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Mental Health Need help with Severe anxiety. Trying not to drink. Alternatives?

BenzoBear32

BenzoBear32

Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 3, 2015
Messages
29
Hi everyone. I thought I’d introduce myself as I’ve never posted before. Firstly, I know my username is BenzoBear but I’m not actually currently taking benzos; although I do love them. I’m in my late 30’s and have struggled with severe anxiety my entire life. The anxiety led to heavy drinking and subsequent alcohol dependency. I’m now alcohol free and wanting to stay that way. Basically I’m looking for recommendations and/or advice as to how I could stay away from the booze. What could I take? I currently have access to 10mg Baclofen tablets, DHC 30mg tablets. Limited supply though. Also on Chlomipramine for OCD. Please help as I don’t want to drink but really need to stop/control the crippling anxiety that causes me to drink. When I do drink, I end up on around 2 litres of Vodka a day. Thanks.
 
madness00 said:
Welcome to Bluelight @BenzoBear32 :)

I'm going to shoot this over to Mental Health where you'll get better assistance.

In the mean time id like to ask why you are no longer taking benzos? Are they no longer an option?
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Thanks. Oh ok, I just thought that seeing as how I have an alcohol problem it would be here. Thanks for your help. I was more or less forced into reduction from 40mg Diazepam a day to nothing. Doctor took me off them and no matter how bad I get, he won’t prescribe them again. Gave me Baclofen but I may as well be swallowing sugar pills. I’d gladly take benzos again but just can’t get hold of them.
 
Do you have an anxiety disorder written in paper?

Or substance abuse disorder?

I have the latter and for that reason i can't get ADD meds. But if you don't have substance abuse disorder I'd totally try to find a new psychiatrist.

Anxiety is no joke for you and there are people out there willing to help.

Otherwise, I'll throw my cheese at you and say going for a long walk, listening to music, etc are healthy alternatives, but you know that and seem like you need more help than that. I don't mean to undermine it.
 
madness00 said:
Do you have an anxiety disorder written in paper?

Or substance abuse disorder?

I have the latter and for that reason i can't get ADD meds. But if you don't have substance abuse disorder I'd totally try to find a new psychiatrist.

Anxiety is no joke for you and there are people out there willing to help.

Otherwise, I'll throw my cheese at you and say going for a long walk, listening to music, etc are healthy alternatives, but you know that and seem like you need more help than that. I don't mean to undermine it.
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I have an alcohol misuse problem stemming from my GAD. Both are well documented with my GP and with mental health authorities. I totally get what you’re saying, I get that you’re not trying to undermine it, no worries.
 
BenzoBear32 said:
I have an alcohol misuse problem stemming from my GAD. Both are well documented with my GP and with mental health authorities. I totally get what you’re saying, I get that you’re not trying to undermine it, no worries.
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Ugh, i feel for you in regards to being "well documented". The heavy hitters in the department of mental health literally keep tabs on me.

Anyway I wonder if there are workers out there that can look past alcoholism considering it stemmed from GAD and not the other way around.
 
The Axe said:
Benzos are good for anxiety but they also come with the same problems of tolerance and addiction in my experience. An ssri/snri might work. I assume if you were drinking as much vodka as you say, there maybe a lot of experimenting to try to find something that works to relieve it now that you don't drink any longer. I really feel for you, I used to drink up to 3 bottles of wine a day, so I know what you're talking about.
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Benzo’s are the only thing I’ve ever taken that help. My drinking was totally out of control. I’ve been through rehab twice and had over a dozen Librium (chlordiazepoxide) detox’s. I take Chlomipromine for OCD but it doesn’t help my GAD at all. Thanks for the reply and advice though. Not drinking is so tough. Before now I’ve been willing to go through the hell of 24/7 drinking and the subsequent hallucinations etc..rather than face my anxiety demons.
 
madness00 said:
Ugh, i feel for you in regards to being "well documented". The heavy hitters in the department of mental health literally keep tabs on me.

Anyway I wonder if there are workers out there that can look past alcoholism considering it stemmed from GAD and not the other way around.
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That is exactly what I’ve tried to get across to mental health workers, hospital staff etc.. for the past 20 years. The anxiety came first and then I drank to try and control it. You get it, why don’t doctors? Drives me insane.
 
You could try gabapentin. I used that to taper off of Ativan. I will warn you though, gabapentin withdrawals are horrible! I tapered 300mg every 7 days down to nothing. At 30 days off the anxiety was so bad it was causing so many PVCs , it was considered a non sustainable heart rhythm so I had to be put on Metoprolol. Metoprolol increases gaba and helps with anxiety too. It’s a beta blocker so it will lower your heart rate too.
 
Juliya83 said:
You could try gabapentin. I used that to taper off of Ativan. I will warn you though, gabapentin withdrawals are horrible! I tapered 300mg every 7 days down to nothing. At 30 days off the anxiety was so bad it was causing so many PVCs , it was considered a non sustainable heart rhythm so I had to be put on Metoprolol. Metoprolol increases gaba and helps with anxiety too. It’s a beta blocker so it will lower your heart rate too.
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I used to be on 900mg of Gabapentin for severe neurological pain. I reduced to 300 and then stopped. That helped but I’ve had that taken off me now too. I’m in Wales (UK), they’ve gotten really strict on benzos and Gabapentoids here. Ahh no, that sounds terrible; sorry to hear that.
 
BenzoBear32 said:
I used to be on 900mg of Gabapentin for severe neurological pain. I reduced to 300 and then stopped. That helped but I’ve had that taken off me now too. I’m in Wales (UK), they’ve gotten really strict on benzos and Gabapentoids here. Ahh no, that sounds terrible; sorry to hear that.
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Here in the U.S. doctors sometimes prescribe metoprolol for anxiety since it’s non addictive and helps anxiety. You could try that. Yeah(about the gabapentin). I’ve read some people get horrible nasty withdrawals and some people are completely fine coming off. I was one of the unlucky ones.
 
madness00 said:
Kratom is extracted from leaves and comes in powder form. It's sold OTC at smoke shops (in the USA). It is closest to an opioid if anything, but completely different chemical structure.

I'd read into it if i were you.

Hope to Jesus it can help!
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Just looked it up now, sounds like it’s worth a try. Can’t seem to find any in the UK though. Will keep looking. Thanks 👍🏻
 
Juliya83 said:
Here in the U.S. doctors sometimes prescribe metoprolol for anxiety since it’s non addictive and helps anxiety. You could try that. Yeah(about the gabapentin). I’ve read some people get horrible nasty withdrawals and some people are completely fine coming off. I was one of the unlucky ones.
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I’d not heard of that before, just looked it up and it’s a Beta blocker. I was on Propanalol many years ago, I think that’s similar. Made me feel nauseous but my anxiety was still out of control. Thanks for the recommendation though 👍🏻
 
BenzoBear32 said:
Just looked it up now, sounds like it’s worth a try. Can’t seem to find any in the UK though. Will keep looking. Thanks 👍🏻
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You can have it shipped I think.

Unless the UK is now cracking down on kratom.

I was on it for 3 years and tho I decided to stop taking it for personal reasons (it completely flattened my mood and I feel that having mood variations is actually important to how I process emotions), it totally worked as a day to day stress reliever/alcohol stand in.

Red Maeng Da/ Red Borneo were my faves
 
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