Starting anti-anxiety pills this week. What should I expect?

[john3232]

Originally Posted by Lisa83

I never had good results with any depression or anxiety medication. They used to knock me out.

Instead of drugs, especially since you know the reason for your anxiety, just deal with it without drugs, especially if they end up making you feel worst.

You say it's from fear of the future and nervous thinking people won't like you- you don't need tons of friends... Do you want to be social? Just start small....

Yeah, ultimately that is what I needed to do. I own rental properties and it's a confrontational business.

But the more learn/practice the better I get at dealing with renters.

I'm sure I could get a prescription to deal with stress/anxiety but better to face my fears. This in turn allows me to grow.

A prescription will only mask my problems. Not deal with them.

[adjusterjack]

Starting anti-anxiety pills this week. What should I expect?

Less anxiety.

[numsgal]

I am on Buspirone for anxiety. It slows down the rapid, swirling thoughts enough for me to deal with them. It also calms down those "itching under my skin" moments that make it hard to sit still.

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by chiluvr1228

Parnassia is there another generic name for Buspirone? Sometimes I'm tired in the afternoon but no matter how tired I am I cannot fall asleep because of the racing mind. Buspirone sounds like a great alternative to Lorazepam for me.

Don't know about another generic name. The actual prescription was for Buspar. I took it in conjunction with counseling. It helped me focus and do that work. I doubt it would work on short notice like calming a racing mind. Didn't work that way for me, but maybe higher dosages would. Xanax worked for me as you describe.

As for taking Xanax long term, I should clarify...I didn't take it daily as a preventative for more than a few days at a time. I took it in response to an extreme bout of anxiety fueled by circumstances. The first was the emotional byproduct after going through early onset cancer diagnosis, surgery, 8 months of chemotherapy, radiation, hormone manipulation. Understandable fears about future disease got the better of me. Lost control, balance, self trust, and perspective; every tiny detail became huge and everything mattered too much. I had crippling panic attacks. Who knows how much of that was a physical "chemo brain" effect and how much was psychological. It worked, but I felt too oblivious (couldn't pay attention to anything) and impaired to stay on it. It seemed to go from EVERYTHING mattered to NOTHING mattered. Life was standing around in the wings waiting and I knew it wouldn't actually solve anything. How could it? Maybe people who use it longer develop enough tolerance so they can function...which leads to the obvious problem. My prescribing MDs, even the first over 20 years ago warned me about tolerance and possible dependence.

I've gotten a prescription for Xanax a few times over the years, again, in response to some major anxiety producer, but most of the time I'd use it so I could quiet that horrible obnoxious brain activity and rest/sleep. Obviously, part of the effect is knowing relief will kick in soon. Don't think I've ever renewed a prescription. I didn't use it in isolation. Always went into counseling as well. IMHO a bigger part of dealing with anxiety/fear is learning techniques to help yourself. The med helps build a temporary buffer zone while you do that. IMHO its important to define what you need at that moment...and its not escape, its time.

[bpollen]

I took two anxiety prescriptions for a short time when I was going through a traumatic time some years back. I didn't get the script from a psychiatrist. I went for my annual exam w/internal medicine doctor & I broke down sobbing, asking if I could get some tranquilizers or something because I couldn't sleep or eat. I literally would go a couple of nights being up all night, and not eating anything at all during the day, unless I could force myself to eat a few bites of something.

He asked me if my brain was talking a lot, busy. I said yes! That's it. My brain was busy busy busy, all the time. I kept trying to figure out how to resolve things, but there was no answer. And my brain kept going on and on, thinking about things, continuing to try to fix things. But they couldn't be fixed. I couldn't sleep or eat. I barely functioned, though I tried to hide it & was fairly successful at that.

I'm not a big believer in pills. I think the pharma industry has us convinced we need all sorts of pills. I also think pills disturb the natural balance of things. Just to let you know that that's how desperate I was...to ask my doctor for something.

He said he wasn't going to prescribe a tranquilizer, but that I needed these other two kinds of pills. They were anti-anxiety, but were different somehow. I think one of them was specifically to quieten the brain down. I got those prescriptions filled asap and started taking them. It was amazing to me that they started to work in a matter of days. They didn't make me feel woozy or funny. All they seemed to do was what the dr. said they'd do: calm my brain down, and ease anxiety. They did exactly that, for me. In a short time, I was sleeping at night & not nearly as anxious. I felt normal again. Then I stopped taking the pills in a couple of months, as I found I was able to be my normal self w/o them.

I have still have a few pills left over. I kept them "just in case," altho I guess they're no good, any more. They both started with a "C."

So I'm a believer in short term medication to help severe anxiety. I don't know if such things can, or should, be taken long term. That probably depends on the medication, the symptoms, and a lot of other things.

Good luck to you. I can relate to your feelings of anxiety. They can be all consuming and prevent you from being your true self. I hope the medication helps. Did the dr. say how long you need to take that? They're not addictive, are they?

[NSHL10]

My 21 year old son tried 2. Both started severe suicidal thoughts and what he called a scrambled brain which made it impossible to concentrate at school. He is doing better with just talk therapy.

Doing research it seems the suicidal thoughts happen more in people under age 24.