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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Need help prescribing right medication for anxiety.

fermonos

fermonos

Bluelighter
Joined
Sep 29, 2016
Messages
413
Location
The Rabbit Hole.
Long story short: I have massive anxiety due to fairly recent events and it's a nightmare for me to go out in public, to do daily tasks. Doc won't prescribe me anything to help it other than propranolol which helps for the racing heart and feeling on edge but has way too many negative side effects.

Anyway I can source a few different types of benzos online but I want to know which will be best for me, of course it effects people in different ways but any help would help. I'm not here to abuse them and I know pretty much all the risks associated with benzos and I'm willing to take the risk just until I can get my life back on track. I plan on this being a short term solution to my problem and I do not plan on doing anymore than a normal dosage and will be trying to only use them as a last option.

I've never taken any benzo in my entire life so I'm pretty much clueless but I've heard Diazepam is a fairly good one for anxiety, let me know what you guys are thinking.


PS- It doesn't need to be a benzo, it can be anything really as long as I can lead a normal life and not look intoxicated in public etc. Weed is out of the question though, causes my anxiety to worsen a lot.
 
Before going down the road of self-medication with Benzodiazepines, have you ever tried using Gabapentinoids for your issues? This class of drugs would include Gabapentin (Neurontin), Pregabalin (Lyrica) and Phenibut (OTC), among some others that are starting to appear on the grey-market. They work really well as anxiolytics for some and carry a relatively low risk of dependence/addiction when compared to the Benzodiazepines as a class. That's not to say that they are non-addictive or will not produce dependence, but like I said, relatively speaking, they are much safer for this purpose.

Someone with truly crippling anxiety self-medicating with Benzodiazepines is almost always a recipe for disaster. They're very effective medications and work wonders when used as prescribed, but you can't treat them like a true solution to your problem.
 
That's what I'm so scared of Kief. I've been abusing opiates since my life started going down hill and I've kicked them and I'm just panicking in my own home a lot since I've been sober, comes and goes in waves. I'm really afraid that it will solve my problems that I'll have the feeling that I can't lead a normal life without them.

I can get Gabapentin also but from my knowledge wouldn't I need a much higher dose than normal for any relief from anxiety, and isn't it quite debilitating at higher doses? Saying that people say opiates make it pretty hard to stay balanced and walk straight but I've never had an issue. The biggest problem with this though is the Gabapentin is much more price wise. I can get 3 boxes of 28x20mg for the price of 100x350mg Gabapentin (I'm pretty sure it's 350mg), and if I needed a higher dose of Gabapentin it may start to cost a lot. It's certainly something I will think about though.

I'm not even sure I'm going to go down this path but I had a massive panic attack earlier and was thinking about taking Propranolol to calm me down and then I was thinking about benzos and I came on here to just vent and try and take my mind off stuff. I'm just at a dead end and I don't know what else I can do. I can't even think straight half the day and I'm sleeping a few hours a night and waking up with cold sweats every 15 minutes. Can't eat, barely able to keep water down.
 
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See a different doc. If he won't script you anything for anxiety that bad, it's him, not your problem. I'm sure another doc would. I think seroquel is your best option here, if you don't really wanna get on a benzo. If you do wanna get on a benzo, klonopin is probably the best one here, since it lasts all day.
 
I agree with nancy and kief here i took benzos theraputically for legit very real panic attacks short term but days turned to weeks and weeks turned to years and before i knew it i was having all the issues of getting high memory problems insomnia confusion mood swings shaking ect without any of the euphoria just a perpetual state of fear trying to feel safe and fear trying to get back to safe.

I took seroquel it did have side effects however, unlike benzos it didnt sneek up on me. It caused some discomfort and some relief but it wasnt like when i took benzos which where like a wolf in sheeps clothing taking away the panic and only causing gradual slowly escallating side effects where by the time they where too much it felt like a snare i was trapped in and couldnt get out so the only logical way out was suicide. Gabapentin wasnt as effective but i also never developed any issues either.
 
Well, the Doctor does know about my opiate addiction. My parents found out and ended up telling him, btw I'm not a minor I'm 22 but I still see my parents a lot etc and I tell them pretty much everything. I think that maybe why he won't give me benzos giving they are more addictive and much harder to get off than opiates.

