Psycho-Babble Medication Thread 1035804

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Performance anxiety

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.

 

Re: Performance anxiety » In_denial

Posted by Phillipa on January 19, 2013, at 9:51:46

In reply to Performance anxiety, posted by In_denial on January 19, 2013, at 8:49:35

I used to testify in court in malpractice cases and it was very stressful I just took a little more xanax. It surely didn't eliminate the anxiety but it helped. I once heard that medical residents take propanolol before giving a presentation. That is where I heard of using it years and years ago. Phillipa

 

Re: Performance anxiety

Posted by In_denial on January 19, 2013, at 10:41:50

In reply to Re: Performance anxiety » In_denial, posted by Phillipa on January 19, 2013, at 9:51:46

Phillipa, I went through a deposition once on a very large environmental case and it was nerve racking (even with meds). Giving certain presentations produces the same level of anxiety for me. Sometimes they include hostile participants. If my boss is present, it only makes it worse. He's been a good boss, supportive and a nice person, so I'm not exactly sure why he makes a difference? He's much older than me, so it's probably some father/son complex in my mind. In any event, if I take more than 1mg Klonopin before a presentation, I feel like I'm slurring my speech. I think I'm going to try to beta blocker again. I'd rather suffer through the anxiety for an hour or two than turn beet red and look like a fool in front of people. Does anyone know the dosage for propranolol? I'm thinking 40mg maybe with a small dose of Xanax. Thanks.

 

Re: Performance anxiety » In_denial

Posted by tensor on January 19, 2013, at 12:07:51

In reply to Performance anxiety, 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.

I have the same problem and I can't say that I've found something that would actually help me enough to be confident to give a presentation. But I found clonazepam to be the best of the benzos in this regard. Beta-blockers are used by many for performance-anxiety. 40mg of propranolol should do it and you can safely combine it with Xanax or clonazepam.
For me, it can not be fixed with meds and should not be. I need practice with a therapist but since I never need to a give a presentation I just never take the time and effort to do it.

/tensor

 

Re: Performance anxiety

Posted by rjlockhart37 on January 21, 2013, at 0:12:47

In reply to Re: Performance anxiety » In_denial, posted by tensor on January 19, 2013, at 12:07:51

yea....inderal....propan...i can't spell it, it will get rid of the anixety...it blocks NE...but still you need something to keep your preformance going ... if you take too much inderal or klonopin.....it could ruin some of your abilities...it depends on the dose and the anxiety levels....if it levels it out....then it may be ok....xanax is so much better than klonopin with me....ativan...that's in the middle...klonopin makes me stupid...can't think right....

don't use coffee during perfomance anxiety...it can worsen it..it just dpeneds on the person.

Check out nuerontin...really maybe like 400mg before a presentation....its not strong, but it may just take the edge off...

r

 

Re: Performance anxiety

Posted by In_denial on January 22, 2013, at 19:17:51

In reply to Re: Performance anxiety, posted by rjlockhart37 on January 21, 2013, at 0:12:47

Thanks. I'll give 40mg propranolol a college try. I'll do a couple of test runs to see how it makes me feel with the
Klonopin. It's been so long since I tried it, I can't remember.

 

Re: Performance anxiety

Posted by MrAnderson on January 24, 2013, at 12:13:18

In reply to Re: Performance anxiety, posted by In_denial on January 22, 2013, at 19:17:51

I take 20 mg of propranolol and .5 mg of Xanax together for performance anxiety, works pretty well for me.


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