The same questions are being asked here again and again. So I think an FAQ would be very helpful. It should concentrate on evidence-based treatments IMHO, but of course our extensive knowledge with other drugs shall be included. Too reckless or dangerous combos not.
What do you think about the idea? We might start with naming drugs that work. For creating the FAQ itself google docs is the way to go.
Everybody interested in helping please say so. Long-term members with good knowledge of psychopharmacology are preferred.
This is where its at, make a list of ALL possible compounds that could help, and not just the compounds that your psychiatrist presents to others, because you know there may be something that CAN help, and many being called "treatment resistant" can often find a working cure, it may be a combination of meds that screams synergy, it may be a unknown med normally used for other things but now as a bad *** mother****er works as a off label agent, and we got some sexy underground things, wich carry risks and should be presented in a way that only treatment resistant people get interested to try them.
Besides that what jobs still need to be done? What stuff has to go in the faq? I can dig some **** up that still needs to be added.
Short overview of psychological ways to treat SAD (CBT...). Sometimes people are so anxious they can't even start exposure (therapy) without medication.... Psychopharmaceuticals like antidepressants do NOT change the personality of people, but in fact can lift the shadow over it like depression, SAD.... Having to take medication does not mean one is weak... ADs are not addictive, but can result in discontiuation syndrome if not tapered down slowly (how to do that later). People with no drug abuse problems do not get addicted to benzos taken as needed. Distinction between abuse, addiction and physical dependence...
If situational SAD -> Drugs like Propranolol, shorter acting benzos as needed... For mainly (situational) hyperhidrosis we have some good threads about we can extract the info / drugs.
If generalized SAD -> Starting with an SSRI at a high enough dose for a long enough time... Maybe we'd suggest Escitalopram / Sertraline as good first choice because of the big meta-analysis? If it helps, but not enough we can mention augmentation strategies. If it doesn't help trying another SSRI, but NO SSRI marathon which is usually just a waste of time and money. If that also doesn't work out, next step is an AD with a different mechanism of action (SNRI like venlafaxine). If it doesn't help other ADs like mirtazapine...? Then GABAergic drugs like pregabalin, gabapentin, tiagabine...? MAOIs, long-term benzo medication with e.g. Klonopin (How to avoid dependence by alternating with other substances, reducing tolerance, how to withdraw safely from benzos....).
Drugs that should be avoided for "just" SAD: Antipsychotics ...., those that usually don't work (well) or have never shown to be effective (buspirone, Moclobemide?, TCAs?)
Non-standard / off-label ways for treatment resistant SAD (adding stimulants...).
old wise man once said ..quote 'the squeaky wheel always gets the grease" social anxity isnt noticed as much in the community as bipola,depression,skitafrina,you will never see or hear us ..this is a good idea
btw what is a FAQ ??
A question for medline and crazymed
Being recently officially diagnosed with BPD my doc had recommended since most typical antidepressants, antipsychotics and maoi's dont work for it that herbal and other remedies are worth a try
So I have Kava extract one me, the proper stuff
I have ordered Kratom and my fiance has ordered Methoxcetamine
will these be better alternatives?
since i am unable to get a mood stabalizer such as Oxcarbazepine or lamictal until i complete one year of DBT therapy
I don't see a reason why you can't combine medication with DBT, Lamictal would be my suggestion as there exists more evidence it works for people with BPD. Honestly, I don't think supplements will help you much here compared to real drugs like mood stabilizers.
Thanks for your advice, its is greatly appreciated :hs
So while the supplements help its likely they will not have the same benefits as something like Lamactil?
My pdoc is dead against it, he thinks depression is my comorbid symptom of BPD and effexor on its own is enough which i disagree with and have fought and pushed for lamactil but i may need to order it online because aside from Valporic acid (Depakote ) there were no other mood stabilizers he wanted to put me on but out of all the mood stabilizers surely thats one of the worst
Valproate causes birth defects in pregnancy, weight gain, hair loss, fatigue, and hyperammonemia, which can lead to brain damage so WTH was he thinking?
The risks of MAOIs are clearly exaggerated, especially by doctors who don't even have experience with those drugs (e.g. never prescribed them). Of course one has to be careful when on Nardil or Parnate, but NSAID analgesics kill more people per month than MAOIs did in the last 50 years.
When antidepressants... don't help then benzos and / or stimulants can be useful. To avoid tolerance / physical dependence NMDA antagonists like memantine, regular drug holidays and alternating e.g. GABAergic substances are good (altough no perfect) strategies.
Some supplements like EPA/DHA can probably augment psychopharmaceuticals without producing dangerous interactions in physical healthy people, but they can't compare to e.g. mood stabilizers.
