Anxiety and medicine

[SusanLR]

As you will know from being in the pharmacy profession Xanax is part of the benzodiazepine family which are some of the most addictive and also therefore in my opinion most dangerous drugs prescribed to people. There was many thousands of people hooked on Valium, it got such a terrible reputation for creating addicts that the brand name is never used any more, instead it's simply called diazepam these days, this is of course also a benzodiazepine and incredibly despite the severe issues it's still prescribed regularly. Over 12 years ago in the UK when I used to be on hard drugs I still saw numerous extremely desperate people who were often walking around the city asking all the hard drug addicts about buying the medication illegally, hoping they'd been prescribed it, many would sell their diazepam and other similar addictive medication to buy heroin and crack to these people who were obviously totally and utterly addicted to these drugs to the extent that obtaining them was the only thing that mattered and of course their life would have been completely ruined. So I ask how can any benzodiazepine be "one of the safest anti-anxiety drugs"?

I'm sorry, but pharmaceutical companies defend these drugs as they're making huge profits from them and they are careful to protect themselves from lawsuits.

EDIT:
Quote from Google search for "xanax addiction":

"How addictive is Xanax?

Xanax is a fast-acting benzodiazepine medication. ... As a result, it is considered one of the most addictive benzodiazepine medications on the market today. Risks are higher in people who take the doses of 4 mg/day for longer than 12 weeks, but anyone who abuses the drug could be at risk for addiction."

Your post is absolutely true as far as addiction.
And I have no like for "big pharma".
They will do anything to keep the big money coming in and always discourage anything natural that is cheaper and usually more safe.

What I mean by the benzodiazepines being the least of two evils is what it does to the body compared to antidepressants and antipsychotics which can cause personality changes, tardive dyskinesia, malignant brain syndrome, exacerbated anxiety, hallucinations, seizures, just to name a few. None of which I would wish upon anyone.
Can you imagine an arm that rotates up and down or a tongue that is uncontrollably jerking and drooling for the rest of your life? I don't know how they live with it and that's what those drugs can do and it's irreversible.
But, I quote @Ragnahawk

when your brain is literally keeping you from excercising, driving, or going to heavily populated areas. I have to weigh my decision on a pendulum

and I agree.
If someone is severely Schizophrenic for example, what should be done? Take a drug that is very dangerous or live in a tormented hallucination of voices and paranoid delusion? Sometimes it's a double edged sword.
Some imbalances either must be treated or just live the illness if you can.

As far as addiction from benzos, yes, that will happen and withdrawel must be slow or you will have seizures which could kill you.
If life without an anoxylitic means life never leaving your house, having severe constant panic attacks, unable to eat, drink or barely breath, which will result in system failure within a few months...again, take your pick.
Addiction, meaning you need it on an ongoing basis to live due to a malfunctioning HPA axis vs anxiety too high to exist. (Ref. Xanax, Ativan, Valium)
Xanax may be a treatment drug that can lead to addiction, but, it is not an antipsychotic or antidepressant and does not cause their dangerous bodily harms.
Hard drugs/herione, meth, crack, etc. is another issue and is going beyond an anti-anxiety agent.
Usually called street drugs, recreational drugs for the sensations they give.


Take the least amount possible with benzodiazepines and if there is truly a clinical anxiety disorder, yes, it could be a long term drug.
It is a class IV. The mildest of all drugs called a narcotic.

Just as the propranolol can be taken for life for high blood pressure, tachycardias or some arrythmias.
All of which can kill or totally disable you.
Another type of med you can't stop cold turkey or you would have a heart attack.
May have to take it for life, but, is it an addiction just because the body needs it to live?
The word seems to have a stigma attached to it used for narcotics but not for the myriad of other types of drugs that may need to be taken for life to live.

 

[Gracey]

There is a “flush” but it goes away with continued use.

Do you mean like a hot flush? Or a flushing of the system? Or another kind of flush?

 

[Gracey]

@pjcnet . I have to weigh my decision on a pendulum.

I too agree with this. For me it's a short term trade off.

I've spent four years looking for and trying alternatives (CBT, self help, herbal and some spiritual practices, changing perceptions, looked into fear and control, neurogenisis)

I'm weary and not improving much. Getting worse in some respects.

I had considered illegal drugs, buying some off the streets, just for a break, a pause. But after weighing up the pros and cons of that decided paying for a prescription was cheaper and better regulated in the sense of being 'in the system' under the care of a medical practitioner.

