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Best anti-anxiety medication by prescription?

gomakemeasandwich said:
For social anxiety, most doctors like an SSRI

It's such a great cop out by GP's ... Therapy is too expensive and benzo's although useful are addictive so have some SSRI's or SNRI's the side effects will add perspective and you'll not come back to me any time soon with .. pah .. anxiety issues ;)
 
My psychiatrist recently decided it would be a good idea to completely take me off my klonopin .5 mg once a day for GAD. He put me on buspar and it made me feel like my heart was going to explode. I have heart problems by the way. So, I went back yesterday to him and told him how everything was going and he put me back on the klonopin but bumped the dose up to 1 mg twice a day. Talk about being happy.
 
jokah said:
After a little bit of research I've come up with a few options to talk about with my doctor and these are -

Clonidine
Lyrica
And possibly a beta blocker of some sort.

Lyrica sounds great and so do beta blockers however the list of side effects from beta blockers scare the fuck out of me. I'm thinking perhaps a regiment of clonidine and lyrica might be the winner here.

For me I can handle the thoughts I get, sure my brain might be a bit of a mess its just the physical shit I can't handle with the anxiety, you know where you're with a bunch of people and you're shaking and twitching and when you move your head to look around you get like muscle spasms thats the shit I can't stand. When I'm around close friends/family/ by myself I never get these but throw me in with a pack of strangers and I just wanna runnnnnn.

Any oppinions?
I understand where you're coming from, but you're really doing yourself a disservice by not giving SSRIs a chance. I stick with my original suggestion of Lexapro, I really think it would help you a lot. I'm not your doctor (or a doctor at all), but going in there wishing to be put on Lyrica and Clonidine will only lead to disappointment. I can't imagine either of those drugs, or those two drugs in combination would do you a bit of good.

It's good to do research, but your doctor is hopefully going to know what is best for you, and you should try and be open minded about any suggestions he gives you. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.
 
I take them all xanax,valium,klonopin and they work great
for general anxiety. Just be careful not increase the dose
too much. If you take them for a long time you will need to carefully taper
your dose by.125mg every 3 days. The withdrawals are dangerous
with seizures etc.
 
valium or xanax(xr) for social anxiety. alcohol is good too but sparingly, and in low/ moderate amounts. dont combine any. buspar wont do shit. neither will most ssri's. big fucking fat placebo.:p clonazepam i find doesnt work too good. and its withdrawal lasts forever, sometimes literally.
 
Zubi420 said:
valium or xanax(xr) for social anxiety. alcohol is good too but sparingly, and in low/ moderate amounts. dont combine any. buspar wont do shit. neither will most ssri's. big fucking fat placebo.:p clonazepam i find doesnt work too good. and its withdrawal lasts forever, sometimes literally.
To anyone with social anxiety, I wouldn't heed this persons advice. SSRIs and Clonazepam both do a lot of good for a lot of people. The effectiveness of SSRIs vary a lot from one person to another, so if you're in a position where your doctor is suggesting one, don't NOT try it just because some guy on the Internet says it doesn't work. And you absolutely shouldn't use alcohol for social anxiety, at least not if you're trying to change your life by ridding yourself of anxiety.
 
I really have to say the best anti-anxiety med depends on the person, their condition and medical history. Usually (well pretty much all the time) they will start you on the front line benzos and try to wean you off while putting you on a SSRI or SNRI. That's the conventional practice.

Personally, they've doped me up too much on the SSRI's and SNRI's to the point where I can't take them. Cocktails of these put me in the hospital twice, not to mention withdrawals from high doses are among the worst I've had personally.

Don't get me wrong...I know quite a few people where SSRI's and SNRI's were a Godsend. They are good meds for a lot of people...but not all.

I've had two doctors, very respectable in their field (and very conservative when it comes to dispensing benzo scripts) tell me that chronic anxiety conditions pretty much require the patient to be a 'guinea pig' (their words) as different meds and combos are tried until the best therapy is achieved.

Almost 30 years of being a 'guinea pig' plus my educational backround in pharmacology and bioengineering give me some credence for my input...at least I believe that to be true. After all those years which included the usual therapies, I have been told I most likely have to be on benzos the rest of my life (that was the magna cum laude Harvard med grad). But I'm a minority for this therapy.
 
