Medication for social anxiety.

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So yesterday, I was forced to sit with and converse with some college students I've never met before. I was terrible company. It made me realise something, though. My social anxiety used to be emotion based, but now I'm just mostly afraid of the physical symptoms I get. I wouldn't mind the stuttering too bad. As long as I didn't shake so hard, turn red, and fricken twitch! My neck actually gets a mini seizure it seems, and people DO notice it. It is so embarassing. I've refused to present anything in the longest time. I really can't handle it. And these physical symptoms hinder my social interactions to such an extent.
Would medication be my best bet? My mom refuses to let me, but I really think I should. If I could get over the physical pain of it, the emotional stuff would be easier to overcome.
I'm basically scared of the symptoms I get. Is this a better or worse situation to take meds?

I would talk to a psychologist/psychiatrist, get a second opinion on it if you can, and then familiarize yourself with some of the issues/side-effects/controversies surrounding medicine of this sort. Having done this and you still want to take the medicine you can present your case to your mother. If she doesn't let you then it looks like your approaching the age where you can make those decisions for yourself, although I don't know what the laws are in Turkey. I'm recently trying out meds for the first time myself, Vyvanese and Wellbutrin. I'd like to iron out a holistic approach, but just don't have the time right now. Usually medicine should be accompanied by regular therapy.

If you've come that far without anti anxiety meds. Just keep chugging. The liabities that come with these meds are often worse.


For ex- At my job, while under Ativan I couldnt drive company vehicles.


Also there's the fact - it's so much easier to just "pop a pill" they fight it out.

I learned that hard way.


Keep trying on your own! You'll get there!


If you do want advice on anti-anxiety meds, message me. I've been on alot and will you tell you my opinions and etc.

You probably need anti-anxiety medication. I First realized I needed such medicine after a golden colored sunset caused inexplicable feelings of anxiety in me.

My recommendation is test whatever prescription you get by deliberately hanging out with large crowds.

BEWARE: too much, or too powerful anti-anxiety mediacations will cause you to act recklessly. Fear does not necessarily lead down the path to the dark side of the force. fear is necessary to behave prudently. The emotion does have survival value.

I wish there was something to take that can be popped whenever needed, like during presentations. I wouldn't have to be on it all the time. Just during parties and stuff. I do feel guilty about using a "crutch" though.
Wow, reckless behaviour? Lovely! Like being drunk.

What you are looking for is a class of medication known as the benzodiazepine.

Hands-down there are no other drugs which cure anxiety so completely and so quickly.

But good luck trying to get hold of it legally from a doc ... best bet is to buy it off the net.

It may be that a longer-term medication is preferable to popping something when you want. I have used generic diazepam (Valium) and a fast-acting version called Anxicalm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diazepam. The slower-acting versions have half-lives of 20-100 hours and supposedly have less dependency issues, but equally you can not pop them in response to an unplanned anxious event. These drugs have a great feelgood factor, so they are widely abused, and tolerance rises with use - i.e. they become less effective. They also have side-effects a bit like alcohol.

There could be good reasons for wanting a short course of diazepam to cope with an expected stressful event. I take some with me when I travel.

At the time I was diagnosed with Asperger's I was switched to Lyrica (pregabilin) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregabalin which is an anticonvulsant that also relieves chronic neuropathic pain and generalized anxiety disorder. It supposedly has an extremely low potential for dependency and abuse. My life has been incredibly improved since diagnosis and I suspect the Lyrica has not actually done a lot, but I am not ready for the experiment of dropping it yet.

Like other people say, doing without is definitely best - so you should do as I say, and not as I do.

Some SSRIs can be helpful with anxiety as well as depression. My anxiety issues improved greatly after i went on Paxil.

Try a breathing, meditation, or NLP technique.

What you're looking for is Xanax not diazepam. Shorter life span but higher immediate effect than diazepam.

Hugely dangerous though if taken with alcohol. You won't get it prescribed unless you suffer from severe panic attacks. It feels different to being drunk. Somewhere between drunk and stoned.

I had positive results from anti-anxiety medication. But you should have therapy and medication together.
I don't agree with keep chugging along. If you keep forcing yourself in social situations you can make it worse. I've been there.
The meds worked wonders for me, but I did enjoy getting drunk too quickly with them.

I just saw my psychiatrist on my long-term review and was prescribed extra Lyrica to take when needed for anxiety (I am travelling overseas). She said it was preferable to adding another drug, but needs to be taken in advance of the anxiety-provoking event http://www.drugs.com/condition/generali ... order.html

I was on Xanax for about a month, which is in the benzodiazepine group of drugs. It did almost nothing to get rid of my anxiety. All it did was made me feel like I was drunk minus the drowsy feeling you get when you drink. It also made me very antsy and very obnoxious. It was like I had ADHD or something. I couldn't focus on things for the life of me. So I just decided to quit taking it and that was that.

I agree absolutely that other methods of anxiety management are always preferable to medication. Meditation, progressive muscular relaxation, mindfulness and placebo all work. They can be used at any time, don't require refill prescriptions and have very few adverse side effects or dependency issues. (I say "very few" because I know people who claim they simply cannot survive without Bach's Rescue Remedy etc).

But I am old and lazy and I will use a safe means of taking the edge off unnecessary pain.

I take Klonopin (generic clonazepam) & it's taken "as needed" for most people, so you would only have to take it when you were under a lot of anxiety. My anxiety's so severe, though, that my doctor told me to take it twice a day every day.