Community and Website Administrator
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Everywhere
Language: Test123
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,883
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Treatment Experience
Works fast, good for situational anxiety. It made me feel a bit more depressed and wears off quicker so i ended up switching to xanax. It helped to take durning panic attacks to calm me down.I think it works the best for situational anxiety, but if your like me and have constant anxiety xanax or klonopin is a better option.
Social Anxiety Background
I've been dealing with SA since around 9-10 years old.
Picture this: a "bright" kid with (undiagnosed at the time) ADD gets moved to a "gifted program" at school, and basically grows up with the exact same driven, motivated kids for the next decade.
As you can imagine, being a kid with ADD was almost an insult in it itself to the overachievers. So, friendless, without many opportunities for making new friends, this kid never really evolved socially, and is now pretty much terrified of it.
Other Treatments
Benzos: Ativan, Valium, Xanax, Klonopin, Temazepam
Too many others to list.
CBT (1 year now)
Treatment Experience
As somebody who is physically tense 100% of the time, ativan can be a real gem. It has very strong muscle relaxant propeties, which kind of helps loosen you up mentally too.
The good: Sublingual Ativan is available.. if you're having a panic attack, it kicks in in less than 5 minutes. Great to have on hand!
The bad: It also tends to have fairly potent amnesic effects. If you've got important things to remember, you're better off using something.
The amnesia properties were bad enough for me to tell my doctor I didn't want them
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Social Anxiety Background
I've had social anxiety disorder for several years and I've experimented with various medications and street drugs for anxiolytic purposes. The benzodiazepines are the best I've come across for instant on the spot anxiety relief. For me they're even more effective than alcohol.
Other Treatments
I find klonopin to be superior personally and I prefer it to ativan. Equal anxiolysis but less side effects with klonopin (like irritability, memory impairment, loss of balance, etc) and it lasts much longer. I could dose and the next day I'd still feel it. Klonopin is by far my favorite benzo so far. Also note I heavily prefer both ativan and klonopin over alcohol. They're far more anxiolytic. I've also tried soma and I found it to be perhaps the least anxiolytic of the lot (though still effective).
Treatment Experience
Found to be similar but stronger and shorter in duration in comparison to klonopin. Very effective for anxiety and shot my mood through the roof. Whenever my stress and anxiety are gone I just feel wonderful. Made me very irritable and even aggressive however. Also experienced memory impairment and slurring of the speech among other light but still prominent cognitive deficits.
Went into a psychotic state (mixed with a ton of adderall, possibly benzo overdose and amphetamine psychosis at the same time) with complete memory loss after ingesting 2 pills. Don't remember anything that happened but there was physical evidence something crazy happened when I finally came out of it. Took way too much. Not a good idea at all. Don't overdo it! Half a pill will do the trick for many.
Social Anxiety Background
Terribly shy since 5 years old. Self medicating with alcohol since 18. Stopped drinking a little under a year ago. Need to find a solution that won't kill me.
Other Treatments
Lots of SSRI's, tricyclics, attention deficit drugs, beta blockers, etc. All the usual options.
Treatment Experience
The experience for me is similar to being slightly drunk. 2mg will allow me to socialize comfortably, make eye contact, not be terrified, and to not have a near heart attack when going out for coffee with a friend. There are drawbacks however. The positive effects are short lived. And I've been taking it for 8 months now and have bad mood crashes any day i would try to go without it. I just ran out of my prescription 3 weeks ago and don't have a doctor as i've just moved to California, and my mood has been much more stable. I have a few Klonopins left, but they just make me exhausted. .5 mg of Klonopin and i'm passing out within a half hour. I've tried 18 different medications in the past 3 years. Ativan is my favorite, despite giving me horrendous spells of depression the next day. Unfortunately, I'm not finding medication to be that helpful at all.
Social Anxiety Background
Had social anxiety pretty much forever from growing up in a racist town. Definitely not the textbook social anxiety case, as I did have friends, played team sports, worked since I was 10 years old, did sales jobs, etc etc. I never realized I had it until I finally decided to fix my sleep problems.
My whole life I've been unable to get more than 1.5 hours straight of sleep (unless I was sick). So even though I got 8 hours I still felt like crap. This is what initially got me into trying to figure out what's wrong with me. Once I seen the list of symptoms for seratonin deficiency I knew that was my problem. My whole life have suffered from a lack of energy and motivation.
Other Treatments
Effexor(made me suicidal)
Valium (not obtained through a doctor, worked great though)
Zoloft (Awful)
Wellbutrin (Still using, working great with Remeron)
Remeron (Amazing, has me feeling like a normal person)
5-HTP (Helped mood slightly, sleep was just as bad due to crazy nightmares)
Treatment Experience
This was initially prescribed to me to help me get to sleep while I was on Zoloft (since I could sleep fine once I got to sleep, but would take an hour+ to get to sleep). For sleep, it was absolutely useless, in reality it seemed to energize me.
