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What to do about severe anxiety disorder and people thinking you're up to something?

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ferinox

Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Messages
275
There's quite a few times throughout my life where people think I'm up to something because of my anxiety disorder. I look really young so when I'm ID'd, people are especially suspicious because I'm sitting there shaking. I get nervous around police and one even stopped beside me today because I was having a panic attack upon seeing their car. At the bank I work at somebody thought I stole their money because I was shaking and not looking them in the eye. I also have aspergers syndrome which makes looking people in the eye particularly difficult.

I'm also curious if anybody else gets incomplete relief from drugs. Even when I'm super opiated or really drunk, I still feel very uncomfortable in an social situation. I haven't felt entirely comfortable throughout a single day in years. It really sucks. Aspergers syndromes has a very high rate of comorbid anxiety disorders. I'm wondering if I'll be forced to put up with perpetual discomfort because of innate neruochemical problems. I really want to try a monoamine oxidase inhibitor but my doctor won't prescribe it, just shitty SSRIs.
 
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In your case, which seems severe, I think a benzodiazepine would be very good for you. Along with your SSRI, I think a benzodiazepine, especially a long acting one like clonazepam or diazepam would be great for you. Long acting benzos are better for anxiety than short acting ones, especially in the long-term because they are less addictive and easier to get off of when you have to get off of them.

Are you in the United States or another country? Reason I ask is because I could recommend certain benzos for you that are available in your country.
 
I'm in the usa. I've always avoided benzos because of the horror stories when people try to get off of them. The reason I was thinking about the MAIOs is because they seem to be extremely effective in social anxiety situations. I very willing to put up with dietary restrictions to feel alright. Unfortunately, I believe my past drug use would come to haunt me if I asked for benzos.
 
If you use the benzos as prescribed, I guarantee you that you will not have issues with it. Millions of people take benzos as prescribed and they function in society normally. Your social worker could be taking lorazepam, your dentist might have anxiety issues and takes alprazolam daily - do you see what I mean? Taken as prescribed, the anxiolytic benzos are great for daytime anxiety.

They are highly addictive, but if you take them as prescribed you will not be addicted to them psychologically. Physically, it will take a very long time before you get to the point where you will have severe withdrawals when you stop. Plus, even if that is the case, you can always work with your doctor on a taper with Valium. It will be a long process, but you will come off of them without any problems.

Personally, I think you are a legitimate candidate for a benzodiazepine.

Long-acting benzodiazepines available in the United States include: clonazepam, diazepam, prazepam, clorazepate, chlordiazepoxide, nordazepam, and medazepam.

Of those, I probably would go with clonazepam. Diazepam would be the second choice and prazepam for third choice.
 
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Thanks for your responses, I'll probably have to suck it up and find a new doctor because my current one is very stingy with meds. It sucks though because some doctors aren't very understanding at all.
 
Notice I made some edits to my last post. Edits were made to which benzos were available in the US. So re-look at that.

But yes, find a doctor and explain to him what is going on and all your symptoms and I think he may prescribe you a benzodiazepine. Tell him your SSRI by itself isn't cutting it.
 
Ferinox, you sound a lot like me in social situations. I get extremely nervous, have tremors, etc. and I also tend to internalize all sorts of these thoughts that I think people are thinking about me which sort of snowballs into more anxiety. I empathize with you greatly as I have struggled with social/general anxiety for years.

I decided to go the benzo route, which in hindsight, I think was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I was put on clonazepam 3x daily up to 3 mg at one point. I have been on it for around 3 years now I believe (my memory is terrible). And have tried getting off of them twice.

I just want to warn you that from my experience these medications are horrible to take daily as they lose effectiveness due to tolerance, and you become dependent on them. Possibly they can work on an "as needed" basis, I am not sure. I am currently tapering off of them, and the withdrawal is intense. I'm sorry if this is jumbled as I am having a particularly hard day today, I just wanted to let you know of my experience with benzos for severe anxiety.
 
