Social phobia/anxiety and drugs/meds [long]

[hydrochron]

The best thing in the end is really to just get healthy, work out, eat right. Do fun things. Take vitamins. Maybe try a change of atmosphere. Get a new hobby. Drugs, even benzodiazapines will help, however they just cover the problem, and can give you more anxiety in a way.

 

[benzofan]

effexor and valium is good for me

 

[benzofan]

Bouncer: what is your conclusion ? (best medication for SAD)

 

[benzofan]

Bouncer: what is your conclusion ? (best medication for SAD)

It is interesting to have your point of view ?? a trade is in both direction

 

[jabbajosh]

bump....

funny, i posted in this thread almost 4 years ago... not much as changed. still have tons of anxiety (mainly in social situations). however i am 100% clean off all drugs. no more opiates, coke, benzos, stims, sleeping pills, pot/marinol etc. i thought maybe when i got clean my anxiety would go away but it hasn't. now i see why i started abusing drugs in the first place...to self-medicate away my social anxiety so i could fit in with society, make friends/girlfriends, have a social life....

i am now on 0.5mg of suboxone a day (1/4 of a 2mg pill). have been on subs for 3 years... my dose is quite low and i'm proud of that

i'm seeing a new psychiatrist who told me to see a psychologist to to CBT so i'm going to do that.

i am a vegetarian and have been for 6+ years. i eat ZERO junk food/candy/soda. i take vitamins and exercise daily (lift weights, run, etc). i am in great shape and still have ridiculous amounts of anxiety. no depression to speak of...so maybe the exercise is helping not only my body but also my mind? it isn't helping my anxiety in the least...but that doesn't mean its not worth doing. it is quite rewarding.

some medications i am thinking my new shrink might Rx me....

Nardil
Zoloft/Paxil/Prozac/Lexapro
Lyrica/Neurontin
Buspar

to be honest i'm not sure what i want. I just want relief.... SAD fucking sucks. i dont want benzos because of 5 years of Rx'd addiction to them. i thought about ritalin/adderall but that isn't a long term solution.

i'm hoping to start an antidepressant and maybe get lyrica/neurontin to take P.R.N.

we'll see.

anyone here a former junkie/drug addict who still has SAD/GAD? If so what WORKS for you??

edit: I have nothing to add but counter-productive ire.

 

[Transform]

[redacted reply to UA'd post]

 

[jabbajosh]

To whoever that clutzwah that just had a go at me is I was just saying that people need to be aware that stopping will ultimately help (especially in the long run). Excuse the tautology just trying to let the message sink in as someone seems to thing that I made a counter-productive, abusive post. This is far from what i was aiming for.

 

[ebola?]

No. Jabbajosh made a personal attack that I edited.

 

[atara]

i am a vegetarian and have been for 6+ years. i eat ZERO junk food/candy/soda. i take vitamins and exercise daily (lift weights, run, etc). i am in great shape and still have ridiculous amounts of anxiety. no depression to speak of...so maybe the exercise is helping not only my body but also my mind? it isn't helping my anxiety in the least...but that doesn't mean its not worth doing. it is quite rewarding.

Consider that you may have a vitamin deficiency. While it is absolutely possible to obtain all of the requisite nutrients on a vegetarian diet, it is not, however, easy to do so -- it requires one to be aware of the nutritional content of what they are eating, as certain trace nutrients such as choline, cobalamin, et cetera are easily overlooked on a strictly vegetarian diet. Hence are the majority of strict vegetarians deficient in choline, cobalamin, and sometimes folate, zinc, and iron.

Alternatively, consider eating meat occasionally, to the tune of 4-8 ounces of red meat per week.

Further it should be noted that vitamin supplements are in general poorly absorbed by the body and do not contribute signiicantly to one's daily nutrition. Choline supplements in particular are exempt from this, as choline is charged and is thus highly water soluble

The only such deficiency that would cause anxiety is zinc deficiency -- are there white lines on your fingernails?

The other possibility, of course, is that your life is just too damn easy:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/184156/output/print

 

[Wizzle]

I would advise against googling diseases and matching symptoms... If I do that I could probably conclude I suffer from a thousand illnesses (I have done this, it leads nowhere). Recognizing disease is something you need experience for, and even then, you shouldn;t diagnose yourself unless it's something critical.

I have four fingers with tiny white dashes, it doesn't mean anything. Your CBT will probably train you on not worrying so much. Think about it; if you weren't so worried about your health would you have more or less anxiety of any kind?

 

[atara]

What can I do to better myself? I have contacted a CBT therapist who i am planning to see ASAP. What else can I do?

