Best, non-benzo, drug for acute anxiety?

I suffer from bouts of horrible anxiety. I have done for years. I have tried cbt multiple times with no luck. My current psychiatrist is very reluctant to use benzos for any longer than 2 weeks. This is a shame because i responded very well to clonazepam. I take bus par and gabapentin and Prozac (as well as depicts depot and 600mg seroquel xl).

My current PRN is 150mg of seroquel but this only helps a little - not even close to how effective clonazepam was. Anyone got any suggestions (have also tried propranolol but with poor results)?

My pdoc won’t prescribe benzo’s either. she just put me on 20 mg of celexa (citalopram generic). it is a cheap med for me and it seems to be working somewhat. You might try that.

I hear good things about these two medictions. But as with all medications - people’s individual results will vary.

and Jukebox mentioned this medication:

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Can you go to a new pdoc? I was going to a community mental health center. My new pdoc there decided to try and switch me from Seroquel and Risperdal to Geodon. As soon as we lowered the Seroquel I started to have horrible panic attacks. This pdoc was very against benzos but at times I managed to get five of them at a time out of her. I was switched to a new pdoc there and she seemed to not care I couldn’t leave the house very often because of my panic attacks and said no to any benzos. This center takes anybody no matter what insurance you have or if you are poor. There are a lot of drug addicts in my county so a lot of them go there. So apparently all of the pdocs there will not prescribe benzos. I found a new pdoc that just accepts my Medicare not my Medicaid and he has no problem prescribing Klonopin. He understands I need it. If you can afford it a private pdoc will more likely prescribe a benzo. I know how horrible anxiety is. You shouldn’t have to live with it just because there are people that abuse the meds you need. Good luck! :sun_with_face:

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My family doctor had no problem prescribing me klonopin (I think this particular benzo is really useful in schizophrenia). I took it regular and responded well it. At that time my pdoc also had no problem prescribing benzos. He believed that they had therapeutic value.

Anyway my pdoc retired and my new doctor refused to prescribe benzos. He went over the head of my family doc and discontinued the klonopin. Instead he said take 150mg of seroquel as needed. This is nowhere near as good as klonopin - in addition it contributes to the metabolic syndrome my other two regular APs have caused. Also it gives me palpitations and this scares me because I have a structurally unusual heart.

My CPN is concerned that the klonopin sedated me too much. It did at first when I was prescribed 4mg three times a day. That was WAY too much. He would only arrange 0.5mg twice daily and only if I kicked up a huge fuss. Personally I would like 1.5mg twice daily. I would like to take this regularly.

I get the impression health care professionals don’t want to prescribe benzos because they don’t want to get sued if the patient gets addicted.