It's my short term solution to desperation.
Until I find my answers and a different way of either 'being' or coping.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I have started on sertraline today.
Lack of appetite I have anyway.
Drowsiness I would welcome - with open arms!

The amount and severity of possible side effects on the patient information is astonishing

Hope it's going well! Another odd symptom I had is dilated pupils, it looked very strange. The worst part was definitely the emotional side effects, I had a couple of very dark days, had to stay with a friend because I was worried what I might do if left alone.

 

[WereBear]

Do you mean like a hot flush? Or a flushing of the system? Or another kind of flush?

Niacin is a detoxer which breaks down histamine byproducts in the skin. This can lead to vasodilation which turns a person more pink, and sometimes an intense itching which can last up to 20 minutes. This is greatest where the circulation is denser, like the face, chest, forearms, and hands.

With continued use, this goes away, as there are fewer byproducts to break down.

However, some people find the flush so frightening or annoying they won't use niacin, and never reach the "lack stage." Also, I just went through a stress crisis of skin hives which turned into eczema, essentially huge patches from my collarbones on down, and now my normal niacin use makes these itch intensely as part of the healing process, which might be familiar to anyone who fell down, skinned their knee, and had to avoid picking at the scab . Though I don't get a flush, since I have acclimated to the amino acid, which is what niacin actually is: not a vitamin.

I started a thread, I'm doing Niacin Therapy, which goes into more detail.

 

[WereBear]

I took Neurotonin from nerve pain from shingles, which was itself triggered by great stress (pre-Asperger's diagnosis.) For about two weeks it lifted my anxiety somewhat, until it stopped. During my diagnostic procedure, I found out a lot of people with autism have this same reaction to psychiatric medication; our brains adapt, and it stops working.

This closed the door for me on such meds, and I am very glad, because this is a dangerous and grueling process, and many people try lots of different ones without any luck, along with the long uptake and taper times, it can take a full two years to try just one, while side effects wreck your life further.

I have also become extremely skeptical of modern Pharma's focus on profits, as detailed by many others in this thread. These drugs are not regulated as well as they claim, nor have they been tested as currently prescribed. No one caught their tendency to trigger suicide in those whose brains are still developing, for instance, and hand-waved the large amounts of weight they can make people gain, (and then develop diabetes,) because the drugs are dis-regulating other important brain functions.

I suggest the book The Mood Cure, which details many people who found nutritional supplements actually worked better than psychiatric drugs. This is cheaper and less dangerous, and should be the first thing tried. It is not as simple as handing out the same drug to everyone; people need to see what works for them.

But I think it is a far better tactic, and should be better known.

 

[keebles]

Anti-anxieties and anti-depressants are two completely different beasts for me. Xanax is my wonder drug. I also take two separate muscle relaxers for a completely different reasons (chronic cluster migraines which may or may not be due to a benign brain tumor...I say yes because they started when the tumor grew a millimeter, the docs say no) and the muscle relaxers have a very anti-anxiety quality to them, probably because I tend to tighten every single muscle in my body when I'm stressed. Gabapentin being one and Zanaflex being the other. But, because my anxiety level is so high, Xanax isn't the kind of drug that makes me "high" like it would a normal person...I've never gotten "high" from Xanax and I'm not sure it's possible for me. They do what they are designed to do because I take them for their purpose...I don't get a single "high" vibe or feeling from taking them at all other than I tend to shut up when I do take one. I can go weeks without taking one and some days I might need several to get through, but I can stop them at any time, so there is no addictive quality to them (at least for me). I'm supposed to take 1mg tablet three times a day...I don't because I don't always need them (although I'm sure some people at work probably wish I would).

When it comes to anxiety, mine tends to project in the form of yelling, hatefulness, and isolating those around me on purpose because I don't want anyone near me (and I HATE to be touched when I'm really anxious). I will typically always get myself worked up enough that I'll end up with a headache the next day. That's why my neurologist handles the Xanax and muscle relaxer prescriptions instead of a shrink.

Anti-depressants, on the other hand, are the devil, at least for me. I have horrible reactions to SSRIs (the most recent bout caused me to end up locked in a mental facility for suicidal tendencies). They make me mean, even more depressed, they make the worst of my Asper traits even more horrible (and harder to hide). I told them from the get-go not to give me SSRIs, but they tricked me and told me it wasn't an SSRI and in a general class (it's my own fault though for not doing my research properly like I'd normally do though, so trust me, I've been kicking myself ever since...especially since I now have a $4000 hospital bill to pay). I can't take SSNIs because I have OCD, so on the AD front, I'm kind of at a loss unless I want to go heavy like lithium and the like (which I don't). If I just wait it out, the depression tends to always work itself out anyway...I'm not sure why I let them even near me ("them" being mental health "professionals").

