Buspar

What are your experiences with the anti-anxiety medication Buspar?  I have been taking it for two and one-half weeks now (it takes awhile to kick in), and I am finding it a godsend.  My psychiatrist prescribed it when he knew that Valium (five mg. three times a day) was no longer working very well.  I am taking only 5 mg. when I get up, and then 5 mg. at 2:30 p.m., the lowest dosage.  And today I had to add more caffeine to my mix (a modest amount).  I haven't felt this good in awhile!

[MeganPixel]

I have read that some people have very good experiences with it and I'm glad you're finding it's helping you.

I couldn't take it myself; after only about a week the side effects were so bad for me that I asked my doctor to taper me off of it right away.  Some included - 30-45 mins after taking a dose, it would make me so dizzy I couldn't sit or stand up, I spent a lot of time laying on the floor feeling headached and sick, it was like I had constant motion sickness, and foggy head... I had these feelings right away on starting and they intensified as days passed.  The doctor gave me instructions to move to the next dosage after 3 days (15mg/day), after about 2-3 days of that I started to have intrusive, abnormal, out of the blue suicidal thoughts and extreme nervousness in the middle of the night in addition to the dizzy/nausea/fog so I called it quits.  I had heard that the side effects of dizziness/nausea/fog were quite common and sometimes went away so I was trying to stick it out, but the other stuff just scared my shorts off and I had to stop :)  Apparently Buspar and my body just do NOT play nice together.

Sounds like there's no good reason for you to stop though if you are having such success, that's great for you.

[MeganPixel]

I have read that some people have very good experiences with it and I'm glad you're finding it's helping you.

I couldn't take it myself; after only about a week the side effects were so bad for me that I asked my doctor to taper me off of it right away.  Some included - 30-45 mins after taking a dose, it would make me so dizzy I couldn't sit or stand up, I spent a lot of time laying on the floor feeling headached and sick, it was like I had constant motion sickness, and foggy head... I had these feelings right away on starting and they intensified as days passed.  The doctor gave me instructions to move to the next dosage after 3 days (15mg/day), after about 2-3 days of that I started to have intrusive, abnormal, out of the blue suicidal thoughts and extreme nervousness in the middle of the night in addition to the dizzy/nausea/fog so I called it quits.  I had heard that the side effects of dizziness/nausea/fog were quite common and sometimes went away so I was trying to stick it out, but the other stuff just scared my shorts off and I had to stop :)  Apparently Buspar and my body just do NOT play nice together.

Sounds like there's no good reason for you to stop though if you are having such success, that's great for you.

[lynn57]

Some people swear by Buspar.  It was not helpful to me, but it really is one of the safer anxiety meds.  Glad it works so well for you.