Posted by BarbaraCat on September 3, 2002, at 2:47:25
In reply to Anxiety w/depression - what's worked for you?, posted by winger on September 1, 2002, at 20:03:43
I hear you loud and clear about the alcohol. There's nothing so reliable as getting a buzz on to make you feel really fine - for a while. Then the depression, self-disgust, etc. I believe that what we're experiencing as far as the 'pleasure' is alcohol's effect on dopamine. That's the happy, energized beginning phase. After that at high doses, you're getting the effects of neuro toxicity and inhibitory neurotransmitters. There's a very avant garde website I happen to like very much at www.biopsychiatry.com. They take the stance that we're fed up with the 'dirty' mood brighteners we have available and need 'brighter' ones, namely, dopaminergic drugs. The whole site makes for hours and hours of fascinating reading.
Which doesn't get to the point of what's worked for anxiety? Sheesh, I wish I knew. The best, of course, is alot of good hard regular exercise. There's nothing like that tingling sense of well being. But what besides? I'm currently taking lorezapam and neurontin for anxiety, along with Remeron and lithium. I think that neuontin helps, but at high doses (3000 mg) and I hesitate in getting used to such a high dose. I'm experimenting with different herbs, such as valerian, passionflower and hops tincture, but can't say that I notice anything really really swell. I'd like to try Xanax again. Someone here on this board has had Librium offered by her doctor. I took this about 30 years ago and it worked very well. It's similar to valium as far as I remember, but went out of fashion. It would be nice to revive this old standby because it sure did the trick when I badly needed it. BarbaraCat
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:118475
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020829/msgs/118632.html