Thinking about a low dose anti-anxiety. Any experiences?

Post Reply New Topic

I have intrusive repetitive thoughts sometimes that just ramp up my anxiety, hypothetical or not. Since taking Wellbutrin, I've been more relaxed and able to choose to dismiss said thoughts much more easily with the only side effect being that I don't feel hungry as often.

I take Ativan for anxiety,it works well for me with no side effects.

Please keep in mind that Benzos such as Ativan & Xanax are not for daily / long term use. They reduce the activity in your brain (which makes sense since they were originally developed to combat seizures) and will interfere with memory storage. I was on a low dose, only one quarter of a milligram daily for months, and it did reduce my nervousness, it also left my memory impaired. I have heard from reputable sources that it is common for autistic people to be more sensitive to the effects of medications. Be very careful with dosage and don't use benzos every day.

Buspar did nothing but make me dizzy, which caused me more trouble getting through my day and interacting with people.

SSRI's do nothing for me except make me a tad spacey, dizzy, & nauseous. I'm not a person prone to depression and "happy pills" just make me feel sick.

Beta & alpha blockers, which are used for stage fright and PTSD respectively, may be helpful if your issues are body based, but I don't believe they cross the body/brain barrier. They didn't seem worth trying to me because most of my anxiety issues are sensory processing based.

Teas with camomile & lavender help me calm down, especially when combined with other physical/mental comfort measures. But I understand the appeal of just taking a pill. At one point I was spending so much time comforting myself that I had no time to live!

Valerian tincture is worth a go, it is mildly sedating and easy to adjust dosage as needed being in liquid form. It can amp some people up though so always use with supervision.

I've just encountered hydroxyzine, which is an antihistamine with anti-anxiety properties ( similar to benedryl). It's supposed to be sedating though, so not a good fit if you want relief at work.... or maybe just if you're heading into a boring meeting!

Propranolol quite easily crosses the blood-brain barrier, unlike let's say atenolol. It's currently being tested for managing delirium and agitation thanks to this property, also it appears that early administration of propranolol may improve outcomes in traumatic brain injury and after strokes. Pretty amazing and all those are very recent studies. People are kind of re-testing good old propranolol that seems to have more uses & benefits than previously suspected
Sadly, it doesn't work for everyone's anxiety and generally is not a first-line treatment for it. It also worked well for my friend's agoraphobia. My Dr doesn't want to prescribe it (just keeps pushing SSRIs, no thanks), so I had to get it online after filling in an online Dr questionnaire about migraines.

Buspar only helped a little. A low dose of Abilify made a huge difference. My doctor says it's listed specifically for ASD anxiety.