Get a hobby like surfing, climbing, etc; that's the basic premise of the article.

I have four fingers with tiny white dashes, it doesn't mean anything.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leukonychia

Leukonychia + vegetarian + unexplained social anxiety leads me to think "zinc deficiency". It is not a perfect way of making an assessment, though.

 

[pally pete]

What I was thinking was:
take 1st day Tramadol, 2nd day Hydrocodone, 3rd day Amphetamine, 4th day Xanax 3x per day, 5th day Alcohol, 6th day Oxycontin, 7th day rest on sunday
Or one could substitute Xanax with Klonopin.
Or alcohol with GHB or phenibut/picamilon.

That would be a recipe for disaster imo

Sorry to have to awaken this thread but i was searching for oxycontin in social situations and this thread stood out.

I to am curious as to how oxycontin helps anxiety,social phobia etc...?

 

[helium-4]

I find that daily doses of piracetam can cut back general stress levels which can reduce the level of my somatic, cognitive, and social anxiety, but I find it doesn't really help more than that.

Low doses of k, dosed daily has been able to help reduce anxiety significantly if not eliminate it under certain circumstances (in a very positive state of mind, with not hints of depressive behaviors/states of mind). That in combo with ketamines anti-depressant effects, and its reduction in certain ADD/ADHD symptoms, I find to be a wonderful adjunct to healthy eating habits, exercise, and like. I find it makes starting such habits to be potentially easier. I have less issues with getting out of bed in the morning, even when I know i have a full day ahead of me that will be potentially pretty stressful. Basically, I find k to wonderful if other behavioral therapy is involved, but what drug especially when talking about mental disorders shouldn't be used in conjunction with some form of behavioral therapy.

 

[randomness]

I dont know if this is the right forum but I thought it would be better to put it here than in BD or OD. I suffer from rather "powerful" social phobia. Ok so i've been fighting with social phobia for over 5 years with little luck. Here is my story: I've tried various medications,ADs,supplements and of course drugs. Here is the list of things Ive tried:

- SSRIs were a joke. Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil - only fucking side effects.

- Most people are helped in social phobia wiht Klonopin - I don't, it doesn't work at all. I've used up to 8mg/day to test if it could work.

-> Xanax - effective but tolerance went WAY UP VERY FAST. I've used it for 2 months - at first 1mg was enough, at the end of the 2nd month I needed 3mg and it didn't even work as good as 1mg at the beginning!

- other benzos - Valium, Medazepam, Bromazepam - practically no effect on social anxiety/phobia. (Do you think Rohypnol would be effective?)

->> Amisulpride (Solian) - 50mg/day . Worked great for 2 months, then pooped out. I've tried using it for another few months on/pff but it never worked again.

- Sulpiride 50-200mg- no effect

- Depakote - no effect

- Zyprexa up to 20 mg - no effect. gained fucking 10 kgs of fat.

- St.John's Wort - no effect

-Reboxetine 8 mg - no effect

- Coffee - makes me pro-social for over up to an hour and then makes me extremely socially anxious.

- Pramipexole (Mirapex) - 1.5mg/day . Made me more confident, anti-depressed but didn't remove social phobia (maybe a little) plus it wasn't pro-social at all.

Ok here is the treatment which worked THE BEST for me (unfortunately I had to stop it because my GHB/Xyrem source has dried up

->>> Adderall + GHB - this was not only the best treatment for social phobia but it also made me SO PRO-SOCIAL as I have never been before in my life (even MDMA or alcohol doesn't work as good as this combo). I literally could walk to every girl and make small-talks and inteliggent conversations, which normally is impossible for me because of the anxiety. And dont think that i consider social anxiety as a problem with hanging out with girls - it is much much more complicated: fear of public speaking, fear of one-on-one conversation (even though Im not anxious when 3 ppl are involved), every thing I say I consider being, how to put it..hmm.. NOT RIGHT. tHIS combo totally removed all those symptoms. I wish GHB was more available, as it is wonderful anti-anxiety treatment (plus other benefits); too bad it was labeled 'date-rape drug' and scheduled.

Since GHB has not been available, I've been looking for some other treatment.

Lyrica (pregabalin) is not yet available in my country, but I dont think I could afford it - 600mg is effective in social phobia which probably will cost $100000. Lower doses are placebo and dont work (at least 150mg).

Nardil,Parnate - both are not available in my country, because they are irreversible MAOis - but there is possibility of importing those drugs. So here is my question - how much Parnate does one need in order to achieve social anxiety relief ? Importing Nardil is way too expensive (at least at 75-90mg dose). Oh so I've heard (read).

Moclobemide - what do you think of this reversible MAOi ?

