Why is your friend getting them yet you can't? I'm not being nosy, it just seems weird.
On July 9, 2020 I was at the emergency room because of issues with renewing an anti-seizure medication, since I couldn't speak to my neurologist (and he wasn't responding to faxes from pharmacy nor would my general practitioner do anything). There was also a woman in the room next to mine, in walls where you could hear
EVERYTHING being said. One of my seizures is triggered by anything to do with mentioning, reading, watching, or personally dealing with the circulatory system (such as at medical appointments). I mentioned this trigger to the triage nurse and even the fucking doctor. I had a seizure due to being triggered since some doctor was in the room next to mine and announced to this woman that she was going to listen to the woman's heart - the doctor loudly announced every part of the examination they were going to do, even though neither they nor the woman was deaf and the place was quiet. I had a seizure and, even though I had one right in front of the doctor, she refused to do anything about my prescriptions; she wouldn't even contact the neurologist


. Yet they prescribed a written prescription for Ativan for the woman in the room next to mine since she was having panic attacks (I heard everything said).
It sounds like cherry picking, to an extent, since at least the psychiatrist is prescribing something for you and not just telling you that they won't help you yet will help your friend.
I have been on numerous drugs for anxiety, unfortunately most of them were anti-depressants.
I have been on Zoloft, Effexor, Prozac, Paxil, Trazadone, and BuSpar. Zoloft, Prozac, Paxil, and Trazadone are all SSRIs. I don't recommend any of them. Effexor is an SNRI (still an anti-depressant). The side effects were shitty, like Zoloft. I found Zolofty and Effeor to be the worst for side effects.
BuSpar didn't have any bad side effects, nor did it really help me either. The only thing it did was make me fall asleep if I accidentally screwed up the dose. BuSpar is supposed to be anxiety; you could look it up and talk to your psychiatrist about it. Most doctors would rather prescribe BuSpar instead of Clonazepam or other benzodiazepines even though BuSpar doesn't do anything.
Funny story:
I once went to this hospital meant for mental health since I needed a renewal for BuSpar, in May 2017. My psychiatrist wasn't able to be contacted since he was out of the province so I went to the mental health hospital since BuSpar is a psychiatric drug that is non-addictive. I thought that because it's on my file as a drug I was on and is non-addictive the doctor in the hospital would prescribe it. I was wrong. The triage nurse and doctor were nasty and the doctor actually used the excuse that he didn't know me well enough therefore didn't feel comfortable prescribing it. I would understand that if this was an opioid or benzodiazepine but it wasn't; I challenged his comment about not knowing me and pointed out that this is an emergency room so how could he know me if he's working in an emergency room and not as my general practitioner or psychiatrist. He didn't respond to that question, he just repeated that he wouldn't do anything and for me to see my family doctor (who wasn't even available either since they were on sick leave).
I left, feeling shitty (due to other things said to me before I saw the doctor - the triage nurse was a huge fucking bitch that made me really upset), frustrated, and did something I had not done since 2012: I went to the liquor store, bought a 1 Litre Orange Flavoured Bicardi Breezer and two Vodka Mudshakes and, when I got home, I drank them all. I was not addicted to alcohol, it doesn't appeal to me; I have only drank on some of the occasions when I felt extremely upset. I didn't even get sick or hungover, nor did I get drunk. Since then, I only drank one more time, the next year, in December 2018: I had a horrendous experience with a bully that picked me up in a taxi; I knew this person from High School. I thought that since we were both adults (29 years old) the bully would be respectful. I was wrong. I ended up getting dropped off somewhere else since I didn't want the bully knowing where I lived in case they tried to rob me later. After I got out of the taxi, I went to the liquor store and bought alcohol (1 Litre Orange Flavoured Bicardi Breezer and two Vodka Mudshakes) and, when I got home, drank them all. I was already out of it since I had taken Clonazepam earlier due to anxiety but the taxi driver made me extremely upset so I bought alcohol again. That was a bad idea since I had taken Clonazepam earlier and was already high (I wasn't high on purpose). I ended up changing the password to my Hotmail, telling off a (now ex) friend (we became ex-friends for a different reason), and posting random crap on websites. I did not know about any of this until the next day when I went online.
I find it ironic that you go to a mental health hospital for help but leave feeling worse; you leave feeling so much worse that you buy liquor to try to numb the pain. I swore after that date that I would never go back to that hospital but unfortunately broke my own promise, twice, since I had no choice - in January 2018 then again this year, because of medication issues. I was helped in January but not this year.
By the way, I turned on the TV when I started drinking after I got home from the liquor store the day I was neglected at the hospital. A movie that I saw the last time I was drinking (
Se7en) was on TV when I turned it on (I think about when I drank whenever I hear about or see anything about that movie lol).