Maybe I’m just asking this because I’m in the throes of severe anxiety I kinda brought upon myself with too much coffee and feel desperate for fast relief but what are yours guys’ experiences with PRNs?
I was given Ativan when I was psychotic in the hospital and it calmed me down to the point where my morbid delusions weren’t given precedence over finding the pieces for the outline of a jigsaw puzzle. I felt so chilled out. I even had an outpatient prescription for it and I was taking it on a PRN basis… at first, then I started using it to sleep off depression so I kicked it because I didn’t like where I was going with that.
I don’t want to abuse a PRN again but would it in any way be advisable to have one on hand for emergencies? If not, I know there are alternatives like l-theanine which I’ve read good things about on here. I think the best solution will be to kick the damn coffee habit but a back-up plan can’t hurt either.
Sorry if this makes no sense and thanks for reading!
Yeah, having some Ativan or Xanax on hand could come in handy. The problem is that they are both habit forming i.e. addictive. You might be able to handle them responsibly for awhile but once you take them several times and they save you from an anxiety attack it would be way too easy to start taking them when you don’t really need them or taking them when it’s not really necessary, like when it’s not a crisis.
I don’t know if you will get them or not but if you start taking Ativan I would suggest giving the bottle to some responsible person in your household who would have control of them and be in charge of giving them out only when you absolutely need them. It would be helping you.
Thanks all.
Luckily I’ll be able to see my old psychiatric nurse practitioner soon (she was my first real pdoc-type figure; had to stop seeing her a while back because of insurance issues but I have a different plan now and can finally see her again!).
She should know what to do.
In the meantime, I have chillwave music. It might lull me to sleep, which is probably what I need most right now.
I blackout on benzos now. I don’t like them unless it’s an extreme emergency like having to go on the highway (I have a phobia). I use hydroxyzine now and it takes the edge off pretty good.
hydroxyzine is sounding like the most promising option so far. Will definitely bring it up with my p-nurse.
I kinda ended up not sleeping any last night oops. But I feel a lot better! Last night was kind of embarrassing - I was sitting down and part of my right leg started getting all tingly like is usual for me with extreme anxiety… but I got the usual ideas about possibly having a fatal illness so I started Googling stroke symptoms. Bad bad bad idea. I stood up and walked around a little and the sensation went away but I stayed vigilant for any more ‘symptoms’ which of course never came. It was ridiculous lol.
