Anyone tried prazosin for anxiety?

I've been off Xanax for 2.5 years now. Good on that. But, my anxiety is out of control. Doc, therapist, and friends are pushing for meds. I'm reading up but scared shitless.

 

I'm looking at prazosin off label and wondered if anyone here has tried that and what s/e and possible results to expect.

 

I don't need a lecture on the danger of drugs. Already quite aware. Thanks.

Any updates?

Apparently used off label for PTSD. Might help.

I've been off Xanax for 2.5 years now. Good on that. But, my anxiety is out of control. Doc, therapist, and friends are pushing for meds. I'm reading up but scared shitless.

 

I'm looking at prazosin off label and wondered if anyone here has tried that and what s/e and possible results to expect.

 

I don't need a lecture on the danger of drugs. Already quite aware. Thanks.

Hi Lilyann

Here’s a link to a special search feature for using google to search benzo buddies it’s yields a lot of results much better than the bb search feature. I used it to check for the drug u asked about and there are many results

Here’s the link on how to use it http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=251991.0

Joeb

I tried it (my doc prescribed) during the last year of my taper. It was a terrible experience. It gave me vivid terrifying nightmares (so much for it helping with my PTSD). One night I had an sf nightmare in which blank-faced aliens descended from their ship in a blue hot air balloon and tried to take me captive, Another night  I recall waking up the find myself sitting on the edge of my bed while a voice (I guess it was mine) tried to persuade me to do myself in (no aliens came that night). It was a thoroughly unnerving experience and I discontinued the drug after a few nights.

 

So undoubtedly  the drug will help some people . . . just not me. 

 

Best wishes,

 

Katz

 

 

@katz - that's so interesting. Thanks for sharing your wacky and vivid dreams. I'm having awful nightmares every night, which I'm quite sure are from the mirtazapine, even on this tiny dose. They are also really bizarre and scary. I can't taper it till I'm off the benzos so I just have to deal with it for now. But I also have PTSD, and it makes me wonder if those of us w/ PTSD might be more prone to medication-induced nightmares. (Incidentally, nightmares are a documented side effect of mirtazapine, but only for some people.)

Been wandering around lost. Got a new computer so could not figure out how to get back here for a hot minute.

 

Yes NathanA. Off label for PTSD. Long ass story.

 

Joeb - THanks for the link for search. I am usually pretty good at search, but his one here bumfuzzles me.

 

Oregon - Yep. I took it for a few days, and I had horrific nightmares. So, PTSD gave me nightmares and this gave me additional nightmares. Kind of damned if I do and damned if I don't.

 

Doc is still pushes for meds, but he just does that for all kinds of stuff and not just anxiety PTSD. I have found that fostering a litter of kittens and going to street dances has helped more than peace in a bottle. 

My husband takes terazosin but when the doctor increased the dose, he had terrible nightmares.  At a lower dose he seems to do fine so he went back to that.

Kate - Is that off label for PTSD? I looked it up, and it says for high BP. My BP tends to be low.

Kate - Is that off label for PTSD? I looked it up, and it says for high BP. My BP tends to be low.

 

Yes, it is an off-label use of an a1 blocker.  My hubby doesn't take it for high BP either - it also has an off-label use for urinary retention due to an enlarged prostate (common in older men).

I can certainly understand and appreciate your Rx medication concerns Lilyann. You managed to get off benzos and are still plagued by horrible anxiety. Like most ppl, I started the drugs bc of horrible anxiety and panic attacks. It makes you question, do I just stay off drugs and suffer with horrible anxiety the rest of my life? This is a very depressing thought. After about 80 years of life, It is over for most of us (death I mean which is inevitable at some point).

 

If you are really young, your perspective on trying to manage w/o drugs is probably a lot different than say someone in their 60s.

 

These are just some rambling thoughts I had. I hope you can find a solution eventually to help manage your anxiety so you can enjoy living instead of just struggling each day, albeit drug free.

no, Anti:

 

do I just stay off drugs and suffer with horrible anxiety the rest of my life?

 

You get some help for your horrible anxiety. And yes, you stay off the drugs. Therapy is not addicting, unlike benzos. When I got some help and understood what the heck I was so anxious about, my life turned around.

 

Just a thought,

 

 

Katz

I do have a therapist. Not an MD, so she can't prescribe meds. My GP is ever ready to do that.

 

My anxiety is a little better when I walk, but I've tweaked my knee. Waiting on a knee brace to come in tomorrow. It's really hot here in the south USA, but I'll see if I can log some miles later in the day.

 

I'm not totally anti meds, but I've not heard of anything for anxiety that doesn't check in with really troubling side effects.

no, Anti:

 

do I just stay off drugs and suffer with horrible anxiety the rest of my life?