When I was locked up, the shrink mentioned that I should be on propranolol, but since I'm on a shrink strike right now, I'm kind of out of luck on that front. This same shrink (who is an Asper specialist), told me that no Asper should ever take anything other than anti-anxieties and that anti-depressants will often have the opposite or unwanted side effects and that he never prescribes them for Aspers (which is exactly what happens to me...shame he wasn't around when I got dosed in the first place).

I've debated going herbal or the vitamin route, but I don't know enough about what's best to even begin on that journey (and I guess the desire hasn't been strong enough for me to research it). As of now, I'm happy with what I've got as long as it's working for me and ultimately, that's what is most important for anyone...do what's best for you.

 

[OkRad]

I agree with PJ but only for myself. TERRIBLE reactions to meds! HOwever, I know people who really cannot get by without them. My room mate cannot work without them. So maybe it's genetic. But to me, PURE POISON.

 

[OkRad]

I took Neurotonin from nerve pain from shingles, which was itself triggered by great stress (pre-Asperger's diagnosis.) For about two weeks it lifted my anxiety somewhat, until it stopped. During my diagnostic procedure, I found out a lot of people with autism have this same reaction to psychiatric medication; our brains adapt, and it stops working.

This closed the door for me on such meds, and I am very glad, because this is a dangerous and grueling process, and many people try lots of different ones without any luck, along with the long uptake and taper times, it can take a full two years to try just one, while side effects wreck your life further.

I have also become extremely skeptical of modern Pharma's focus on profits, as detailed by many others in this thread. These drugs are not regulated as well as they claim, nor have they been tested as currently prescribed. No one caught their tendency to trigger suicide in those whose brains are still developing, for instance, and hand-waved the large amounts of weight they can make people gain, (and then develop diabetes,) because the drugs are dis-regulating other important brain functions.

I suggest the book The Mood Cure, which details many people who found nutritional supplements actually worked better than psychiatric drugs. This is cheaper and less dangerous, and should be the first thing tried. It is not as simple as handing out the same drug to everyone; people need to see what works for them.

But I think it is a far better tactic, and should be better known.

Awesome post! I agree one hundred percent. Mybrain adapts almost overnight to meds ----if they are not about to kill me. First, I react and then the brain is like "Oh NO YOU DID NOT!" It hates me.

Then you can pour the crap down me and it's like, 'Is that the wind blowing?"

I took 30 pills to sleep once. Enough to kill a sane person. I woke up two hours later walking sideways. In four hours I was out going for a run, feeling like pure sh**.

My brain is a monster and if it were not trapped in a tiny 5 foot, 100 lb frame, it would swallow up the entire earth and burp.

 

[SusanLR]

When I was locked up, the shrink mentioned that I should be on propranolol, but since I'm on a shrink strike right now, I'm kind of out of luck on that front. This same shrink (who is an Asper specialist), told me that no Asper should ever take anything other than anti-anxieties and that anti-depressants will often have the opposite or unwanted side effects and that he never prescribes them for Aspers (which is exactly what happens to me...shame he wasn't around when I got dosed in the first place).

There is evidence that anti-depressants unwanted side effects are a problem in people with ASD.
I know I've tried every class of anti-depressants and they all had terrible side effects. Some caused wosening of anxiety and panic attacks. (Tricyclics types). The SSRIs made me feel like my brain was so sedated I couldn't think. Didn't feel alive like myself.
Deseryl- a type to itself, caused short term amnesia.
By the afternoon I couldn't remember what I had done that morning. Scared me when that happened.
MAO Inhibitors were the worst. The spacey feeling I get during anxiety, called derealisation, was there almost constantly with them. And they can take up to a year to fully wear off!

All these were given to me for panic attacks. Not depression. Although the psychs who prescribed them to me said it was a chronic depression that caused the anxiety. I didn't feel depressed.
The anti-anxiety meds Xanax or Ativan takes care of the panic attacks and I can function with them. They have
never caused any side effects.
I have been told by MDs that I need to take gabapenton or neurontin for fibromyalgia. I refuse.
I don't know how they would make me feel, and if you do the research on what they can do to your body, to me it isn't worth it.
I don't worry about addiction as long as I don't need more and more and more to help keep things steady with the benzos and they don't have the potential for the physical harm the other meds do.

