I'm glad I could help you supersonic89. Where I live, most doctors don't want ANYTHING to do with anxiety or mental health issues....not even the mental health hospital. I don't take Ativan or Clonazepam anymore since I had to get a new doctor and he won't prescribe benzodiazepines so I had to quit cold turkey. I am already on anti-seizure medication so I was lucky that I didn't have a Grand-Mal Seizure when I quit.
I now take Argyle Softgels (Indica-based Cannabis product) instead for anxiety. I found that the dose 50 mg THC with 60 mg CBD works well for me - I can handle things that trigger seizures, handle my needle phobia (neither Ativan or Clonazepam helped me with that), and sometimes feel high even though my tolerance and the number of times I take it is the same.
I personally like Argyle Softgels more than Ativan and Clonazepam now, because of these reasons. lol I somehow don't get the side effect of "the munchies" yet end up with the shitty side effects time dilation, heart palpitations, and headaches. I found out that taking Advil reduces the high so I usually ignore the headache and it will go away.
I managed to "stop" the time dilation side effect last year since I took it one day, on December 23, 2019. I planned on taking them during Christmas in order to handle an asshole family member that I knew would be drinking and getting high by smoking cannabis at the same time. However, since another person would be there during Christmas I figured I wouldn't have to entertain the family member the entire time so could endure some of their nastiness when they got drunk and high. Because time was going REALLY slow that day (everyone I spoke to noticed that time was going extremely slow) I decided, that night, "Fuck it. I'll take them now since I won't be the only one that has to entertain this person during Christmas, someone else will be there too. What's the worst that will happen, will time stop? (this part was sarcastically thought)". I took the same dose and waited. A little while later, they kicked in, and time actually sped up; I even laughed a lot while watching Cube Zero online. I have seen that film before and never laughed at it sober. I still got the headache but no heart palpitations even though I ate and drank the same things the other times I took the Argyle Softgels. I figured that the only bad side effect I would have from now on. I was wrong, after that day, the only bad side effect that disappeared was the time dilation.
I don't have heart problems yet somehow get the fucking heart palpitations almost every time. The only "good" thing about THAT shitty side effect is that it was actually the side effect that made me realize the Argyle Softgels work well for my anxiety and seizures - I discovered that in July 2019.
I was looking up the side effects of cannabis on Wikipedia and noticed a complicated word that seemed to be related to the circulatory system. I actually can't read, watch, or talk about ANYTHING related to the circulatory system without having a Simple-Partial Seizure that involves an aura (ironically a medical scene from a 1992 episode of Barney & Friends that gave me Grand-Mal Seizures in the past - I think you will figure out what the scene is), the smell of raw seweage, feeling of nausea, and/or turning red in the face as if I'm embarrassed, even though nobody knows the seizure is happening (it happens both with the trigger and randomly without the trigger). Anyway, because of this seizure, I usually exit out of whatever website I'm on, stop reading whatever I'm reading, and/or quickly change the channel if anything related to the circulatory system happens. That day that I was on Wikipedia, I hesitated for a minute, thought "I'll just click the article, get the definition of the word at the beginning of the article, and go back to this (the Cannabis) article", and clicked the article. The definition/explanation wasn't clear in the beginning of the article so I ended up reading through it. I was halfway through it when I realized what I was doing. This was when I discovered that the Argyle Softgels were actually helping me since in normal circumstances I would exit out of the article if I clicked it. I tried the article a few days later while sober and couldn't read it. This was how I knew the Argyle Softgels worked. Since then, I take them for medical appointments that I'm nervous about (blood tests and dental appointments) and they work GREAT.
I think I will have to take them when I see my neurologist again since I will have to disclose this seizure. I disclosed it once, in August, because I was at the emergency room for that type of Simple-Partial Seizure. I had another version of Simple-Partial Seizures that I had an overwhelming sense of fear with instead yet couldn't identify the aura so that one was "easier" to talk about, probably because I don't know what the aura is from, even though it appears to be Lucy saying a quote that I can't identify - it always appears as "I thought you said you liked/didn't like (this part changes) the ______ song" (I don't know what the title or whatever the song is).
On August 8, 2020, I had a bad Simple-Partial Seizure at the emergency room in front of a woman (who I will NEVER call a doctor) that examined me. I was there because of that Simple-Partial Seizure. When it happened, I dry heaved into a plastic bag the triage nurse gave me but never threw up (I felt severely nauseous; the woman triggered the seizure). I explained, before she examined me, about the aura and trigger. I didn't give a shit that she had to examine me, but when I had the seizure in front of her she was rude, dismissed me, and said that she wouldn't do anything, not even contact my neurologist, who I had been trying to REACH since May. Her behaviour is the very reason why I wouldn't tell anyone about this type of Simple-Partial Seizure - since I was seven years old my intuition said that if I told anyone about this version I would be treated like I was a crazy, lying, freak. My intuition was RIGHT. I'll try to disclose this type to the neurologist (since it is indeed a seizure) but I'll be taking the Argyle Softgels so it will be easier for me to talk about this type of seizure. If he treats me like shit for telling him too then I don't know what I will do. At least I am calmer and able to handle assholes when I take them (I didn't take them the night I saw that woman).
I recommend people try them, if they can. You don't need a prescription so you don't have to worry about interacting with a doctor that dismisses you/refuses to do ANYTHING, which is a huge positive factor.
I've done things totally out of character on them as if I was on 11 shots of vodka. Apparently I drove someone to work once? I literally don't remember that at all.... Try not to drive on benzos unless you know you can handle that lol.
