Posted by In_denial on January 19, 2013, at 8:49:35
Last week, I struggled through a brutal (for me) 1.5 hour marketing presentation. It was a fairly large group, but packed in a small room not designed to accommodate the group size. Some people had to stand.
I have always suffered severe performance/social anxiety that's currently treated with Pristiq 100mg (from Effexor), klonopin 1mg up 2 two times a day as needed. I usually only take the klono 1 time a bedtime. As a reference, I also take 15mg adderall up to 2 times a day as needed to Inatentive add. The Pristiq was prescribed to treat both my depression and anxiety.
A week prior to my presentation, I called the doc office, talked to the nurse and said I needed something for these 'one off' type of issues. I advised her that I didn't want to take another Klonopin because I needed my wits for this meeting and the Klonopin slows my mind down. I asked if they could prescribe propranolol to reduce my physical symptoms. It's been a long time since I've taken propranolol, but I remember it completely eliminating the facial flushing, sweating, feeling of an out of body experience, etc. She said she would talk to the doc and call me back. When she called back, she said the doc felt that Xanax would be better for me. It was a low dose .25 she said to take 1 pill a few hours before and keep adding a pill till my anxiety was under control. I took 3 over a two hour period (i recognize this is still a very small dose). All I can say is that it did take some of the edge off, but I felt minor intoxication (certainly, not what I wanted). My mind wasn't as sharp as it could have been. I probably would have needed at least another 3 .25 xanax pills to remove the anxiety, but I probably would have been slurring my words at that point. I will be meeting with the doc in person to discuss this.
Does anyone here suffer from severe Performance or Social anxiety? What medication works for you. I've tried meditation and breathing exercises to no avail. Do the benzo's slow your mind like they do for me? If propranolol or another beta blocker works for you, what dosage? At this point I'm willing to experiment with different med combos. Thanks for reading.
poster:In_denial
thread:1035804
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130112/msgs/1035804.html