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Buspar for anxiety?????


[Le...]

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I have a doctor appointment today.  I’ve been off Klonopin and Lexapro for 9 years.  I’ve had no problems with anxiety or panic since I recovered from the withdrawal.  The panic and anxiety came back a few weeks ago when I had the flu.  I was given Atarax to help calm my CNS.  It worked but then a situation with my daughter came up which has it out of control again.  The atarax is not working.  I have appointments with a counselor coming up but not for a few weeks.  I feel like my CNS is so out of wack and it’s very difficult to get through my day.  I’m doing all my coping methods too. So I was wondering about a Buspar.  I’ve read it’s non addictive.  Is it a safe option for me given my history with withdrawal? 
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This is just a personal opinion, but I would not take Buspar. I did try it somewhere in the past and it did not help a bit. Something I had to learn during my own benzo WD is that I need to avoid all drugs that work on the brain. That is my personal choice and I am glad I m made it. I have been a nurse since 1982, and always believed in pills and meds. NOT now. Once I got off benzos, I decided to not use any drug that I do not truly need. Yes, I do take meds for hypertension. But that's it now.

east

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This is just a personal opinion, but I would not take Buspar. I did try it somewhere in the past and it did not help a bit. Something I had to learn during my own benzo WD is that I need to avoid all drugs that work on the brain. That is my personal choice and I am glad I m made it. I have been a nurse since 1982, and always believed in pills and meds. NOT now. Once I got off benzos, I decided to not use any drug that I do not truly need. Yes, I do take meds for hypertension. But that's it now.

east

Good advice!

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Buspar is rated very low in the mix by psychs and GPs alike in the UK

Life can be a trial but I would not dumb it down with Buspar. I would skim through alternative healing suggestions first.  Atarax was a good shout by your Gp. I used it in my practice when folk were struggling to get off night sedation like Mandrax

Best wishes

Dick

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Buspar is rated very low in the mix by psychs and GPs alike in the UK

Life can be a trial but I would not dumb it down with Buspar. I would skim through alternative healing suggestions first.  Atarax was a good shout by your Gp. I used it in my practice when folk were struggling to get off night sedation like Mandrax

Best wishes

Dick

 

Great post. "dumb it down" indeed. Dodnt we do that with benzos, and look wat happened then? NO psych drugs for this lady no matter what.

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I've reduced the Buspar I take during the last week of March. I went down from 20mg/day to 15mg/day. I felt horribly derealized and detached and horrifically depressed. My thinking was also not sharp. Ever since I lowered buspar, I started to have more anxiety and an uptick in blood pressure and some inner tremoring.

 

I'm not saying this is all from Buspar. I've had very stressful 2 weeks and am also on other medications (both physical and mental health), so who knows. My point is that there is a very good chance that buspar can have withdraw symptoms although it's not considered "habit forming".

 

I don't really care for the habit forming vs non habit forming designation. If a prescription has a withdraw effect that makes me wish I never took it, I don't care what it's being classified as.

 

To be fair, buspar did help me with the anxiety, but the dizziness and drowsiness and dissociation got to be too much to be on doses above 15mg/day (I was on 30mg/day at one point).

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Buspar didn't help me.

 

It really depends on your life situation and coping ability if you need a psych med or not.

 

I've been 3 years off clonazepam and still suffer from severe depression and anxiety. I want to live my lfie again so i will be starting a SSRI soon, coupled with CBT.

I want to live my life now, i don't want to wait another 10 years, or maybe it never gets better.

People who are 100% anti-psych meds don't have it so bad, otherwise they would understand, some people do need it.

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IMO, buspar and SSRI's are far preferable to benzos if you  feel you have to take something for long-term management. I have tried buspar while still on benzos so ofc, the buspar did not help. It is best to try to manage naturally w/o any drugs but sometimes, you have to do what you have to do in order to survive. They say if you have ever taken a benzo, buspar will not work. I do not know if that is fact or a myth.
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I’m finding that I’m needing some help with the anxiety I have.  I started counseling and the first session went really well.  I’m beginning to understand why the anxiety came back after such a long period of time without it.  My therapist gave me some strategies to try but the anxiety is too bad and trying is causing more anxiety.  I’m so worn out from it.  So I’m researching Buspar.  I don’t want to do an antidepressant because they made my anxiety worse when I tried them years ago.  My sister and my niece use Buspar and it’s working for them.  I’ve heard that if something works for a family member it will most likely work for you.  I hope that’s true.  I’m really paranoid about an adverse reaction though.  I a horrific reaction to Prozac, and that’s how I started on  Klonopin to calm me down.  So I got into a vicious cycle of Klonopin causing depression and antidepressant causing anxiety.  So I’m still not sure, but I think I need some to help me manage until I have more therapy under my belt.  Every day is a struggle.  I feel more and more trapped in the anxiety.  I’m not seeing a whole lot of bad stuff.  Just itveither works well or not at all.  Does anyone know if it’s true about the family connection? 

 

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Try it Lee...I hope it helps but you do have to give it some time. I do not react well to ADs either except lexapro. I am currently taking a very small dose of lexapro to try and block some of the panic and depression while I slowly try to come off the valium again. Out of all the Rx meds available, benzos are the worst after you have taken them long-term.
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Lee

Shame antidepressants don’t help much.

In the uk citalopram (an SSRI) is used for anxiety rather than buspar. You could start on a low dose covered by diazepam or oxazepam for at least 5 days.

It worked for me years ago but I could not pee on SSRI so ended up on mirtazipine (calming antidepressant in fact) with Seroquel alongside.

Best wishes.

Dick

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