I know there is a lot of concern with how addictive they can be.
I have pretty substantial social anxiety and, while my effexor has helped, it’s still a big issue for me. I have vistaril too but it doesn’t do much. Also have pretty annoying akathisia which cogentin isn’t doing nearly enough for .
All that being said, my psychiatrist seems very wary of prescribing them. I haven’t really made a push for them, but I am meeting my family doc tomorrow to at least see what his opinion is on them.
Does anyone take benzos as needed with good results? And if they’ve proven to be harmful/addictive to you, what other alternatives are there?
I take 400mg L-theanine when I get up and another 400mg at about 7pm-ish. 800mg/day is a lot and if you take that amount then you’ll need to taper off it and not quit cold turkey.
I tried quitting l-theanine 1200mg/day cold turkey once and nearly went bananas.
See how you get on with lower doses like 200mg before you go out, first.
Do you get anxiety attacks? They are hard to explain I just know what it feels like. It feels like your bones are on fire.
Benzos make it go away. I take the lowest dose of Xanax you can take and only one a day and that does me fine. My wife has social anxiety and takes twice my dose up to 3 times a day so I guess mine ain’t so bad.
I hate schizophrenia. I got through 38 years of my life without even knowing what anxiety was. Now I have it every day.
Good luck with the supplements. Maybe that will work. I can’t take any of that stuff. I have tried it all.
benzos arent worth it long term to me, you either have to stay on them and constantly increase the dose to get the same effect or stop and the withdrawal is terrible and can last for up to years, i feel like benzos increase baseline anxiety so that when you have to be without them anxiety feels worse than before
I have taken Xanax for 6 years and have never increased the dose but I have never had any substance abuse problems either.
I don’t see why people abuse it. If I don’t have anxiety it does nothing for me but if I have an anxiety attack I take one and in 10 minutes I am okay.
I used to have crippling paranoia. Xanax was a miracle drug for me. No paranoid schizophrenic should have to go without it. Unfortunately it took me a few years to figure that out. The first four years I was sick were a ■■■■■ without it.
I overused benzos so I quit cold turkey. Got flu like symptoms and was jittery. I would only ask the dr for them because of a stressful event like when I got all my teeth pulled
Try natural alternatives like DMG or TMG, phosphatidylserine etc. Both of these help in reducing, anxiety, depression and improves cognition, memory etc. Both of these help in increasing energy, better workout performance and aids in muscle recovery. Phosphatidylserine reduces cortisol levels and gives restful sleep at night.
I take Diazepam on a as required basis. I"m a nurse, so i’m well aware of the risks of taking them and becoming addicted. I would agree with any doctor who is hesitant to prescribe them as benzo-addiction is one of the hardest addictions to try and come off of, and the process of coming off them once you’ve become addicted is torturous. However, i don’t want to shoot you down in flames. If you truly believe you can just take them as required (and that would me maybe once or twice in a fortnight), then i see no reason why it can’t be on your table in terms of treatments.
When I have racing thoughts at night and can’t sleep, diazepam works wonders for me. I also use it before flights or for trips into the city (don’t worry, I am not the one doing the driving). I’ve been able to stop taking them with no issues, then pick back up when I need them. Hubby keeps control of them, though, so that helps me not to abuse them.
Hey guys, my primary care doc also didn’t want to prescribe them for me either. This, I am okay with given the addiction potential. He said they’re so hesitant because they’ve seen first hand how easily they can be abused.
Problem is he didn’t really have any alternatives other than the vistaril and propranolol (both of which I’ve tried but don’t do much for my anxiety). I guess when I meet with my psychiatrist I’ll see if he has any other ideas.
In the mean time I’m gonna see how the L-theanine along with broccoli sprout extract helps.
My pdoc gave me Sertraline (Zoloft), and said it has anti-anxiety effects. I have been much better since being on that.
My primary doctor would never give me more than a weeks worth of Benzos without the pdocs approval.
I was on 30mg of Diazepam for over a year before. It wasn’t pleasant coming off it, but I was switching AP’s a lot, and was suffering so he gave them to me.
My CPN gets angry at how doctors treat Benzos as he knows they help and everyone seems to treat people who need them as potential addicts. That’s not the case.
Gotcha. I’m glad the zoloft is helping you. The effexor has actually helped me significantly in terms of just being able to go out and interact with people. Social anxiety has been a big theme throughout my life, and, although it’s still a problem, it’s at least somewhat manageable.
I can see how benzos helped when trying to get the AP’s sorted out. Seems like they’re better for short spurts of intense anxiety but not long term.
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