Benzo's, how often do you take them?

I'm not saying it can't help. I know it can. But imagine having to just have meditation and healthy food.

I do not say people should not meditate. And I don't say people should stop eating healthily when they start on meds.

I'm just saying that for many, just non medical approaches are not enough.

2-4 times a day. I've tried other anti-anxiety meds but they just don't work. I know they can get addicting but I can't live this anxious so that's a risk I'll have to take.

Not only did non addictive meds not work for me, they made me worse. Especially Buspar and Vistaril. On Vistaril the slightest unexpected sound almost made me jump out of my skin. Buspar gave me a constant and low level gnawing anxious feeling.

Buspar did absolutely nothing for me.

I got alprazolam and paxil in 2003 I take 1mg 2times a day this summer I ran short becuase 3 of 4 months have 31 days in didn't take long and I went into withdrawal. I'm a drug addict basically .I recently was cut from 40mg to 20mg and the third week i awoke to what was sounded like a pack of firecrackers in my head.

I have to take just one .5 mg tablet at bed each night to help me calm down and fully sleep the night. I do not abuse them but my body is dependent on them. I have spoken with my psychiatrist about finding a different option though. Just be mindful and responsible.

Nothing wrong with using benzo's when in need. The rest of the population relies on alcohol to calm down, we have our benzo's but its good that youre exploring alternatives with your doc.

All meds have inherent risks. there are no safe drugs. People, victims of diseases like HIV, mental health issues like bipolar, schizophrenia, possibly anxiety, and so many other diseases they all need pharmaceutical remedies for long term to sustain a normal life. that said we should keep trying to reduce our dependence on these drugs especially for things, like insomnia, that n some cases can be fixed by natural remedies.

I don't get it. Sleep is when our bodies heal, and still sleep isn't seen as anything important. Sleep issues cause, cancer, depression, worsening of other mental illness, obesity and diabetes. Still people go "Pff sleep, nothing important!" IT IS IMPORTANT!

And chronic sleep issues are JUST AS hard to fix as physical illness, because the brain is MORE complex than the body. All sleep issues are not just bad habits/worries, there are REAL and NAMED sleep DISORDERS.

There is no natural remedy to fix my sleep disorder. Unfortunately there is no medical help for it either, since they are aimed at insomnia, which is not my disorder.

All people with sleep disorders are not just lazy sloths.

You misconstrued what i said jim. i said, "SLEEP DISORDERS IN SOME CASES can be helped by natural remedies. I never implied that natural remedies are a "cure" for all sleep orders.

I disagree with your statement that all people with sleep disorders are not lazy sloths, because some people, i've seen it myself, prefer popping a pill when ever they cant sleep. Thats the first course of help they refer. i'm not judging them, i do that myself sometimes, take the easy way out.

and i wasnt trying to belittle Sleep disorders. I was merely suggesting natural remedies for minor sleep issues. Im no expert on chronic sleep disorders, so i wouldnt presume to offer advice on the topic.

I guess we live in different cultures. I get 16 sleeping pills a month. If I start popping them like candy I will run out. I know some countries prescribe like crazy, but I guess here they don't. I know someone who does pop them like candy, but even him didn't start like that. I guess I am too used to a system where you can't get meds just by going to a doctor. I just fought a month long respiratory infection because you can only get antibiotics for surgery or if your life is in danger or severe bodily harm. You can't get it just because the infection is annoying.

I seem to be unaware of all the sloths out there.

But also, most people who come here to this site, have have mental problems for quite a while.

You could be right about the differences in cultures. We do have easy access to all kind of pills, like we dont even need a doctors prescription for that. Just walk up to a local pharmacist and ask for them. But i also lived in Canada for 2 and a half year, i did observe people using alcohol, cigarrettes, Xanax to get sleep when they couldnt. None of them had major sleep disorders though , they just had an occasional bout of insomnia. Another thing i experienced living there was that life everyday was really hectic, barely a moments time to ourselves. So i can see how a lot of people just couldn't manage to find time for their workouts.

I've taken gaba, valerian, and various other herbs, etc or natural/organic things. The closest I ever came to something like that easing my anxiety was Theosine (sp?). It worked to some degree, but was like spitting on a fire. I want off the lorazepam, but know that anxiety is going to be lifelong as long as this life is the way it is. Things could happen overnight to free me from this merry go round, but not likely. One can hope.

Painting a bleak future is the cornerstone of anxiety. it makes us believe that we'll never get better. but the truth is there are so many people who've beaten anxiety and if there is one thing that we can learn from them its that the task of beating anxiety is doable. they did it, so can we. So shall we. Gotta keep trying, theres no one cure for all. some people are thriving just on natural supplements and some are'nt doing well even on pshychiatric drugs. We have to keep exploring, try everything coz we never know what can change our lives.

