# Tell me about anxiety medications **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 24, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676 "2012-09-24T14:52:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676/21 "2012-09-25T04:25:47Z")
> [@MyMack\_1](#): > > Honestly I had a little relief in the beginning from Rescue Remedy. Why not try that? Because it is a [homeopathic nostrum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach_flower_remedies) consisting of nothing but diluted water? ---
**Author:** ![Curiosity\_Kills\_Her](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Curiosity\_Kills\_Her](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Curiosity_Kills_Her)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676/22 "2012-09-25T04:49:19Z")
Xanax is the motherfucking shiznit. I love it so much I think it’s a damned good thing I’m not a dependent person, nor do I have an addictive personality. I can see how it could very easily be a problem _for some people._ I originally received Xanax for chronic insomnia, in addition to Ambien. If I went a couple of nights without sleep I’d throw some Xanax in for a night or two to help. Never more than two nights in a row, definitely not every week, or even every month. Just before turning 40 anxiety and panic attacks fell on me like a ton of bricks from nowhere. I’ve expanded my Xanax use to cover insomnia and anxiety now. I started cutting mine in 1/4s to keep my dosage low, and have been working on figuring out what’s causing the anxiety to occur so I can prevent it. I believe some of it is thyroid related, which I can’t do anything about - Xanax helps in those moments. One BIG adjustment that seems to have made a HUGE improvement in anxiety was cutting out caffeine. I switched to decaf less than a month ago and there is a huge difference in how I feel. I had to drive to an appointment in another town 45 mins away today and had not even the slightest hint of anxiety. Pretty good considering my first full blown panic attack was a few months ago on the side of the road in that town, after just having exited the highway. .25 Xanax seems perfect for preventing the anxiety from escalating without drowsiness or any sort of “high” feeling. It’s fast acting, and not harsh at all in a low dose with occasional use. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676/23 "2012-09-25T14:30:22Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > With all due respect, that is very correct. Benzos can be fine, I suppose, for occasional short-term usage for acute situations. (Although, with my past experience, I won’t go near the shit.) But fer sure, for longer-term regular use, benzos WILL end up doing you more harm than good. > > When used regularly, you can and WILL become dependent on benzos. You’ll need more and more just to control your anxiety, and you’ll feel worse and worse (that is, more anxious all the time) when you aren’t getting your daily fix, and those daily fixes will need to be bigger and bigger. That’s what happens when you get addicted. Benzos, used regularly, WILL do this to nearly everyone who uses them that way. Perhaps she did think I wanted to start taking a Valium every morning, since I do have a history of more generalized anxiety problems on a day to day basis. I probably should have said, “Can you prescribe me one to two pills per month?” or something. Regardless, the vegangelical routine was both irresponsible and offensive, and I’m definitely never going to see her again as a result. I’m not taking Effexor, Cymbalta, or a tricyclic unless I get to a point of needing hospitalization. And that is very unlikely. Getting intoxicated enough that I was loopy, and had a slight headache this morning, seems to have broken the feedback loop of anxiety. Not something I’d like to do often, but in this emergency it helped! Once I deal with the remaining practicalities of the lice issue today, I’ll be calling my therapist back - I missed her call yesterday as we vacuumed and laundered like crazy. I’ll see what she thinks. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676/24 "2012-09-25T15:57:05Z")
Yup, I’d recommend one of the -pams. I’ve been on clonazepam and lorazepam in the past for bad anxiety attacks that my Paxil couldn’t tackle. My attacks are triggered by big changes in my life, so after a couple of weeks of adjustment, I’d wean off them. Occasional use by you shouldn’t be too bad - I’m thinking that doctor might not want to have prescribed benzos to you because of their addictive qualities. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676/25 "2012-09-25T16:25:31Z")
I’m reading over the comments here and I really want to point out that I agree with people who say that medications which have dependency/tolerance issues are to be avoided. I don’t want to sound judgmental to anyone and I don’t want to seem like I don’t understand anxiety, I do, but I’m very much against any medication that you have to slowly increase the dosage. I’m also against any medication that I have to rely on for my mental health, like, I’d be scared if I couldn’t take it and that I couldn’t function without it. ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676/26 "2012-09-25T18:02:27Z")
I have moderate anxiety that sometimes impacts my ability to sleep. I took lexapro for a while and it absolutely helped with the sleeping thing, as well as various other subtle improvements to generalized anxiety. I personally did not experience any side effects whatsoever, but I was only on it for \<1 year… ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676/27 "2012-09-25T18:11:14Z")