The propranolol for psychiatric use is a possible, but, isn't what it is made for. It is a heart arrythmia med.
Some people say it helps with migraines or social anxiety. I take it on a constant basis (could call it addiction because I need it to keep my heart beating correctly), so I don't know about the psychiatric aspect of it since I don't take it for those reasons.
The brain can build a tolerance to Beta-blockers though like propranolol. It blocks the beta intake receptors in the brain, but, as receptors are blocked, the brain has the capacity to create new ones. So in time it may no longer work and you'll need larger amounts or a different type of medication.

 

[keebles]

There is evidence that anti-depressants unwanted side effects are a problem in people with ASD.
I know I've tried every class of anti-depressants and they all had terrible side effects. Some caused wosening of anxiety and panic attacks. (Tricyclics types). The SSRIs made me feel like my brain was so sedated I couldn't think. Didn't feel alive like myself.
Deseryl- a type to itself, caused short term amnesia.
By the afternoon I couldn't remember what I had done that morning. Scared me when that happened.
MAO Inhibitors were the worst. The spacey feeling I get during anxiety, called derealisation, was there almost constantly with them. And they can take up to a year to fully wear off!

All these were given to me for panic attacks. Not depression. Although the psychs who prescribed them to me said it was a chronic depression that caused the anxiety. I didn't feel depressed.
The anti-anxiety meds Xanax or Ativan takes care of the panic attacks and I can function with them. They have
never caused any side effects.
I have been told by MDs that I need to take gabapenton or neurontin for fibromyalgia. I refuse.
I don't know how they would make me feel, and if you do the research on what they can do to your body, to me it isn't worth it.
I don't worry about addiction as long as I don't need more and more and more to help keep things steady with the benzos and they don't have the potential for the physical harm the other meds do.

The propranolol for psychiatric use is a possible, but, isn't what it is made for. It is a heart arrythmia med.
Some people say it helps with migraines or social anxiety. I take it on a constant basis (could call it addiction because I need it to keep my heart beating correctly), so I don't know about the psychiatric aspect of it since I don't take it for those reasons.
The brain can build a tolerance to Beta-blockers though like propranolol. It blocks the beta intake receptors in the brain, but, as receptors are blocked, the brain has the capacity to create new ones. So in time it may no longer work and you'll need larger amounts or a different type of medication.

Yes! This is exactly what typically happens to me! I either become a zombie or a raging bee-och monster, depending on the category of med. For me, Effexor was the worst and it did take me an entire year to ween off it. I have issues with depression, but it's rare and minimal...my main problem has ALWAYS been anxiety. The gabapentin I take for headaches, but it does have the added side effect of "perking" up my mood, so I'm not complaining, especially with all that has happened to me in the past couple of months. One of my anxiety issues is that I'm wound tighter than a new bed spring, so the muscle relaxers help with that which, in turn, keep me from bouncing off the rails when I have an episode, be it anxiety or Asper. Since I do have chronic cluster migraines, again, the propranolol would also serve another purpose for me...I like drugs to serve multiple functions for the simple reason that it keeps me out of the shrink's office because it means that my neurologist can prescribe them for me.

Most of the meds I take do have seizure side effects if I quit them cold-turkey, but I already have a brain tumor (benign), so I'm already prone to seizures, so no more threat there than usual. Besides, after a rather nasty DT'ing episode with quitting Effexor cold turkey back in the day, I learned my lesson rather quickly with doing that. The absolute only side effect I've had with the gabapentin is that for the first two days my entire body was one giant muscle cramp and I cried non-stop the entire time. Once that wore off and I got over the sleepiness (that took a couple of weeks), I've been fine with no other side effects whatsoever, but again, I take it for headaches, the anxiety help is just a bonus. I should also mention that I do have a chronic headache pain unrelated to the migraines (I think that is directly tumor related) and my face has been numb from my eyes down to my chin for about 9 years now like I just got back from the dentist, only 24/7 (again, tumor related). These headaches are what the gabapentin was prescribed for me for...not the migraines. The Zanaflex is part of that med regime. It's all a mess, but I do take less now than I ever have, so I'm glad about that.

Long story short (I know, too late), I still agree with the shrink that told me that anti-depressants and Aspers are mortal enemies because I have first-hand experience with them, but everyone is different.