I have both severe anxiety disorder and aspergers and I would say avoid benzos at all costs. im withdrawing from them right now and im so anxious I could die. what I do reccommend for you is a mix of lexapro and lyrica. please dont get addicted to benzos because eventually it wills top working and you may even get tolerance withdrawals. ITs not physically possible for benzos to work forever at the same dose. same goes with lyrica but lyrica withdrawal only lasts a few weeks. Just try lexapro first. it may help. im on lexapro and neurontin but i dont notice much help because of my benzo withdrawal. but im with you. even before the benzo withdrawal no matter how many drugs i took i never felt at ease. ic ant even do parties. just dont do what i did man. im begging for my regular SAD to come back and not this constant panic attack I am in. unfortunately for people like us with severe anxiety sometimes the only thing that helps is chemicals. I have a lot of faith that an ssri with lyrica or neurontin will help you a great deal. when i wasnt in benzo withdrawal neurontin saved my life. i was going 5 days without sleep just from anxiety.
 
I'm still curious about a MAOI. Nardil is supposed to be the gold standard for social phobia. I'm desperate for relief and they seem to have tremendous efficacy with this type of anxiety. has anybody tried them? I'm ready to be as careful as possible trying them but I need to know if it's worth finding a doctor who will prescribe it. I'm also depressed so it might kill two birds with one stone.
 
ferinox said:
I'm still curious about a MAOI. Nardil is supposed to be the gold standard for social phobia. I'm desperate for relief and they seem to have tremendous efficacy with this type of anxiety. has anybody tried them? I'm ready to be as careful as possible trying them but I need to know if it's worth finding a doctor who will prescribe it. I'm also depressed so it might kill two birds with one stone.
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I wouldn't get into the MAOI's because they are notorious for their huge amount of drug interactions (some can be deadly, other are very serious and require hospitalization). They are outdated and just not worth it.
 
kokaino said:
Notice I made some edits to my last post. Edits were made to which benzos were available in the US. So re-look at that.

But yes, find a doctor and explain to him what is going on and all your symptoms and I think he may prescribe you a benzodiazepine. Tell him your SSRI by itself isn't cutting it.
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I disagree with just about everything u said about benzos.
They are highly addictive Drugs i've been on them over 15 years , and it hasn't done me much good long term , I also have severe anxiety, also Clonazepam one of the strongest benzo's hardly the place to start 8)
 
kokaino said:
If you use the benzos as prescribed, I guarantee you that you will not have issues with it. Millions of people take benzos as prescribed and they function in society normally. Your social worker could be taking lorazepam, your dentist might have anxiety issues and takes alprazolam daily - do you see what I mean? Taken as prescribed, the anxiolytic benzos are great for daytime anxiety.

They are highly addictive, but if you take them as prescribed you will not be addicted to them psychologically. Physically, it will take a very long time before you get to the point where you will have severe withdrawals when you stop. Plus, even if that is the case, you can always work with your doctor on a taper with Valium. It will be a long process, but you will come off of them without any problems.

Personally, I think you are a legitimate candidate for a benzodiazepine.

Long-acting benzodiazepines available in the United States include: clonazepam, diazepam, prazepam, clorazepate, chlordiazepoxide, nordazepam, and medazepam.

Of those, I probably would go with clonazepam. Diazepam would be the second choice and prazepam for third choice.
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You give out guaruntees FFS, What are you some sort of Drug Company REP ?
Bad Advice Fella.
 
I echo the other benzo naysayers of this thread.

Benzodiazepine use (which, in my experience, has inevitably swollen into abuse) should be restricted to anesthesia and total sedation (IV Ativan is often used for this purpose) and treatment of psychosis.

Benzodiazepines are not useful drugs for controlling social anxiety. They dim cognition and social awareness, along with loosening inhibitions. If you care to make an ass of yourself in a million subtle ways each day, take benzos.

The herb Rhodiola rosea was immensely useful in transforming my social apathy and anxiety into social excitement and self-confidence. It was disruptive to my sleeping, but I'm inclined to insomnia anyway. Rhodiola inhibits MAO-A and -B, but I never observed any dietary restrictions or suffered any "cheese syndrome" symptoms. If you're unable to convince a doctor to prescribe you a pharmaceutical MAOI, I recommend giving Rhodiola a try.
 
