anxiety meds

[nicolettemarg]

I am new to this forum and am looking for a medication that is going to work for me. I have been taking xanax for 10 yrs. but only take .25 maybe once or twice a week. Life has gotten a little complicated latley and my anxiety has kicked into high gear. I went to see my gp last week to find a med that would better control my anxiety because I found myself taking my xanax everyday and I know how addictive it is. She put me on Lexapro and I took one dose @ 5mg before bed and it was horrible. the next morning I felt like I had drank 2 bottles of wine the night before. I drove up to the store and ran over a curb just trying to get out of my parking spot! My friend had a script of zoloft she hadn't used and offered it to me. My doc said she was going to prescribe Zoloft for me if the Lexapro was too expensive on my insurance ( which it was $80!) So I decided to give it a try. I took my first dose last night @ 25mg and today I am feeling pretty wired and I don't like it a bit. It's making me feel more anti-social  and want to take more xanax to even myself out. I have a 1 yr old daughter and can't afford to feel out of sorts like this! Does anyone have any suggestions of a medication I should try next?

Thanks,
Nicole

[MrGreen]

You know this thread was intended to help a user out. Not one to be taken over by two other people fighting over a form of medication. When don't you both private message each other and leave the thread as a helpful one. The original poster is most probably lost with all the thrash that was posted. Save the rows for private messages. Or debates. Call them what you want. Come the end of the day none of us are in a postion to say that somebody should take this medication or that. We are not doctors. Just forum users. What has worked for us might not work for someone else.

[M4Y0U]

Finally thank you for understanding my point of view. All Salyrgan did is making people on Busspar feel worse placebo effect or not. He induced them a necobo effect and this is why i was so angry because all i try to do is to help people. With scientifical evidence or not. Thanks for finally understanding my point of view and respect the meds choice of people of very important.

[anonymous680]

Sorry for sharing that. I'm sure that there are plenty of people who can benefit from the placebo effect. For people that have less intense symptoms that are more psychologically driven, the placebo effect can be very powerful (no sarcasm), and the hope that something can work can make someone feel better.

In my case, if I were given a placebo, I'd either know it was a placebo, or complain my drugs completely stopped working. The anxiolytic effects of benzodiazepines are hard to miss, considering Ativan can completely change my state of mind from "I'm dying, take me to the hospital", to "everything is fine now" in about 35 minutes, every time.

Over the months, I have tried everything I can that's natural to try avoid taking benzos, and I can't speak enough for Kava Kava. In my experience a potent Kava drink prepared the traditional way can have the anxiolytic effects of 1-2 mg of Ativan without being addictive, but the effects only last as long as Ativan for me. You shouldn't combine them with benzos. I have combined them out of curiousity without any bad side effects (except for more sedation), but don't do this as they can have some bad interactions.

Not all extracts of Kava are equal in potency, and it is actually much more potent (but not a  controlled dose) by purchasing the roots online and preparing it the traditional way. However, the drink tastes very bad. Heavy use of extracts purchased at health food stores can cause elevated liver enzymes supposedly according the the 2001 scare. I'd personally be more concerned with taking tylenol daily, but whatever.

Valerian, passionflower, L-Theanine, scullcap, GABA, etc feel like nothing more than placebo for me. I tried to buy some of this again hoping it may work this time around, but nope, still does nothing. Combining with kava does doesn't seem to change the potency of kava either. Very weak herbs in my opinion.

I can't take Kava with all the benzos I am on, and I needed something longer acting such as clonezepam anyway. Benzos are also much easier to take than kava, and it doesn't leave a horrible taste in your mouth.

[nicolettemarg]

Thank You for all the suggestions. I am going to give the zoloft a couple of weeks. I am supposed to up my dose next week so we will see how that goes. I have heard that upping the dose can acctualy help with s/e. I'm also thinking of going to a psych since it's covered on my insurance. I just don't feel that my gp has a very good knowledge of  some of these meds. I just want to make sure that I am on the right medication for my situation and it couldn't hurt.

Thanks,
Nicole

[M4Y0U]

I sugest Buspar before taking stronger strong because if it works it's good news since you have no side effect...Now everyone will tell it's placebo and then people will get on worse meds for their health with worse side effect. So thanks for the inducing nocebo effect you are making people have here.

[anonymous680]

You posted about Buspar in my thread. I had already read about it not being more effective than placebo, but never shared it with you:

"Although higher doses of buspirone were used in this study than in previous trials, buspirone was not superior to placebo on any of the outcome measures. The results were disappointing in light of buspirone's benign side effect profile and low abuse potential."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=8372689&ordinalpos=108&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

[M4Y0U]

A lot of people use meds here and if you start inducing nocebo effect to people that are used to the placebo effect then its wrong... And you can make science say basicly what you want to say these days.. its all about gettin the subventions... I still beleive in my chemistry and pharmacoly tho.

[M4Y0U]

Yeah i know the term thats why i said takin Buspar is a monotherapy....when you are not mixing it with any SSRI...

And i don't want to start a war here basicly all youre doing is inducing a nocebo effect to those taking Buspar... If it works well it works let ti be placebo effect of not...