[QUOTE=MyMack\_1] {snip}I had a little relief in the beginning from Rescue Remedy. Why not try that? Its toted as all natural so not FDA enforced. I can’t cite any studies but it might help. {snip} [/QUOTE] Drink enough of the stuff and it just might work because, “The remedies contain a very small amount of flower material in a 50:50 solution of **brandy** and water.” 😃 [sub]Excerpted from **Fear Itself** ’s link; emphasis is mine.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![MyMack\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MyMack\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyMack_1)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676/28 "2012-09-26T02:40:27Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Because it is a [homeopathic nostrum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach_flower_remedies) consisting of nothing but diluted water? I took the OP’s question as a “what can I do to get through the hard days without taking another pill”? I offered a suggestion. I even put a disclaimer on it “not FDA enforced”. Its not as though I labeled it a damn miracle drug… ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676/29 "2012-09-26T14:06:26Z")
> [@MyMack\_1](#): > > I took the OP’s question as a “what can I do to get through the hard days without taking another pill”? I offered a suggestion. I even put a disclaimer on it “not FDA enforced”. Its not as though I labeled it a damn miracle drug… Yes but it’s actually **completely useless quackery**. All it contains is brandy and water. I mean, some people feel like brandy and water helps with anxiety, but not by the dropperful. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676/30 "2012-09-26T15:32:38Z")
I saw my therapist today and she suggested talking to my (regular) doctor about a beta-blocker like Propranalol for my episodic anxiety attacks. She said if I wanted to try a tricyclic pill for daily use it’s possible it might help, but also she doesn’t see a \*need \*for me to be on something all the time. It’s up to me, and for now I’m not feeling bad enough often enough to go that route. And yeah, Bach’s Flower Remedies and homeopathy are ridiculous. Maybe if I didn’t know they were codswallop, they’d have a placebo effect that helped, but, I do know. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676/31 "2012-09-26T16:54:06Z")
Propanalol is absolutlely brilliant, from what I hear. Especially for job interviews and stuff like that. I second the advice that if you’re ging to go down the benzo route be very careful. Benzo withdrawal can **kill**. They are also not shown to be effective long term except in a tiny minority - it would only be using them as a tool as someone else said that they would make sense. Have you tried CBT? I’m not sure if I am allowed to recommend illegal drugs but certain ones have been shown to be effective for some people as well. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676/32 "2012-09-26T18:40:53Z")
> [@Mdcastleman](#): > > Benzos are still the most effective for acute anxiety, but there also addictive, some more than other. My neurologist prescribes benzos off-label for tinnitus, he’s found lots of his patients have gotten addicted to Xanax, not a single one from Klonopin. YMMV. > > _Buspar is non-adictive, but from what I’ve heard, also pretty ineffective._ > > My psych nurse suggested for acute anxiety I try low doses of fast acting Seroquel. (50 mg, usually XR is what’s available but she told me to break the tablet to get immediate release.) It didn’t do anything but it might be something to try as it’s completely non-adictive (although expensive as it’s still brand-name only in the US). I’ve been using Buspar for years and it works wonders for me. It’s not an immediate effect drug, it takes maybe two weeks to really do any good. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676/33 "2012-10-01T22:47:56Z")
Update: my regular doc (PA actually, but she’s miles above the doctor I saw last time) got my message that my therapist suggested Propranolol, and she prescribed it without me having to go back in. It is the shiznit! Today was the scheduled day for follow-up treatment for the kids’ lice, when you have to shampoo and nit comb them a second time and see if there is anything left. I took a pill before starting. Despite finding a louse on one child and (I think) nits on the other, I did not have that surge of panic, hyperventilation, heart pounding, etc. And that made it much easier to deal with the issues, including still feeling very uncomfortable and worried. It’s like the fight-or-flight is part of a feedback loop that helps convince me that my worry is legitimate and makes it harder to deal with. Without the adrenaline dump, I feel much, MUCH better. I will continue working on long-term lifestyle stuff to lessen and manage my anxiety, but you better believe if I find myself facing something very triggering, I will gladly take some of this and hopefully ride out the storm better! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676/34 "2012-10-01T23:31:48Z")
I have OCD and I’ve been on Paxil since I was 18. Mind you, I also went through a year of therapy, but I’ll probably be on drugs until I die. It’s been a godsend – not a “happy pill”, but I see it as no different than a diabetic who takes insulin. Good luck, and I hope everything works out. > [@MyMack\_1](#): > > Honestly I had a little relief in the beginning from Rescue Remedy. Why not try that? Its toted as all natural So’s snake venom. :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-anxiety-medications/635676.md?page=1)