# WHICH TYPE OF MEDICATIONS HAVE BEEN SUCCESFUL FOR SA, SNRI, SSRI ,BENZO etc.



## joey122 (Feb 27, 2012)

details on what they did for you can helpp a lot

has medication helped you ??? More importantly which works better for SA SSRI or SNRI

I have taken only SNRI and they work wonderfully making me very outgoing and talkative but they tend to poop out after 6 months and I am thinking about goin to a SSRI have they worked better for you my main problem is SA.

which one has helped the mos and how long you have been on them


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## blyg kille (Jan 17, 2012)

i've tried paxil, zoloft, lexapro, celexa, effexor, and wellbutrin. they all seemed to work for a only a few months. after a while either the side effects start piling up or they just stop working. 

the only drug that's consistently worked is klonopin. it works great for class, work, and random social events. but for really panic inducing events, like presentations and speeches, there isn't enough klonopin on earth to stop me from having a panic attack.

for those situations i use inderal, a beta blocker. the pounding heart, uncontrollable sweating, dry mouth, etc are all gone. inderal is by far the most effective drug i've ever taken.


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## joey122 (Feb 27, 2012)

hey mann thanks i do eventually get used to all of the the meds i am on and they eventually stop working but when they do w0rk they work great how long was it untill yours pooped out n just out of curiosity what kind of job do u do


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## Cletis (Oct 10, 2011)

Zoloft works good for me, I've been on it for years.

Xanax is good for short term relief of panic attacks.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

Probably stimulants because they actually give me the energy and motivation to get up and out of my house and into social situations. I don't use them very often though.

My other meds, whilst good for anxiety, just make me feel kinda tired and worn out like I can't be bothered seeking out social interaction.


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## blyg kille (Jan 17, 2012)

joey122 said:


> hey mann thanks i do eventually get used to all of the the meds i am on and they eventually stop working but when they do w0rk they work great how long was it untill yours pooped out n just out of curiosity what kind of job do u do


effexor worked for like a year and a half and then it just stopped working. i felt pretty good about myself at the time, but i still had social anxiety. just less general anxiety. the others worked for less than 6 months.

i've been unemployed since january. now i'm a full time college student.


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## Ash09 (Apr 27, 2009)

GHB.


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## metamorphosis (Dec 18, 2008)

Polls are cool!!!


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## joey122 (Feb 27, 2012)

good for you mann for getting back into university what program u in


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## RenegadeReloaded (Mar 12, 2011)

I don't see the ''None of the above'' option. Insert it.


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## crayzyMed (Nov 2, 2006)

Stimulants with a downer or lmethylfolate to counteract the paranoia they can cause.


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## Rbk (Aug 5, 2010)

Paroxetine is good for social anxiety, clonazepam and lorazepam are very good. I haven't tried stimulants but I think that they might work on different part of the disorder which is a lack of motivation to get in social situations.


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## Don Gio (Dec 14, 2011)

I think a combination of ssri's and benzos,maybe some ant-psychotics,but the sri/benzo seems to work pretty good for me.


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## Blawnka (Dec 12, 2011)

blyg kille said:


> i've tried* paxil, zoloft, lexapro, celexa*, effexor, and wellbutrin. they all seemed to *work for a* *only a few months*. after a while either the side effects start piling up or they just *stop working. *


Yes.


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## joey122 (Feb 27, 2012)

have anti-psychotics worked for anybody


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## Ameenah (Mar 21, 2012)

I think medications are the cheap way out.. Although some may help for some time, you'll constantly have to up the doses not to mention it creates other side effects.. So your basically just trading one problem for 5 other ones.. Its pointless.. I've been prescribed every med on that list since I was 14 and some even made my anxiety 1,000 x worse... 

FYI Don't take anti-psychotics unless you ARE psychotic ... I was prescribed Haldol when my anxiety got to its worst and it made it like anxiety on crack.. It was awful. Not to mention I found out later that its been claimed to create brain damage.. Be weary about all medicine unless its a life or death situation.. pills kill


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## Forza Italia (Oct 30, 2009)

SSRI and Benzo's certainly did not help.
Still searching on what does, so I didn't answer the poll



> GHB.


Yeah, but you can't take it every day right :/


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## 20andmute (Jan 16, 2012)

Why me. i have been on Concerta, Ritalin , depacote, seroquil, paxil, zoloft, valium, ativan, I go to the P-doc tomarrow im going to just say Good bye drugs


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## sanspants08 (Oct 21, 2008)

joey122 said:


> details on what they did for you can helpp a lot
> 
> has medication helped you ??? More importantly which works better for SA SSRI or SNRI
> 
> ...


Dude, you forgot the entire family of mood stabilizers:

lithium 
(Lithobid, Eskalith)

valproate, divalproex  
(Depakote)

carbamazepine
(Carbatrol, Tegretol)

lamotrigine
(Lamictal)

Lamictal is the stuff of life for me. I mean, wow. Technically I'm bipolar II, so some of the anxiety I feel comes from hypomania. But for the most part I'm just a mildly-depressed guy with social anxiety, and this stuff works wonders. It has antidepressant properties, so it can be taken by someone with unipolar depression (i.e. "major depression" or just "depression") as well.