Concerta (Ritalin XR) - is it as pro-social as amphetamines? There is no adderall in my country unfortunately and the illegal usage and "hard-to-dose thing" are 2 biggies.

What else can I try?? Dopamine agonists like Requip, Pronoran, Permax etc? Are dopamine agonists helpful in social phobia?

Tianeptine (Coaxil) 12.5mg/3x day - no effect

L-Theanine - no effect

Kava-Kava - I've used even very high doses (something up to 1g kavalactones - not kavakava)- no effect at all, even no anti-anxiety

Selegiline 5mg - no effect or even worsening of SP

Wellbutrin - didnt try but I've heard it increases anxiety


MST Continus 100mg, Heroin, Codeine - too drowsy to say that it could be helpful. I need something pro-social.

->>> Tramadol - works at 400mg-600mg, but loses its effects - I can use it every 3-4 days :/. But its WONDERFUL treatment, not like morphine,codeine,heroin - Tramadol is actually VERY pro-social and anti-anxiety. Works for over 6-8 hours. Too bad I cant use it every day but oh well

And last but not least - ALCOHOL. Apart from amphetamine/G , another tremendous thing, although toxic. I use it very often in social situations, but also pray that G will come back soon :]
2 beers make me relaxed,talkative,pro-social,anti-anxiety. More (up to 5 beers or actually I prefer vodka) and I am extremely pro-social.
I don't think i need to write more about alcohol social effects, everyone knows how it works

MDMA - I won't comment it because everyone knows it is social lubricant like alcohol or G. And DEFINITELY not something being used long term/daily

Question popped into my mind: how effective are barbiturates in social anxiety? Or 5-HTP, Enada NADH, Ativan, Topamax, Luvox, Modafinil ?


As a final note I need to mention that I've been drinking to control my social phobia, since no other available treatment comes close to relieving my symptoms unfortunately (since GHB is nowhere near) ;(( That's why Im looking for some medicine to help me out with my condition and so I could stop poisoning my body with alcohol.


Ok I'm done rambling Thanks in advance to anyone who can give advice, recommendation or has similar problem and tried various substances and they worked.

Interesting reading your post bouncer, because it could be my own story. I too suffer with social phobia/anxiety. I have had it for 20 years, and like yourself it's severe. I would describe it as social anxiety now, but in the past I had social phobia so extreme that I couldn't even answer the door and never went outside for nearly 5 years.

What struck me about your post is that the only things which seemed to work for you was the alcohol, GHB and Xanax.

Alcohol and GHB were the only things which worked for me too and made me pro-social. When drinking and using GHB I was able to socialise normally and have friends. This, and the fact that Xanax worked for you, has got me thinking that the problem may be related to the GABA receptors in brain. That is the common denominator here. All three things (Alcohol, GHB, Benzos) work on GABA causing loss of inhibitions and fears.

The problem is, notice how all three things (Alcohol, GHB, Benzos) also share the same problem..rapid tolerance and dependency with terrible withdrawals, if used daily.

I have searched and searched for alternatives that work on GABA receptors and haven't had much success, but my research continues. The only thing I have found is Pregablin/Lyrica which you mentioned you would like to try. I have been able to get this fairly inexpensively and have been taking it for the last year or so. The effects are *very similar* to GHB but not quite as good. It seems to be more specific in effect and more potent, such that if you try and take higher doses you end up feeling very intoxicated/drunk and unable to walk straight. It definitely acts as a social lubricant for me and makes talking to people easier and I can make eye contact easier. It's a good replacement for alcohol and I find 75mg is the equivalent to drinking a beer. I have tried experimenting with higher doses but unfortunately it doesn't make me more sociable or confident.

A couple of things I noticed you haven't tried which are reported to be successful for social anxiety are Phenibut and Nardil. No doubt you have heard of Nardil, the MAOI anti-depressant? I have no chance of ever getting on that myself as it's a drug not used in the UK, but I wondered if you might be able to try it? Phenibut is an interesting one because it has the GABA connection and is said to work like GHB on the brain. I've seen many reviewers raving about it and others saying it did nothing. Recently I got hold of some Picamilon (a related compound to Phenibut). I found it calming on the mind and giving a feeling of contentment, but ineffective in dealing with social anxiety fears and definitely not pro-social, at the recommended doses anyway. I haven't tried it at higher doses yet, but the stuff is so damn expensive I wouldn't be able to afford it probably. I haven't managed to get any Phenibut yet but would be interested to try it, or hear your reports on it if you can get some.

I'd love to keep in touch with you buddy and share info on our findings etc as I think we're on the same path with this one...

 

[Jakeperson]

^^ L- Theanine