I'll check those link later thanks for your commitment and you were very arrogant there

^quote

''Do you even understand what MONOTHERAPY means?''

I never saif anything that would make you think i dont know what is a monotherapy and the etymology is simple enought so even a 2 years old child could know what it means....

[M4Y0U]

I read some articles from JAMA and it's all related to pediatric studies with the drug... Are we talking about some kids taking the Busspar now? no....

[M4Y0U]

Let gets this straight, buspar is an anxiolytic. Of course it is a monotherapy, its taking the benzo and removing the hypnotic,sedative,anticonvulsive and muscle relaxer to use only the anxiolytic  effect only causing less side effects. If you have anything wrong with anxiolytic substance then why getting in our conversation or try to induce a nocebo effect to those taking the med?

Should they ban all benzos too? C'mon....

[M4Y0U]

Buspirone's chemical structure and mechanism of action are completely unrelated to those of the benzodiazepines, but it purportedly has an efficacy comparable to that of diazepam (Valium) in treating GAD. Unlike the benzodiazepines, buspirone shows no potential for addiction or dependence, and the development of tolerance has not been observed. Furthermore, cross-tolerance to benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and alcohol, as well as other GABAergics, is not present either. Additionally, it is non-sedating, non-cognitive/memory impairing, and has a generally very favorable side effect profile.

The main disadvantage of buspirone is that it may take several weeks before its anxiolytic effects become noticeable. Many patients may also require a higher dosage to adequately respond to treatment, which may also be increased in slow increments of 5 mg every three days and up to 60 mg daily, which may be the dose required for adequate relief. This makes it particularly difficult to treat patients pre-treated with benzodiazepines, for they know the immediate effects of these anxiolytics. Often patients have to be initially co-treated with a benzodiazepine for an immediate anxiolytic effect.

Buspirone functions as a serotonin 5-HT1A receptor partial agonist. It is this action that is thought to mediate its anxiolytic and antidepressant effects. Additionally, it functions as a dopamine D2, α1, and α2-adrenergic receptor antagonist to a lesser degree, though these properties are generally undesirable in an anxiolytic and likely only contribute to side effects.

Rarely, buspirone's side effects may have a dangerous nature or intensity. Some tend to disappear with continued therapy, or are less frequent if the initial dose is low and increased gradually.

[M4Y0U]

It is called Buspirone not busparine  by the way and its safe... Find me an article about Buspirone ( buspar ) being dangerous or to be removed from the market please and i will be grateful... untill then i have to disagree with all you said... sorry

Show me scientific paper or real research done on Buspirone and then i might credit you. But not spelling it right at first place put you on the wrong track from the start. And i don't mean to offense you whatsoever i jus try to protect valuable information.

Best regards,
M4

[butterfly84777]

I was just curious as to where you heard that about buspar I am on it and I have heard it has very little side effects etc... So just curious?? What kind of reaction did you have??

[Ashelen]

busparine is dangerous; they're actually trying to take it off the market from what I understand. I had an acute dystonic reaction to it, and ever since then my anxiety attacks have increased tenfold from high anxiety to pure terror....Cymbalta worked well for many people I know, in conjunction with xanax or ativan. also, if you do decide to go with buspar, be forewarned that it can cause serious difficulty sleeping, and with a 1-year-old (I've got one as well) that could be devastating to your energy levels during the day....They put me on valium but i stopped taking it because it was too sedating also. A lot of times it takes an anti-anxiety/depressant combined with a short-acting drug like xanax to achieve control over anxiety...good luck.

btw...it takes quite awhile for drugs to even out in your system, so you might want to give zoloft another week or two? hard to say.

[M4Y0U]

Please note that Klonopin is almost identical to xanax and other benzodiazepines so it won't make a difference if you are looking for a long term medication it is not reccomended...

[M4Y0U]

Lexapro take several weeks to kick in so give it a chance since it's a low side effect medication. Klonopin is a good idea but i'd try Buspirone (Buspar) is a psychoactive drug and pharmaceutical medication of the piperazine and azapirone chemical classes. It is used primarily as an anxiolytic, but also to a lesser extent as an antidepressant. So it have the anxiolytic aspect of xanax without the hypnotic and sedative effect so that means reduction of anxiety without side effects. I would also consider Cymbalta if Lexapro really don't work. Talk to your GP after giving some weeks of Lexapro. I heard good things about Zoloft too but i like the new Lexapro with less side effects than the older Celexa.

Hope this will help you a bit

Best regards,
M4

[MrGreen]

None of us are doctors here at all. So to even say take this or that would be wrong. OK, so we could suggest things. Klonopin has a longer, steadier state when it comes to anxiety. Doesn't kick in like xanax. Takes time to build in the system. But it more used for people with 24/7 anxiety. You can also take something else as needed if your doctor still feels you would need more. A low dose of valium or something. But never use scripts that are not meant for you. Even though your doctor said that was next on the list. He could have wanted to try it with something else. Such forms of medication take time to work. Maybe 2 weeks. During which time you won't feel the greatest you ever had. You done what a lot of people do. Run the second they feel bad on the medication. We have all done it at one point or another. Not wanting to allow the medication time to work because of the first side effects.