agactual
11-04-2011, 09:17 AM
A few months ago, I decided that my anxiety had finally gotten out of hand and i went to my doctor for help. He said the first thing that I should try is to quit drinking. I was having 3-4 drinks per night, every night. He also gave me xanax to help get me over the hump. I started taking the xanax about a month after I last drank.
The thing is, when I was on xanax, about 0.5mg a day, all of my anxiety symptoms disappeared. All of the physical symptoms and all of the distressing thoughts just vanished. I was on that dosage for about a month and it was the first time in years that I felt sane and normal. And from what I have heard, getting such results on the minimum dosage is really good.
Of course my doctor didn't want me on that forever, so i cut down my intake to about 1mg a week and I will probably be completely off of xanax very soon. My problem is that since taking only about 1mg a week, for the past month, many of the symptoms have returned. Don't get me wrong, no longer drinking has helped immensely but it certainly hasn't fixed all of my problems, and I am now wondering about long term treatments. And since xanax worked so well, i wonder if other medications could have similar, positive effects.
My doctor had mentioned anti-depressants, like paxil or lexapro but I have read about drugs like that and I know people that have taken them, and the side effects sound pretty intense. I don't think i want to go that route.
The only drug I could find that doesn't have the problems of benzodiazepine or anti-depressants, is buspirone. Does buspar seem like it could be an option and there any other long term anti-anxiety medications that I should look into before i have my next follow up appointment in 10 days? Unless I am wrong about medications like paxil and lexapro, I would really like to push for something else when talking to my doctor. I think unless i am informed about other options, I fear i could walk away with a prescription for medication that I really don't want to take or end up with nothing at all.
The thing is, when I was on xanax, about 0.5mg a day, all of my anxiety symptoms disappeared. All of the physical symptoms and all of the distressing thoughts just vanished. I was on that dosage for about a month and it was the first time in years that I felt sane and normal. And from what I have heard, getting such results on the minimum dosage is really good.
Of course my doctor didn't want me on that forever, so i cut down my intake to about 1mg a week and I will probably be completely off of xanax very soon. My problem is that since taking only about 1mg a week, for the past month, many of the symptoms have returned. Don't get me wrong, no longer drinking has helped immensely but it certainly hasn't fixed all of my problems, and I am now wondering about long term treatments. And since xanax worked so well, i wonder if other medications could have similar, positive effects.
My doctor had mentioned anti-depressants, like paxil or lexapro but I have read about drugs like that and I know people that have taken them, and the side effects sound pretty intense. I don't think i want to go that route.
The only drug I could find that doesn't have the problems of benzodiazepine or anti-depressants, is buspirone. Does buspar seem like it could be an option and there any other long term anti-anxiety medications that I should look into before i have my next follow up appointment in 10 days? Unless I am wrong about medications like paxil and lexapro, I would really like to push for something else when talking to my doctor. I think unless i am informed about other options, I fear i could walk away with a prescription for medication that I really don't want to take or end up with nothing at all.