For social anxiety though, amazing. I realized how good it was for this at a music festival during the summer. The previous year I ended up leaving early because I really wasn't having any fun, not talking to people, nothing. That was all my fault though. The year after with Ativan I was a completely different person. Those were the best five days of my life, and gave me hope that I could overcome social anxiety.
The only real negative for me were it's amnesic effects.
Treatment Experience
Ativan turned me into a complete zombie. All I wanted to do was sleep. It didn't help me with any of the issues it was prescribed for. I had no energy to do anything. It might be good for someone who needs to be frequently calmed down, but if you're already a calm person when you're not nervous, I wouldn't recommend it. Besides, I still had panic attacks while I was on it.
Social Anxiety Background
Have had social anxiety disorder since childhood. Ativan was not prescribed for SAD, but for the panic attacks experienced when confronted with needles.
Treatment Experience
I am prescribed Ativan for situations that cause me extreme anxiety and nervousness. I have only used it a few times in the past to calm myself enough for getting needles.
Extremely effective for getting rid of anxiety.
Started working within an hour. Made me feel very calm and relaxed to a very noticeable degree. Where a usual visit to get a needle involves a horrible panic attack, and the doctor's eventual refusal to give me the needle; medicated visits go without a hitch.
I noticed that my emotional range is limited when on Ativan. I experience a general feeling of contentedness, but never any extreme emotion. I also receive a mild confidence boost, and a feeling that nothing can hurt me emotionally.
My thinking isn't terribly clear, and I'm not too alert when on Ativan. I am more likely to blurt out things I'll regret saying later.
This is an addictive drug for me, even though I haven't gone so far as to abuse it. For a couple weeks after taking the pill, I crave another dose badly. If someone were to approach me with Ativan at this moment [it's been a few years since I had it last], I would definitely take it although I don't require it.
This drug should not be taken if you have had problems with addictions in the past.
I had no side effects with Ativan, though it should be noted I only take it on certain occasions.
Social Anxiety Background
Since I can remember, especially when I was around 13.
Other Treatments
Prayer, meditation, journalling, excersize, talking to others with the same affliction, positive self talk, eating right, smiling on purpose even when I don't feel like it, helping someone else or others, long walks, white noise to sleep better, etc.
Treatment Experience
Now off of Wel Butrin. It made my ears ring, my food taste like metal, and my attacks continued.
Zoloft is working to keep me calm and not crying all of the time.
Ativan makes me sleepy, and all the other symptoms described, but most of all, I can't remember the simplest things. I am on my way OFF and am glad to get rid of the Ativan. I have lost so many things that are important and can't remember anything about where I was last with these items or where they could be. Items like my diamond engagement ring, my glasses, and my mind! No but really, I stumble over my words and can't remember simple words like marble or papercut. I feel so stupid, and I stutter. I am so on my way off of this stuff. No matter what, it has been useful to me in getting me to calm down in the first place when I was having panic attacks continually all day, every day, but now that I have other ways to help myself, I can't wait to get off this medication. My psych told me it will take a long time, but I don't care, as long as we've started.
Social Anxiety Background
had sa since beginning of 2008
Other Treatments
various benzodizepines, lexapro, prozac, paxil, zoloft, buspar, remeron
Treatment Experience
Works very quickly and well for anxiety however this is the most sedating in my opinion of all my benzos and the only benzo that works for me, it sometimes also causes depression afterwards
Social Anxiety Background
Since i was a toddler, always shy and scared of people
alot better now thanks to meds, therapy and support
Actually pretty social now, just have paranoid thoughts from time to time
Other Treatments
Cognitive therapy
Buspirone, temporarily, it sucked by the way
Quetiapine for a month or two, it was horrid, the weight gain was horrendous and black outs were shocking.
Venlafaxine 300MG per day and it works for me
Promathezine 20MG once a night
Zopiclone 7.5 once a night
both aid sleep and stop nausea
Treatment Experience
Okay so i have had my share of different medications, including benzodiazepines for social and general anxiety.
I am currently on Klonopin and could do well on 5MG but the doctor is strict and only allows me 2MG a day which for most people works great, but for me Ativan/lorazepam was amazing
2.5MG once a day and i was on cloud nine, and a social butterfly, all my nerves disappeared and the side effects were minimal
i had no tiredness or nausea and lost my appetite and wanted to exercise which was good for me, as with all meds, you get thirsty so drink heaps of water...
My choice if i could choose would be lorazepam as it acts faster than Clonazepam (klonopin) and compared to Diazepam, which i have also taken in a mildly high dose.
Number one definitely
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