I'm just stuck, had a rough few hours earlier but it's past now and I feel alright. Probably going to have a nice glass of freezing cold chocolate milk and try and get a few hours sleep. I definitely need to work on something though, music helps tremendously. While I'm having a panic attack I can just put music on and lay in bed and watch 'electric sheep' google it if you don't know what it is. But yeah it helps, like I can still feel the panic and my thoughts are racing but I can control it if you know what I mean. The only thing is I need the music kind of loud and I have neighbours etc and they complain so it's not always an option :(

Thank you so much for the comments though guys, I maybe will try and see a new doctor because my current one is a bit of a cunt. When I was having serious problems with my legs after falling from a 3 storey building and spending 4 month in hospital I went and seen him and told him I was having mild pain in my legs and it was affecting me at work and he gave me naproxem and tried to tell me my foot seemed inflamed even though he knew I broke my ankles and cracked me heels etc. This was before he knew anything about my addiction, well at that point I didn't even have one I had only ever done opiates while in hospital. Anyway sorry for rambling peace and good night!
 
I won't delve into into medications too much as there have already been some good suggestions. However, since you brought up music as being helpful, have you tried meditation? I don't think it is a substitute for medication in extreme anxiety but it could help reduce it a bit and maybe give you a little bit of relief.
 
If you had to take a benzo the safest would likley be clonazepam, the more effective ones (ime) include xanax and lorazepam although these are short acting. I found zopiclone to be most effective but I react to drugs differently to most. As above posters said the beta blockers should be enough and you should aim to get cbt. If that fails you may want to try an ssri antidepressant or a gabapentoid. Benzos are more last resort and if you do take them do so as little as you can as they are highly addictive. In some people even gabapentoids can be highly addictive so as a first line treatment I'd ask for CBT, do meditation/yoga type execises, make diet changes and perhaps ask for an ssri antidepressant and something like clonidine (wouldn't reccomend other antidepressants such as snri's due to the potential for severe widrawal) there are also techniques to manage your anxiety you can find online. Curiosity and helplessness led me down the route of addictive drugs like benzos and I must admit that it's almost never a good road to go down unless nothing else helps. Good luck! -Mike
 
Woken up again :(.

I got prescribed Fluoxetine for depression but kind of stopped taking it as I was taking Tramadol at the time. Also I'm on a waiting list at the moment to do CBT but last time I heard from them was about a month ago so not sure what is happening there
 
Do not self medicate with benzos I'm currently digging myself out of a deep hole from doing the same, get some phenibut. Follow the guidelines, take it when you know your gonna have an anxiety filled day.

Benzos are gonna lead you to nowhere but more anxiety cause once your dependant not only do you have to deal with coming off of them, you also get to deal with the possibility of running out before you can taper off if your self medicating. Recipe to end up in the ER. Just stay away from benzos, they're a band aid that's realllllllllly hurts to pull off and they cure nothing
 
benzo's are not the answer. Its very hard to control that downward spiral, and the withdrawal is much much worse then opiates. Its not worth the risk.

Ask your doctor for Buspar aka Buspirone. its may work very very well for you, and for alot of people its a great substitute for benzo's. and it carries no risks of addiction or dependence, withdrawal. nothing.

And if you like tramadol, and you hate prozac then ask your doctor for effexor. Its a little more grunty, uplifting, more powerful SNRI. it also tickles your opiate receptors just a bit where you may be able to kick any opiate issues.. In a way it has alot of the characteristics of tramadol.

If your dr. doesnt prescribe at least buspar then you need a new doctor asap.
 
Your doctor is an asshole. Get a psychiatrist. My psychiatrist is more of an asshole than my doctor, but that might not be the case for you. He's so scared of losing his license that he won't even give me sleeping tablets. He makes excuses like 'You'll get high the first few times you take them, so I won't give you them". You might get the same but it's worth a shot. My parents did the same to my doctor, too and now the most I can get for fucking wisdom teeth is 15/500 co-codamol. I can't even get fucking naproxen for the damage in my radial tendon, but as a grown man I'm sure you can get most things as long as they're not recreational, like maybe mirtazapine (which is recreational, but isn't regarded as such by professionals), or bupirion or whatever the fuck it's called.

Good look
 
Music really does help me with anxiety i take time out to just breathe and listen to music even if its just in the car
 
Although I would also caution against obtaining benzos via any other means aside from an understanding doctor, anyone who is suggesting antidepressants or -- even worse -- antipsychotics, for whatever reason, is misguided.

If you have legitimate anxiety/panic issues (which it sounds like you do), no SSRI is going to bring you the relief a benzo will. I'm sorry, it just won't. As far as the antipsychotics go (i.e. Seroquel), they carry just as many risks and side effects as benzos do, albeit slightly different ones. Antipsychotics are extremely powerful drugs, and no one who doesn't ABSOLUTELY need them should ever take them -- period. I learned this after being prescribed Zyprexa and later Seroquel in my early 20's, and the withdrawal from the latter was fucking horrific. (Use the search function for 'seroquel withdrawal)

Suggesting antipsychotics as a replacement for benzos is flat out irresponsible.

