[chalmette70043]

Have you ever taken Buspar? Does it make you gain weight? Any other side effects?

Thank you
Chalmette

[HALLIEBETH87]

Chal...its didnt do anything for me! I was on highest dose taking at highest time...and I had to change med to risperdal at night. its awesome!...well except i got fat.

[chalmette70043]

Thanks Hallie. My pdoc gave me the buspar for anxiety. To take along with the klonopin. I just dont want to have some side effect where i gain more weight.

I'm sorry you did gain weight with the Risperdal. But if the med works for you, I guess you don't mind the weight.

Hugs Hallie
Thanks
Chal

[kaliope]

i took buspar for anxiety. loved it. worked great. no side effects. no weight gain. took it about a year. i took it in place of the klonopin because it wasnt addictive

[sunrise]

Originally Posted by chalmette70043

Have you ever taken Buspar? Does it make you gain weight? Any other side effects?

Did not cause me to gain weight.
Did not help with anxiety.
But it had a really cool side effect indeed: it increased the sensitivity of my senses of smell and taste! This alone was worth the price of admission. But after about 4 months, this effect went away, unfortunately. Since it wasn't helping with anxiety, I stopped taking it.

[eskielover]

(((((Chal))))).....good to see you.....been awhile......

It was the first thing my MD gave me for the anxiety I was feeling at the time I was dealing with issues & my career. It did absolutely nothing for the anxiety....but at that point, & was such a mess & the Northridge earthquake hit & everything around me was falling apart....don't think really anything would have touched the anxiety I was feeling unless is knocked me out completely.

[chalmette70043]

Well its Yay and Nay. I guess i'll go ahead and try it. But how will i tell if im taking klonopin too? The klonpin works.

[chalmette70043]

Oh, one more question. How was it prescribed to you? My pdoc said one in the morning and one at lunch. And have to eat something with it. I won't be able to eat anything with it though, I'm sick to my stomach till later in the evening when it comes to food.

[sunrise]

chalmette, I took it 2-3 times a day--can't remember. I started at a lower dose than I eventually worked up to.

I remembered another side effect--within seconds/minutes of taking it I would get a whoosh of tingly feeling in the lower half of my body, from the waist down. This would make it kind of hard to walk--my legs just felt strange. If I tried to walk right after, I would be all staggery. I was taking this when I had a job where I parked nearby so I would go out to my car to take my dose so I didn't get all weird and staggery on the job. After about 10 minutes, I could walk OK. After 30 minutes, this effect was totally gone. This effect plus the enhanced smell & taste made it a very strange med indeed!

Originally Posted by chalmette70043

But how will i tell if im taking klonopin too? The klonpin works.

Once you have adjusted to the Buspar and taking a full dose (may take several weeks), your doc may have you try not taking the klonopin and see how you do on just the Buspar. Chalmette, are you adding Buspar to your klonopin because klonopin alone is not enough? Or are you adding Buspar in the hopes of working toward getting off klonopin (or lowering the dose)?

Good luck.

[chalmette70043]

Thanks Sunrise. I'm sorry you had those side effects. The one with the staggering legs would kinda worry me.

I'm not sure what my pdoc is up to with the Buspar. He's been trying me on different anxiety meds that arent' addicting. So far none have worked. I've gotten side effects galore. swelling up, headaches, dizziness, weight gain. I wish he would just leave it alone. I take the klonopin as prescribed and it works for me. I really don't want to be taking more meds. I think i take enough.

Did you have to eat when you took the Buspar? He told me to. But i have a problem with that.

Thanks,

Sunrise

[sunrise]

Chalmette, I don't remember if I took it with food or not.

The staggering and altered smell/taste didn't really bother me. But the side effect that happened at first, that was hard to deal with, was in the first few days of taking it, I felt very very hyper and agitated. Couldn't sit still. Like my skin was crawling. This lasted about 3 days. I was just about ready to give up and quit taking it when this effect subsided. Then each time the dose got increased, I would feel that again, but to a lesser extent. I have heard other people say they had this effect too, that Buspar is a hard drug to come on to. So, chalmette, please beware the first few days may be challenging. But it gets better, just push through if you can.

Good luck. Hope this helps you.

[chalmette70043]

Ok Sunrise. Thank you for sharing so much with me. I get the skin crawling thing sometimes, so i know what thats like. I don't know that i could take it for three days though.

But i guess i'll get the prescription filled and try it. If i get side effects i just won't take it.

Thank you
Chalmette

[JustWannaDisappear]

Pdoc prescribed it at 30mg morning and 30mg at night. It definitely helped. No weight gain which was a huge deal for me. I was also on 200mg zoloft and 600mg lithium. No weight gain from any of them. My side effects were nausea which started with zoloft, continued with buspar and I frequently vomited lithium. Also, memory loss, which I believe is from the zoloft. Buspar helped my anxiety but was also given xanax. I'd give the buspar 4-6wks

[chalmette70043]

JustWannaDissapear, were you told to take Buspar with food?

thank you
Chalmette

[lost in]

buspar tends to have a low side effect profile after a short period (like a week). no weight gain, though it didn't work for me. klonopin (which did work) can often lose its effectiveness due to developing a tolerance to it (addictive). ask your doc why he's prescribing buspar. the more you communicate with him, the more you'll know. the more you know, the greater your peace of mind, (so to speak). ask questions, you're allowed to know.