 

You get some help for your horrible anxiety. And yes, you stay off the drugs. Therapy is not addicting, unlike benzos. When I got some help and understood what the heck I was so anxious about, my life turned around.

 

Just a thought,

 

 

Katz

 

Thanks Katz...I have been seeing a therapist since 2008. I actually have another upcoming appointment in 5 days. CBT did little to nothing for me. I do enjoy the talk therapy sessions. They do allow me to vent sometimes, I suppose, but the talks do little to nothing to help with the severe GAD. I am of the belief that these serious mental health disorders have at their root a biological core in the brain, and you can't talk or think your way out of these things. The talking can help a little. The only two natural things that I have found helpful are meditation and aerobic exercise.

 

My hope is that one day, medical science will better understand the brain and why these things manifest and will be able to cure instead of trying to manage with drugs which will never work long-term as the brain adapts to the presence of the drug.

You and I will never agree about anxiety and therapy, anti. I certainly don't nor ever did "enjoy" my therapy sessions. Yeah, I guess I vented and do vent. But I gained and continue to gain insight into the causes of my anxiety and the ways in which I let it sabotage my life. I do not believe that in GAD, btw. It gives ppl a "hall pass" for their inability/unwillingness to engage with life. "Anxiety" is not a mental disorder, for heaven's sake. It's a disorder of the feelings.  This also imo is nonsense:

 

these serious mental health disorders have at their root a biological core in the brain, and you can't talk or think your way out of these things.

 

omg!! Red alert!! A (gasp) serious mental disorder! A biological core! See . . . it's not my fault!! I have a broken brain!! Oh please, anti. No, you can't talk your way out of your anxiety, but you can understand your way out of it. Maybe you don't have the right therapist. Or the right mindset. I'm glad that aerobic exercise and meditation help you, but you could be doing so much more. However, as  my Scottish grandmother is fond of saying: "Among them be it".

 

Katz

 

 

"Truth does not belong to the one who shouts the loudest."

With all due respect Katz, we will have to disagree on this one. I respect your opinion, and I am happy you have found some relief in therapy. I have not been as lucky over the years.  My personal opinion is that talk therapy is mostly useless for things like severe depression, GAD, panic disorder, and many of the other serious mental health disorders that some ppl seem to develop. Some ppl can manage them without ever taking drugs but many others suffer for years until they are literally willing to try almost anything because life and living literally become intolerable.

 

I even tried this to no avail.

https://neurostar.com/

 

**Just a bunch of wasted money with absolutely no benefit that I could perceive.

 

I like my therapist on a personal human level so I will keep seeing him for now. He is a PHD and can't Rx meds either, but once he retires, no more talk therapy for me. I can do better with exercise and meditation, and I can do those for free. 

I'm not totally anti meds, but I've not heard of anything for anxiety that doesn't check in with really troubling side effects.

 

Totally agree with what you said here Lilyann. I wish you could find something that could help you. Meditation has really been my savior.

Thanks AB.

 

I'm doing pretty good most days. When I spiral, it just feels all consuming and forever. DOWN> DOWN> DOWN.

 

My actual diagnosis is PTSD. I have nightmares and then insomnia. Then I get depressed and anxiety kicks in. I know I am doing better after the taper, because my startle reflex is no longer hairtrigger. My sugar levels have dropped some though I do have to take metformin. I can sleep three or sometimes four hours in a row without waking up which is a huge improvement.

 

Exercise does help. My knee brace just came in, so that may work to get back to that. I went to an art class on Friday, and I think that will also be a way to level out. I always loved arts and crafts but have not done any of that in five or ten years (have some memory issues). I have tried meditation a couple of times, but I have not as of yet been able to relax and let go enough to do that.

 

I do have a family history of anxiety/depression. I think a few relatives are borderline personality/narcissists and leaned on some of us enough to trigger the depression/anxiety. There are a few hard core hoarders in the family. One aunt filled five houses with stuff up to the ceilings. She tried to get insurance on the house she actually lived in, but the adjuster said it was not inhabited and only used for storage (but he was incorrect). 

Hi Lilyann, was there a time in your life where things were normal  and you felt ok? I was ok until about age 24-25. I still do now know to this day how I went from feeling great to feeling like I was dying, and I was on zero meds then. I actually hate all Rx meds, OTC meds, and herbal supplements too. I had a great job, was running and exercising daily..literally felt like superman and then bam, I was blindsided outta the blue and I have not been the same since. It started with vague chest pains and an uneasy, not feeling well feeling like I had been used to feeling and things just got worse and worse and I eventually ended up in the ER thinking I was dying.