What i'm on currently works wonders.
SSRIS (Paxil, I know they aren't the safest) really work, along with 1 mg clonazepam to take as needed. The best thing you can do is explain the situation to the doc, he won't let you suffer through anxiety, it's his job to give you the proper medications. SSRIS work wonders though
 
for you guys who have been helped by ssri's , are there extreme side effects at all? i know that more serotonin totally fixes my anxiety but im not sure if im ready to deal with a long term drug like ssris
 
Newmoonrecord said:
for you guys who have been helped by ssri's , are there extreme side effects at all? i know that more serotonin totally fixes my anxiety but im not sure if im ready to deal with a long term drug like ssris

GenericMind is SO right about the problems when you stop taking them. For one, the withdrawals (I've personally known people on low doses that got them) can be terrible. Worse than any drug I've taken.

My situation with SSRI's and SNRI's is somewhat rare, but not as rare as most people realize. At first, they actually helped with the anxiety. After a couple months though, the side effects overcame the therapeutic usefulness and they started to worsen the anxiety. The new PDR's and med med inserts finally now warn that they can worsen anxiety. The same thing happened when I asked to be switched back to a tricyclic (Pamelor in this case). Same thing...worked for a couple weeks then my blood pressure and EKG's got worse and I ended up with a slight heart murmur.

I just feel it necessary to reiterate the possible problems with SSRI's/SNRI's and that a good doctor will titer dosages up properly. That was not done with me because they were new drugs at the time and "lots more was better.' LOL, boy were they wrong---or at least the way they prescribed those meds. You don't just start someone 200-300mg Zoloft plus 300-400 mg Wellbutrin along with a third, especially when depression isn't comorbid.

Again, as GenericMind said, EXTREME side effects are highly unlikely in most cases. The usual GI problems, libido/sexual changes, appetite, increased anxiety, insomnia, headaches, etc. are not that bad at low dosages, especially with the 'gentler' ones like Lexapro.

Whether you have to be long-term on any drug like SSRIs and/or SNRI's is up to you and your doctor. Many people respond very well to CBT and other treatments and can get off of meds completely.
 
cbank30 said:
Does klonopin have any affects on sex?

Increased/decreased sex drive?

Lasting longer/shorter duration while having sex?

Thanks

like all benzos, it decreases sex drive in my experience. tolerance can develop to this affect, so once you've been taking it for a while your sex drive will come back but it may never be 100% when you're on klonopin and since klonopin is long acting, if you take it daily, your sex drive will never be at 100%/. with xanax, i find that that about 18-24 hours after taking it, my sex drive comes back.
 
I'm one those where benzos increase sex drive or at least I can't see any difference....with or without them I'm entirely too oversexed to begin with.

SSRI's/SNRI's were different. Slightly diminished sex drive...but still usually horny. Stamina was greatly increased with them.

I'd have to say that if anything, benzos give a slight increase of stamina for me.

Then again, I was born a rutting moose...your results may vary =D
 
Best SSRI(s) for GAD/Panic Disorder?

My psych *did* have me on 100mg sertraline once daily, but I quit taking it due to the fact that it wasn't causing any noticeable change in my anxiety and I've heard too many bad things about SSRI's in general. Is there another SSRI that is more geared towards GAD/panic disorder? If it helps, I take alprazolam on an as-needed basis (usually .5mg for just having abnormally high anxiety, 1mg if I feel a panic attack about to come on).
 
Hate to say this, but ssri's are as efficient as a placebo in treating anxiety and panic. I really don't see how something that CAUSES anxiety/mania can be used to treat anxiety. But, if you buy into the placebo b.s. and it actually works good for you.
 
Valium 5mg 3 times a day would be good
if it were me. I hear Watson makes a good generic.
They are the least problematic to withdraw from
after extended use.
Klonopin 1 mg twice a day would be my second choice.
Xanax is great but the w/d's are horrid and they only last 4 hrs.
The 2 mentioned above last 6 to 8 hours.
 
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