Lamictal can increase the action of antidepressants, reduce mood swings (especially) working on the lows and help with impulse control problems. It's one of the antiepilepicts that doesn't require blood tests, has a good side effect profile in general and does not have a lot of drug interactions by inducing hepatic drug metabolism.
So glad I found this site again. I have major depression and take Wellbutrin XL and Celexa.....I also have GAD and Social Anxiety. My dr has had me on Lorazepam for about 5 yrs now. Presently I take 1/2mg in morning and 1mg nightly. Its not enough for the anxiety but anymore than that during the day just makes me sleepy and I yawn all day long. He has suggested switching to Xanax but I'm a little afraid of it. Don't know why other than my friends son is so addicted to Xanax. I did try clonazepam but it actually made me more depressed. Any suggestions greatly appreciated. I'm also finding that with the lorazepam I seem to be having a bit of a problem with memory loss or is that normal for all benzos?
Can someone smarter then me tell me if taking seroquel could be counter-productive against my Parnate treatment. I'm thinking about the effects both these drugs have on dopamine mainly
it came to my attention that the danger of long term use ofSSRIs ,SNRIs medication seratonin sits in your gut ...long term use eats away your bones..there is no dangers of long term use of MAOIs,NDRIs ,NDRAs to this extent
i will not take something that doesnt work and eats my bones away in the long term
We have less experience with NMDA antagonists like memantine and tolerance development to opioids than to stimulants. Very likely it will help to some extent, but without regular breaks from (strong) opioids tolerance to the euphoric effects will occur.
Personally I have tried buprenorphine (Temgesic) for treatment resistant depression and SAD, but it didn't do much for me. Of course Suboxone ist much higher dosed. If you have no opioid addiction it will be very hard to get Suboxone prescribed.
On a side note: Mixing buprenorphine with benzos is very dangerous and has resulted in deaths.
I am about to add imipramine to my Paxil and i came across this abstract......."Paroxetine induced significant elevations of approximately 50% in half-life, area under the curve, and Cmax of imipramine and decreased clearance twofold. The effects on desipramine pharmacokinetics were even more pronounced. These findings indicate a significant interaction of paroxetine with the CYP2D6 isoenzyme."
What exactly does this mean ? I should keep a low dose imipramine to my 40mg Paxil ?
Don't take meds at all. I took them for years and they didn't help much and only work temporarily. You'll regret taking them later because of all the withdrawals and crazy side effects. They cause liver damage and so many other side effects. Why take such a risk when you can handle stress and anxiety in better ways such as through exercise and therapy...?
That's a ridiculous generalisation. What meds were they, how long did you take them and what were they for? If you're talking about blindly taking SSRIs or irresponsibly taking long-term benzos, I'd agree a little, but some people genuinely need medicating to function even remotely normally.
And what about people with neurological disorders? What exactly will exercise and therapy do for them?
I'm not at all affiliated with this site, but I want to encourage everyone to go there, make accounts, and take surveys on the symptoms you have, drugs or other treatments you have tried, side effects, etc. If the drug isn't listed, you can add it (they manually clean up duplicates, etc). All the data is aggregated and written up in reports like this: 6,100 Patients with Anxiety Report Which Treatments Work Best
Much more organized way to measure success of different drugs than a wiki or forum.
There is a difference between anxiety and social anxiety disorder, so that graph doesn't really apply to us. I don't think masturbation and inspiring music help with SAD . and spending too much time with animals could send you in the wrong direction.
This is an interesting idea and I really like the visual presentation of data, but the I'm not sure how I feel about the actual data points being presented. This of course is dependent on how they are collecting this, their traffic, sample bias, etc.
The same questions are being asked here again and again. So I think an FAQ would be very helpful. It should concentrate on evidence-based treatments IMHO, but of course our extensive knowledge with other drugs shall be included. Too reckless or dangerous combos not.
What do you think about the idea? We might start with naming drugs that work. For creating the FAQ itself google docs is the way to go.
Everybody interested in helping please say so. Long-term members with good knowledge of psychopharmacology are preferred.
Sounds like a sensible idea! I think some kind of "meds primer" would be a good idea that outlines the established approaches to medicines and then perhaps go into the FAQ about different meds or treatments. I imagine this could get quite large though with so many drugs and questions. You might end up having a general medicines FAQ and then separate medicine-specific FAQs for each type or brand of medicine.
...for everybody with SA? No. That's ridiculous. SA isn't a disease, it's a symptom that could be produced by any number of causes, most of which probably won't respond to exercise in any way.
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