation of dimemorfan, dextromethorphan and dextrorphan in mouse cells, dextromethorpan binds with relatively high affinity to Sigma-1 receptors and with very low affinity to Sigma-2 receptors.[18]
α3β4-, α4β2-, and α7-nACh receptor (Ki = in the μM range) antagonist. Dextromethorphan binds to nicotinic receptors in frog eggs (Xenopus oocytes), human embryonic kidney cells and mouse tissue. It inhibits the antinociceptive (pain killing) action of nicotine in the tail-flick test in mice, where mouse tails are exposed to heat, which makes the mouse flick its tail if it feels pain.[22][23][24]
μ-, δ-, and κ-opioid receptor agonist (Ki = 1,280 nM, 11,500 nM, and 7,000 nM, respectively).[25]
SERT and NET blocker (Ki = 23 nM and 240 nM, respectively).[3][25][26][27]
NADPH oxidase inhibitor.[28]
Its affinities for some of the sites listed are relatively very low and are probably insignificant, such as binding to NMDA receptors and opioid receptors, even at high recreational doses.[citation needed] Instead of acting as a direct antagonist of the NMDA receptor itself, it is likely that dextromethorphan functions as a prodrug to its nearly 10-fold more potent metabolite dextrorphan, and this is the true mediator of its dissociative effects.[18] It is not entirely clear what role, if any, (+)-3-methoxymorphinan, dextromethorphan's other major metabolite, plays in its effects.[29]
 
SNRIs would probably be worse than SSRIs for such a condition. The increased amount of norepinephrine in your system would only increase anxiety, if anything. I don't think that SSRIs would be terribly helpful either. Consider benzodiazepines, although they are quite habit-forming and make you tired.

It depends, though. A SNRI like wellbutrin could possibly increase social confidence. Hard to say.

Wellbutrin isn't an SNRI, its a non-tricyclic antidepressant. primary pharmacological action is thought to be norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibition. It binds selectively to the dopamine transporter, but its behavioural effects have often been attributed to its inhibition of norepinephrine reuptake

Anyway, I've been on tons of antidepressants and in the past, for anxiety, Paxil (SSRI) has worked the best. I don't really remember Effexor causing any anxiety and I do suffer from a major anxiety problem, specifically social anxiety. All these antidepressants I've been on, SNRI and SSRI both, I've noticed little difference except the Wellbutrin and Paxil. First time I was on Paxil I went manic because I wasn't taking my mood stabilizer. The Wellbutrin helped with my ADD but also made me agitated. The rest I noticed little difference.
 
^ thanks for the informative post :)

However this is an old thread, and a very subjective one - antidepressants are notorious for giving different effects to different people, whether they are used for depression or anxiety.

Also, antidepressant questions (for depression or anxiety) are something you should take up with your doctor I feel. I know we have a lot of threads on them, and some are more appropriate that others, but overall although it can be useful getting others' opinions, ultimately it is a personal thing and something for you to work out with your psychiatrist.

Going to close this but pm me if you have any queries :)
 
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