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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by jonh kimble on October 29, 2003, at 15:02:52
What is generally considered the best medication for long term gad and social anxiety. Is it nardil? I tried parnate at 50mgs a day for at least 2 months and it did nothing. Does this mean nardil wont either. Ive also already tried effexor and ssris with no effect. thanks
Posted by ace on October 29, 2003, at 16:49:44
In reply to Best med for gad?, posted by jonh kimble on October 29, 2003, at 15:02:52
> What is generally considered the best medication for long term gad and social anxiety. Is it nardil? I tried parnate at 50mgs a day for at least 2 months and it did nothing. Does this mean nardil wont either.
Absolutely not. Parnate made me depressed but Nardil turns me into a human flower! Nardil is really good for anxiety. Actually, it blows anxiety up! Take it with a benzo and a you could be in a cage with a lion and you'd be relaxed!
Ive also already tried effexor and ssris with no effect. thanks
Give Nardil a try- check out my posts and the babble search- it is a gem!
Ace.
Posted by tensor on October 29, 2003, at 17:02:18
In reply to Best med for gad?, posted by jonh kimble on October 29, 2003, at 15:02:52
Hi,
depends on what you mean with best, benzos are the most effective, but are addictive if you need them on a regualar basis. I believe Buspar is one of few that is indicated for GAD and is not related to benzos, but it didn't work for me. I take klonopin for anxiety, social phobia and panic disorder. And it's working.
I think meds like SSRI can give you some relief but it is the benzos that is really doing the job.
I believe klonopin is the benzo of chioce for several reasons. It doesn't produce euphoria, one dose daily is often enough and little side effects.Just my opinions..
best luck,
tensor
Posted by Viridis on October 30, 2003, at 0:54:38
In reply to Best med for gad?, posted by jonh kimble on October 29, 2003, at 15:02:52
I'd say Klonopin, although I haven't tried MAOIs. And really, benzos are very rarely "addictive" -- it's just that they cause dependency with continued use, which means that if you go off them you have to taper down the dose gradually. The same is true of most antidepressants and many non-psychiatric drugs.
The other concern is tolerance (the need for more and more of a med to get the same effect). Among benzos, Klonopin seems least problematic in this respect, whereas Xanax is notorious for this.
Posted by ace on October 30, 2003, at 1:04:24
In reply to Re: Best med for gad? ?jonh kimble, posted by Viridis on October 30, 2003, at 0:54:38
> I'd say Klonopin, although I haven't tried MAOIs. And really, benzos are very rarely "addictive" -- it's just that they cause dependency with continued use, which means that if you go off them you have to taper down the dose gradually. The same is true of most antidepressants and many non-psychiatric drugs.
Very true. Glad you mentioned this.
> The other concern is tolerance (the need for more and more of a med to get the same effect). Among benzos, Klonopin seems least problematic in this respect, whereas Xanax is notorious for this.
Tolerance usually only devlopes within the first couple of months- then the dose can be stabilized with continued efficacy.
Posted by egekeskin on October 30, 2003, at 7:28:29
In reply to Re: Best med for gad? » Viridis, posted by ace on October 30, 2003, at 1:04:24
I was using prozac but it has pooped-out so when i get out of it, i started using buspar now i`m starting prozac again and it works.
look athttp://www.biologicalunhappiness.com/update.htm
Very exciting for me as well is my observation that in the last 2 years every patient who felt hyper on Prozac also had the cognitive GAD - generalized anxiety disorder. The GAD appears to be due to an abnormally high serotonin at serotonin receptor site #2, which is aggravated by the SSRI class, particularly Prozac. Buspar works effectively for almost everyone who needs it to bring this down and make it possible for higher doses of Prozac to be used when necessary
Posted by Viridis on October 30, 2003, at 23:30:32
In reply to Re: Best med for gad? » Viridis, posted by ace on October 30, 2003, at 1:04:24
The weird thing about Xanax for me is that I took it occasionally for a couple of years at very low doses, and it worked well. Then all of a sudden I found that I needed much more to achieve the same effect. This really isn't a problem, since I only take it now and then, but developing tolerance under these conditions surprised me.
I've also been taking Klonopin daily for 2 1/2 years and it still works well at the same dose. I'm not sure if it induced cross-tolerance to Xanax or what. I am glad, though, that Klonopin works so well for me. Maybe Xanax alone would have been fine, but I'd hate to depend on it if it really can cause tolerance so abruptly. My pdoc still prescribes it for me, and I still find it helpful (at about 4-5X the original dose), but I really limit my use to very stressful situations. My pdoc says he's seen this sort of thing before with Xanax, but not with Klonopin, which he considers very safe.
Interestingly, Xanax is the only benzo that ranks in the World Health Organization's "top ten" list of meds that are most difficult to discontinue. Most of the others are newer antidepressants -- the worst offenders are Paxil and Effexor.
This is the end of the thread.
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