Everyone has anxiety and have different symptoms of it. With me my heart starts to race and I feel like I can't breath and my head feels like it's going to explode. Everyones anxiety is different and some of these pills may help you. Im just listing off the ones I have personally been on.
When telling your psychiatrist about your anxiety if they are a good doctor they won't automatically start you on a benzodiazepine like Atavan. First they will probably start you on something like Gabapentin which also goes by the name Neuraptine. This pill is mainly used to treat seizures and is also a nerve pain killer. They will probably start you off on 100mg-300mg and have you come back next visit to see if it has helped. If it hasn't helped they will gradually increase the dose. I believe the highest dose you can be put on is 1800mg. But be warned if they decide to take you off this med have them gradually reduce the dose cause if you stop it cold turkey you will go through withdraw symptoms including sweats, stomach pain and aches.
If that pill doesn't work they will put you on Propranolol which is a beta blocker and used to treat high blood pressure. The reason they put you on this is to help hide the symptoms of anxiety like a fast heart rate. Warning this is not a drug to abuse cause it can be fatal if taken at a high dose.
Another drug they can put you on is called Clonidine which is a sedative and a antihypertensive drug which also treats high blood pressure. I was not on this drug for long since the side effects were terrible. I was super constipated, had no sex drive and it gave me erectile dysfunction.
If none of these work their next move might be to put you on a drug called Buspirone or Buspar. This is one of the only non narcotic pills that is specifically meant to treat anxiety. I've heard this helps some people but it did not help me. They had me on the highest dose of it which is 90mg. I had no bad side effects from this drug and would recommend it to people with anxiety.
They can also put you on Seroquel for anxiety as well and you can read about those side effects in one of my earlier blogs.
Another med they can put you on is something called zydis which is also known as Zyprexa. But Zydis dissolves under the tongue and from what I remember tastes like cherries. Or you can take the pill Zyprexa for anxiety also. These pills do help with anxiety the only problem is they make you really drowsy. And at high enough doses Zyprexa can also increase your appetite and make you gain weight.
One drug they put me on cause they were so desperate to not put me on a benzo was Haloperidol also known as Haldol. This drug literally made me feel like a zombie and I would not recommend taking this drug at all.
Also your psychiatrist might try to put you on Hydroxyzine also known as Vistaril. This drug is an antihistamine which pretty much equates to Benadryl. This drug made my heart rate increase and was not a good match for me.
After exhausting all of these pills they finally decided to put me on Klonopin which is a benzo. Klonopin is a longer lasting slow acting benzo. It is good to take cause it can last anywhere from 4-6 hours. They will probably start you off at a low dose of it like .50mg once a day and gradually increase it if that doesn't work.
This is just my experience with anxiety. Everyones anxiety is different and at different levels. If you have found any of this informative make sure to follow me and stay tuned for my next blogs. I will try to put 1-2 out per day on the topic of mental illness and drug addiction.
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