Fucking horrible advice people give sometimes...
OP doesn't need a new doctor, or benzos, he needs Lyrica.
Despite what others might say, it doesn't cause withdrawals or tolerance; problem is that if you just want to get high, things will always go wrong... If you want therapeutic relief you will be pleased.
Try benzos later, and MAOI much later, they are great, but restrictions are an unnecesary issue with selective calcium channel blockers (Lyrica and Neurontin).
Regards!
 
It helps to realize that people almost never see you like you think they do... seriously. What trips people out is ONLY acting like something is wrong, in my experience. You can do the weirdest things, and if you act like it's normal for you people don't give it a second glance. In my experience anyways. So be bizarre & proud of it =D.
 
will doctors actually prescribe lyrica for anxiety? i understand it is helpful but as far as i know it isn't approved for treating anxiety.
 
^My understanding is that doctors can prescribe medication for whatever purpose they want, but that pharmaceutical companies can only market it for whatever it was approved for.

There's nothing inherently evil about benzos but IMO they should not be used to completely annihilate anxiety. In order to do so will likely require increasing dosage and them just not working. It just has to be accepted that they will not keep you calm all day everyday forever. That's not realistic. If they are used, use them to take the edge off, not become completely numb. Other methods of dealing with anxiety can be used at the same time to avoid complete reliance on the benzos for relief.

I've had times where I would not have been able to function without them so I'm grateful for that.
 
Legerity said:
Other methods of dealing with anxiety can be used at the same time to avoid complete reliance on the benzos for relief.
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Agreed, particularly if one gets interested in resolving anxiety instead of always dealing with it. IMO/IME, it can be resolved but it takes a lot of soul-searching and self honesty, which is HARD and most people don't really want to bother with.

IMHO, it's better than constantly having to deal with anxiety your whole life... but it also takes a certain amount of faith in oneself that it CAN BE resolved. The only way really is to take the first step, then a second, then a third, then just keep walking...

P.S. if anyone's wondering if I've resolved it in myself? Yes, I basically have. The same way anyone would... at some point I was confronted with a situation that I couldn't avoid or escape anymore and I HAD TO face it, so I took a first step, then a second, then a third... then I kept walking. And I'm still walking. That's really all there is to it... every step gets easier. At some point, it becomes an adventure of discovery.
 
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Long acting benzos are better for anxiety than short acting ones, especially in the long-term because they are less addictive and easier to get off of when you have to get off of them.
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there's no evidence for this, I love longer acting benzos, i'll take them just as much, and I'll disagree with you on how easy they are to quit; the withdrawals last weeks (4-6 weeks at LEAST).

They are highly addictive, but if you take them as prescribed you will not be addicted to them psychologically. Physically, it will take a very long time before you get to the point where you will have severe withdrawals when you stop.
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Both of these claims are not true and impossible to guarantee; how do you know if someone will be psychologically addicted or not?

Physically, if you always have benzos in your system it will take a month at max for you to notice withdrawals severe enough that you want to stay in bed and cry all day. Even if you use them as prescribed, no matter what, your body will become physically addicted, tolerance will rise greatly and the efficacy of your new found meds will be shit. I know this has already been echoed above but I want to emphasize that this is not good advice in case anyone else reads this and thinks benzos are the easy way out. I also know the OP probably already knows this; no idea about MAOI in terms if their efficacy as an axiolytic.

Again, I'll throw out a mention of a beta blocker which will get rid of the physical side effects that you think others are noticing. Do a search, there was a recent discussion and some great info on using beta blockers along with calcium ion blockers.
 
Friend IMO its all about balance, im suffering same thing along with panic attacks but in different cuircimstances somewhat. Lyrica is helpfull but if ur in OZ its gonna cost you a fourtune, Benzos contridictary to alot of what people say can be benificial, although i take a short acting benzo three times a day no doubt im hooked on them, but between them and the trycilic anti-depressant i can function quite well, Ive been getting into meditation, trying to eat well (with little success) but suplementing that with multi vitimans, I suppose what im saying when it comes to anxiety and depression, It's really alll guess work by the docs, if you can find the right combo of meds and make sure to see a psycologist or psycotherapist. I know how shit it is to come off benzos from a few years back, they are addictive but can be benificial (thats just my oppinion).. Best of luck friend<3 its a shitty thing to go thru know ur not alone by any means:\
 
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