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## TheGMan (Jun 10, 2004)

I've been taking Cymbalta for 4 months and it's been like a miracle pill for me. But now I see comments about that stuff doing well for several months and then losing effectiveness. now I'm depressed.

I tried Paxil and Celexa back in the day but all I really got was weight gain and sexual side effects.


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## GregW (Jul 6, 2011)

Stimulants and phenibut (separately) work best against SA for me. I found out about stimulants accidentally when I took 2 Sudafed (pseudoephedrine) tablets instead of 1 for a bad cold. I happened to be at the local club after taking the pills and realised I had virtually no concerns about talking to strangers. It wasn't placebo as I was not expecting this, and in fact I didn't even know the tablets would make me feel stimulated. Another stimulant that worked like this was Catovit (prolintane) which I don't think is marketed any more.

I found out about phenibut the day after taking some (1.5 g from memory) during the evening. I didn't think it had any effect on me, until I was at work the next morning and realised I felt no fear due to a large confidence boost. I should add that I had also taken a small dose of Xanax the night before and had smoked a bit of cannabis, but I had done the same thing on numerous other occasions without any next-day confidence-boosting effect.


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## sanspants08 (Oct 21, 2008)

GregW said:


> Stimulants and phenibut (separately) work best against SA for me. I found out about stimulants accidentally when I took 2 Sudafed (pseudoephedrine) tablets instead of 1 for a bad cold. I happened to be at the local club after taking the pills and realised I had virtually no concerns about talking to strangers. It wasn't placebo as I was not expecting this, and in fact I didn't even know the tablets would make me feel stimulated. Another stimulant that worked like this was Catovit (prolintane) which I don't think is marketed any more.
> 
> I found out about phenibut the day after taking some (1.5 g from memory) during the evening. I didn't think it had any effect on me, until I was at work the next morning and realised I felt no fear due to a large confidence boost. I should add that I had also taken a small dose of Xanax the night before and had smoked a bit of cannabis, but I had done the same thing on numerous other occasions without any next-day confidence-boosting effect.


It's funny you should mention sudafed (pseudoephedrine, not the new OTC stuff)...that stuff really does work. I used to always wonder why I interacted with others so much better when having sinus problems :lol. Then I figured it out...


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## TheSpeedmaster1861 (Apr 10, 2012)

Took xanax for a bit, but it just made me numb. I have taken zero pills since then. Music and exercise seem to work the best for me.


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## Inspiron (Nov 30, 2011)

The poll seems like reasonable options but how about the option of "none"? Just to even the playing field.


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## JoeP (Apr 21, 2012)

*Paxil*

Been on Paxil for sometime and it seems to work for me!Though you might need to adjust dosage to see what works best for you!I use the name brand just cause I had bad reaction to one generic even though they say it's all the same it's not!At least from my experience!


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

I voted for stimulant, which got 25% of the vote.

This poll has a bias in that some of these meds are more common than others. I'd tend to guess there are a lot more SAS members with benzo scripts than with amphetamine scripts. Can't vote for that which you haven't used.


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

All medication is bad seek alternative measures before jumping on the med band wagon.

There no prefect combo out there only patches and band aid's at best being sleep deprived is more effective then taking an antidepressant look it up and the bright side of it is it will work instantly.

Alot of antidepressant as well work by screwing with your sleep by decreasing rem sleep mid night awaking's decreased quailty of sleep.

Moving around a lot seems to help a great deal as well i only get depressed and crap from being inactive a low dose of caffeine 50-100mg can help with the get up and go feeling i'd recommended caffeine pill's over coffee there easier too separate and you can keep track of your dose.


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## AxlSlash (May 10, 2012)

lol speaking of phenibut i just got my primaforce in yesterday  Took two grams this morning on an empty stomach and feel no effects. I want my money back.


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## Monroee (Aug 26, 2009)

sanspants08 said:


> Lamictal is the stuff of life for me. I mean, wow. Technically I'm bipolar II, so some of the anxiety I feel comes from hypomania. But for the most part I'm just a mildly-depressed guy with social anxiety, and this stuff works wonders. It has antidepressant properties, so it can be taken by someone with unipolar depression (i.e. "major depression" or just "depression") as well.


I also take Lamictal for Bipolar II. My psychiatrist also told me that for some reason Lamictal works well at treating social anxiety. That would explain why I'm much better than I was a couple of years ago as I've been on Lamictal for 2-3 years now.

I also find that Xanax works wonders for me in anxiety situations. But as it is highly addictive I take it on as-needed basis.


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## AxlSlash (May 10, 2012)

what isn't addictive? If it works for you then take them. I think of everything i take as addictive. Hell paxil has done more harm to me then any amount of benzos i have taken. I miss a dose of paxil i feel like crap, i try and get off it i have panic attacks and my anxiety is through the roof.


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## Hulgil (Oct 4, 2010)

I voted Benzos, Amphetamine, and Other.

