My positive symptoms are all under control for the most part of the last couple years. But i have intense anxiety at times which gets in the way of having a good quality of life for me. And i have certain inescapable phobias that trigger it too. I think something like diazepam/valium would be a great help. But so many doctors seem to be hesitant against prescribing them. What should i say to the doc that might increase my chances? Or maybe another treatment that might be effective? Ive tried a couple different antidepressants like fluvoxamine and lithium but they didnt help at all.
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I’ve taken Tranxene and Xanax.
I used to say ‘can you prescribe me something because I need to take a flight and have fear of flying’.
I think you need to come up with a specific occasion where it would help.
Make it concrete.
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i have read that buspar (Buspirone) is effective in treating anxiety and considered to be safe but i didnt try it to be honest with you.
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What if i said that i have a fear of being around a certain demographic of people. Which is true. And they are so common i come across them every time i leave the house which stresses me out. But situations where im stuck being around one for a period of time induces panic in me. Which is really stressful and embarrassing.
Does that make sense?
I tried talk therapy but it didnt help. Sorry im being so vague. I just fear judgement i guess.
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I know pdocs here are hesitant to prescribe benzos if you need them on too many occasions.
I would just discuss it with your pdoc. I have no experience with phobias but maybe therapy can help in these cases as well. I’m thinking more particularly about CBT.
Good luck!
It’s also hard to quit benzos. I’m tapering them because of that right now. I took them for tension as I had tension issues.
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If you ask for benzos, most likely you won’t get it.
The best you can do is let your psychiatrist know what is going on and trust they will help your symptoms, with the right medication. Like others have said, docs are hesitant to start patients on benzos unless its the only thing that would help.
I understand severe anxiety, it’s debilitating and making life unmanageable, keeps me isolated and housebound. I also used to have panic attacks, and I have been on benzos long term and they manage my anxiety well.
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Before going the benzo route, have you ever tried propranolol?
It’s a beta blocker that lowers physical sensations of anxiety, which helps with the mental component as well.
I take it as a PRN and it has gotten me out of some jams.
Just a suggestion 
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BuSpar works very well. Made like half my hair fall out though.
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I did one time straight up ask for some but I asked for only 5, because my panic attacks don’t happen super often but when they do I am down and out for a while. She let me have them and I did one refill like three months later.
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I used to take 15 mg of Buspar (buspirone) 2x/day for anxiety. It helped a lot. You can go higher than that in dosage too. My best friend takes 30 mg 2x/day. It’s specifically for anxiety and is not addictive
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My advice
Try not going on any benzodiazepines. I been talking clonazepam for 10+ years
Quitting or trying to get off these medications are real real hard.
Look for another route. I wish I knew all this before my pdoc prescribed me it
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The only benzo docs seem to be ok with prescribing is clonazepam since it’s really made for anxiety you could say.
Ask her for .25 or .5 of clonazepam as prn.
Just be honest about your anxiety, they might label it as general anxiety… if your antidepressants dont help for anxiety and you can’t really change them then they might consider giving you it as PRN. Or maybe ask for pregabalin, though pregabalin doesnt seem to help me further than what my antidepressants can do.
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I take Klonopin and it helps a lot. I also take Buspar which is great too. 
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I take benzos as needed.
Not frequently
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I would start with 5000IU vitamin D and a B-complex before trying anything else. Why not try to fix the problem without side effects and risk getting hooked on a drug right?
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I second you on propranolol. I love that stuff. In all honesty I prefer it to klonopin
Totally free of habit forming as well
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Ive already tried all kinds of vitamins for a long time. Doesnt seem to help much since i already eat pretty nutritious stuff. And for some reason b complex vitamins make me worse. The only time ive ever had a professioal confirm my theory on b vitamins making me feel crazy was a pharmacist who told me that people with psychotic disorders can have their symptoms exacerbated by it.
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I took clonazepam at bedtime (along with other meds) for 22 years. My new psychiatrist recently weaned me off of them, though I still have some on hand in case I need a rescue dose. I think a low-dose with intermittent use is OK, but doctors increasingly do not like prescribing them these days.
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My pdoc is very straightforward
He says I can try these other things (vitamins or supplements) but he said he wouldn’t waste his money on that
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Yes, some doctors will say these things, like they have a monopoly on cure(medication) for people, but a lot of people on this forum are getting relief from supplements as a addon to medication.
I think some doctors are ignorant of this because they know very little about it. In my country doctors dedicate 12 hours of their 7 year curiculum to learn about nutrition. Supplements are basically foreign to them, despite that pubmed is filled with many thousand studies confirming that they can be beneficial.
It’s strange that what they pass off as alternative medication today was mainstream medication until the end of the 1800’s.
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