Luvox has helped me because my anxiety sometimes comes from this over thinking racing thoughts obsessiveness I guess is the best way to explain it. But I take a 1mg Klonopin at night.
Learning to meditate is helping but it is really hard when I'm so used to being tense and ready to run with possibilities running through my head.
I'm hoping to get up the courage to try yoga classes at my new gym also.

I was taking diazepam 5 mg for a couple of years, 1x/day. Sometimes I went for a couple of days without, sometimes 2x/day. My doc won't raise the dosage or make it more frequent. I'm supposed to take them just at bedtime. I ran out and didn't go back for my refill. I've been taking Soma and percocet for my back pain, which work far better for anxiety than diazepam. I may or may not get a refill on the diazepam.

I think its great that youre trying mediation and leaning towards learning yoga. Meditation can be hard in the beginning. Dont give up. When a thought comes into your head just 'recognise" it ( without judgement) and say 'thinking' and return to breathing. I've been meditating for about a month now and sometimes when im all riled up by anxious thoughts its pretty hard to concentrate on the breath. But those days i do a second session after the end of the first one. and the second session goes more smoothly as the first session settles your mind.

In my mind Benzo = emergency only. I would never take them regularly or even frequently. Brain wrecking stuff.

For management of day to day anxiety, stress response, etc there a million other options: Magnesium, GABA, Theanine, Cannabis, direct sunlight, music and sound healing, many herbal remedies.

I would never heed the advice of a Psychiatrist or Physician with regard to anxiety or anything. They dispense meds like candy and they are only useful for getting an Rx for emergency purposes, for me anyway. If i am going to consult a professional, it will be one who has the knowledge and problem solving skills to help determine root causes and who uses safe and natural means to address anxiety.

Luvox has really helped my obsessiveness and helped with depression but did zero for my overstressed head or for panic. It is one of my two cornerstones, the other one being Xanax.

Some places seem to hand out meds without any care, it is only like that here with some meds, like the most common SSRIs, propavan and vistaril. If you need something else you are in for a long ride. But I notice the use of benzos is getting stricter even in the place they were given out easily. So I think things are going to change.

I think after all those years I "deserve" meds that help. Of course it is ideal to beat things on your own but I don't see ANY shame in needing a med. We all need help with different things in life, no one is perfect on every level. I had my first panic attack when I was 6 and had them until I was 34 or so, when I finally had a working med. I tried so many things.

I so wish there was a pill like Xanax that did not cause dependence issues. But then again my Luvox does also, if I miss a dosage I am in hell.

Sometimes I feel I did wrong accepting Xanax as a daily med instead of as needed. But when I had it as needed I just went from emergency to emergency. It has increased my quality of life. Still I wish I had not gotten hooked. Ack, life choices are not always easy.

Thankyou Budfox! My sentiments exactly. Meds only mask the real problem. While they are vital to our recovery, they are just the first step.

I hear you jim, Anxiety, like most mental disorders, is one cruel SOB. Even the meds that are supposed to help us, brings a cascade of new problems to deal with. It feels like we've been dealt a bad hand of life and now we're stuck with it. and thats why its more important than ever now to sustain hope in ourselves.

I know anxiety takes many forms and can have many causes, but I think it's important to consider whether it might be primarily a physiological imbalance rather than a mental disorder... B vitamin deficiency, magnesium deficiency, lyme disease, hormone imbalance, neurological condition, toxic exposure, etc.

I've often thought about that myself. Infact i've met people on pshycentral who are treating themselves with amino's and other natural supplements. and they are very much stable.
I also believe that being loved, surrounding ourselves by people who understand us and love us, can significantly alter the odds of combating this illness. I figure if loneliness, absence of joy and love from life can trigger stress which is the root of anxiety than the opposite, presence of love and joy should fix us.

Yeh well, I have aspergers and ADD, I don't have the normal filters to just block out unpleasant things. I was born with it and I will have to live with it, because I chose to live. Sometimes the root cause isn't just a deficiency.

Wow! What a hot topic. As as psychologist, I used to be against them. I think it really depends on the person. Probably, the more desperate you are the more you should avoid them. What I mean is that you'll use them all the time.

On the other hand, if you use them for special situations only, like I'm going for a job interview or I'm attending a funeral and I might not go because it makes me so anxious, then I would say it's OK.

They shouldn't be used on a regular basis. SSRIs are much more effective. But for rare occasions and for someone who isn't going to depend on them, it's OK.