Benzos Anxiety. Which benzos do you recommend...

[wombus erectus]

Ok I'll give you a bit of a run down. I have suffered from anxiety for a few years. It got so bad at one point that I needed therapy and a ssri (therapy I found to be bullshit). I was given cymbalta. The drug worked wonders and completely turned my life around. After about 6 months of taking 60mg a day, I stopped abruptly (I know they say not to do this but I was completely fine) knowing I did not need it anymore.

After about a year, I relapsed, and started to get anxiety in the same situations I had previously had it. Especially when I was overseas. I would carry temazpam on me, which I would take rarely, but just keep it there just in case I really needed it. I felt comftable just having it on me. The problem is, I will only be anxious for a little while, in these certain situations and temazpam seems to only work about 50%. I need something that lasts longer and is a bit stronger. Overseas the anxiety drove me mad, and stopped me from doing all the things I wanted to. I am also very sociable. I don't thinks it's social anxiety. It's just anxiety from say being stuck in a situation. It's weird because no one would pick me for it.

I also don't want to use an ssri again as I don't feel comftable taking a ssri again. Plus I use recreational drugs from time to time. Not a lot, but it's something I don't want to mix a ssri with. I know benzos are not long term, but I jut need something for say a few times a week.

Otherways to cope with it will be much appreciated. I found keeping a diary helped.

Note: I am extremely healthy, perfect diet with all the multi vitamins possible, exercise everyday and sleep 8 hours a night.

Peace x

 

[suessmayr]

It seems strange that you would want to avoid anti-depressants because of their possible interactions with illicit drugs. Benzos affect serotonin and can lead to, say, serotonin syndrome in the case of ecstasy, or respiratory depression in the case of alcohol/opiates.

Also, I can tell you from personal experience with at least 6 different anti-depressants that you absolutely can take ecstasy and other uppers on them. I mean, you're certainly not supposed to, but you'll almost always be ok.

Benzos are highly problematic compared to SSRI's - they're addictive, cognition-impairing, mood-affecting and so forth. If you know that you get a good response to Cymbalta, stay with Cymbalta!

But if you are set on benzos then you need something other than temazepam. The distinctions are a bit arbitrary but temazepam is primarily a 'hypnotic' drug - it's used to put people to sleep. There are specifically anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) drugs, some of which are long acting (diazepam, lorazepam), some of which are short acting (alprazolam) and some of which are in between (oxazepam). So you need to figure out for yourself which one is most ideal. If you take valium it is highly likely that you'll wake up the next day with what some people describe as an 'after-glow', and that the anxiolytic effects will persist for easily 48 hrs. Personally I find this highly frustrating as my anxiety is situation-specific and I just want something to get me through the situation and then fuck off.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

I would suggest eating well, getting in a lot of exercise, as well as making sure your sleep cycle is on the ball before using benzodiazepines.

This way you should get anxiety relief without drugs. Or, so that if you still need them, you won't need to rely as heavily on them.

Temazepam is an excellent benzodiazepine. However as you said you want something that lasts longer and is stronger, there are several options out there.

Although, we aren't here to help you pick and choose, as well, you will need a doctor to prescribe them, so it wouldn't do you much good to speculate what the doctor could do, it would do you a lot more good to go there and figure out what the doctor can do for you yourself.

Closed. If you are confused, just send me a PM.