I would suggest doing your best to find an understanding doctor willing to try at least one of the weaker benzos (Lorazepam). No one can tell you you're going to go down a disastrous path with benzos, only you can know that. That being said, obtaining them on your own is still a bad idea.

I have withdrawn from benzos in the past, and yes, it is everything you've been warned about and worse. However, I do have a benzo script now, and have for the past three years, and have not become physically dependent again. And while I don't condone abusing them, I myself do, but the fact that I cannot just obtain them at will staves off physical dependence. I do okay cycling the benzos, kratom etc... which brings me back to, simply: No one can tell you how you'll handle them, only you know.

FTR, my experience with gabapentin is that it is practically useless, and in higher doses extremely uncomfortable. I do have a younger brother who was opioid-dependent for about a decade and it works really, really well for him.

I have no experience with Lyrica, although I have tried a few times to get it from my doctor for depression/anxiety off-label (she won't do it).

Phenibut is hardly without its own risk of dependence and withdrawal, as I and many others here can attest (again, use the search function).

Sorry for going on so long...
 
Well I don't know. I seen my Doctor today and I asked if there is ANY THING at all he can prescribe me to just help when I'm out and stuff and he pretty much flat out refused.

He said there's steps to treat anxiety and I'm apparently on the first step (SSRI and CBT). The SSRI I'm on is Prozac which is I've told him is absolutely doing nothing but making me even more sleepy and less motivated, and about the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.. Well I've been waiting for a phone back now 2 month and every time I phone them I'm told the same thing 'we don't know a date but when we do we will call you'. So basically First step is that and if that doesn't help he said then it's step two which is prescribing anxiolytic type drug.

But I'm 99.9% sure he will give me some other shit excuse when this CBT doesn't help and I tell him that. I just hope my psychiatrist can understand what I'm going through and help me out with some meds. I'm a little hesitant about changing doctors though because maybe they'll be even worse and not give me my sick note every month but even my current doctor now is talking about getting me into work and no longer unfit for work.




Summary- I really don't know what to do, I don't want to go down this self-destructive and prescribing past but there's nothing else I can think of doing other than going back to opiates but using them for anti-anxiety effects would just cost too much money. Again thanks for your replies guys :(
 
The combination of a ssri with a second generation antipsychotic does have evidence behind its use in treatment resistant anxiety disorder.

I think people get too caught up in labels

The Antidepressants ssris when used daily upregulate the expression of growth factors in parts of the brain that can be shown to downregulated in rats by exposing them to chronic unpredictable stress.

Additionally, second generation antipsychotics can increase the improvement of people with anxiety disorders who dont fully respond to a ssri alone

Second generation antipsychotics at low doses
-antagonize histamine receptor which can reduce the physical effects of anxiety lack of appetite , flushing, vomiting , ect
-increasing the ssris effects on seritonin receptor subtypes 5ht1a and 5ht2ac
-reducing the number of weeks before remission vs a ssri alone
-antagonizing alpha adrenic adrenic receptors

I think another important factor here is receptor affinity just because a drug at maybe 5-10x the dose might blunt dopamine functioning doesnt mean that at fractions of that dose itll have the same theraputic effects and negatives
 
I wanna try and help but when your doctor's being an asshole there's not much you can do. The list for therapy is very long and difficult to get moved up, I was lucky (or unlucky I guess, trying to kill yourself is a good way to get moved up but it doesn't work well for the rest of your life) and I got moved up, but it still took two months. I know how difficult anxiety can be and thankfully though some kind of miracle mine just dissapeared but my doctors and psychiatrists lied to me constantly telling me things like "that drug isn't prescribed anymore" when I knew it was. If you can't get anything off your doctor then I would buy benzos but thats just my opinon, it might be dangerous in some way but other than addiction I don't see it. If your doctor won't even give you a sick note and you can barely go out in pubic then you need a new doctor, mine wouldn't give me meds but at least he let me stay off school <3
 
I get prescribed diazepam for similar to what you have going on. Its not the answer by itself as its just for short term use and for times when you are really struggling.

It does help if you use it correctly and dont rely on it.

It helps by giving your brain a break and some time to reset. You then use this time to better your anxiety by facing whats causing it in the first place. Seeing a psychologist can help as would a mental health plan.

Social anxiety is something I have and havent found a way to deal with it yet but have just accepted it as part of me. I tend to avoid going out in public and especially in crowds. I dont go to parties much as all I want to do is leave. But some things I make myself ho to like close friends birthdays or family gatherings where it would be rude to not go to. Yeah sometimes I take a diazepam to help still but the more your social circle grows and your comfort zone expands the better off you are.

If your doctor isnt putting together a mental health plan for you and just prescribing meds that dont work then stop giving him a wage and find someone who has accreditation for mental health.
 
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