Of the named options, benzodiazepines work by far the best for me. I've tried a representative of almost every category on that list, and they were all useless or next-to-useless compared to alprazolam. Amphetamine also helped, but it had too many uncomfortable side effects.

My "Other" choice is opioids. They have been miracle drugs for me; all depression, all anxiety, all lack of focus - gone. I had no problems with tolerance or dependence, even after a year of use (although psychological addiction did make an appearance). Still, even physical addiction would be worth it for the level of relief they brought me. Unfortunately, I'm no longer prescribed any painkillers, the original reason long since gone... so it's back to benzodiazepines and amphetamine, an inferior but passable substitute.



GotAnxiety said:


> All medication is bad


That's obviously not true. Antibiotics, for instance, have saved millions of lives.

You could mean "all psychiatric medication is bad", but that's still wrong - millions more people will tell you how medication has changed their lives for the better.

At most, you could say "all the medications that I've tried have not worked for me."



GotAnxiety said:


> There no prefect combo out there only patches and band aid's at best [...] a low dose of caffeine 50-100mg can help [...] coffee


Isn't there a use for band-aids?

Also - you are aware that caffeine/coffee is also a medication, right?


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## AxlSlash (May 10, 2012)

Ok well i took another dose of the phenibut last night, 2.5 grams last night after my 2 grams earlier in the day. I have to now admit, and it wasn't placebo, believe me, i know the difference, but towards the end of the day i started feeling HAPPY! !! like i couldn't explain it. MY mood was in a great place! I wont try another dose until next week, not that i know where my sweet spot is.


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## sad84 (May 14, 2012)

*Wellbutring and Zoloft*

Hi!

For me a combo of Wellbutrin and Zoloft worked perfectly. Anyone else has the same combination? Zoloft alone did nothing, but when we added wellbutring things got much, much better.


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## Boomstick (May 19, 2012)

joey122 said:


> have anti-psychotics worked for anybody


Trifluoperazine syrup has worked absolute wonders for me. I was on Promazine 150mg but it had no effect whatsover on my physcotic thoughts and social anxiety so my doctor put my on the syrup. Within 2 days my head was clear of crazy thoughts and I was easy able to face people and deal with crowded situations. 2 month down the line now and I feel like a whole new person.


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## mark555666 (May 1, 2008)

So far from everything I have tried ( not even everything from that list) :

Stimulants (Dextro-amphetamine) 
Benzodiazepines ( Clonazepam, Alprazolam, Lorazepam etc.)
Phenobarbital (the only barbiturate I have tried) 
Beta Blockers ( Propranolol) 
SSRI's can work but they are not the most effective alone, good add-on. 

Many drugs make you feel good, but I think these work specifically good against social anxiety.  



I want to try Nardil some day


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## neptuneblt (May 24, 2012)

I've tried Paxil, which caused really awful side effects, as well as citalopram. Once my doctor upped my dosage of citalopram to 40mg I had a reaction that put me in the hospital for 36 hours. They think that I had serotonin syndrome, even though I wasn't taking anything but the citalopram, so it's now my first official "allergy." After that they put me on Klonopin while I waited to see a psychiatrist, and the Klonopin was of course far more effective than the Paxil or citalopram. I was able to do things while taking the Klonopin that I haven't been able to do my entire adult life, which was really amazing.

The psychiatrist has me on hydroxyzine as needed now that I've tapered off of Klonopin. She said if the hydroxyzine doesn't work she's fine with having me take the Klonopin again, but of course both she and my therapist are wary of the possible dependence factor. So far the hydroxizine just makes me feel extremely tired and out of it, which does help a little with the anxiety, but is definitely not as subtle or effective as Klonopin. I'm also taking nortryptiline since they're concerned about me having another reaction to an SSRI, and I so far that's just given me really bad dry mouth. No reduction in anxiety.


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## randomperson (May 11, 2012)

I have been on propranolol and they work really well I don't blush and can look people in the eye, and you can go a week without them if needed unlike benzos.


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## Addler (Apr 28, 2011)

Thanks for making/participating in this poll, everyone. I just went to a psychiatrist this morning (first time), and she gave me a beta blocker as a stopgap and celexa, and having looked around here, I kinda knew what she was talking about.


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## TheoBobTing (Jul 8, 2010)

UltraShy said:


> *This poll has a bias in that some of these meds are more common than others.* I'd tend to guess there are a lot more SAS members with benzo scripts than with amphetamine scripts. Can't vote for that which you haven't used.


My thoughts exactly. The stats here don't really mean a great deal. Are we to believe that SSRIs are far more effective than MAOIs? I don't think so.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

TheoBobTing said:


> My thoughts exactly. The stats here don't really mean a great deal. Are we to believe that SSRIs are far more effective than MAOIs? I don't think so.


Do you guys have a suggestion for how We could better the poll? I could try to edit it to add an option for "I have never taken 'xx drug'" underneath each option. 
There's also a few meds which should probably be added such as beta blockers, etc.


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## TheoBobTing (Jul 8, 2010)

If there were at least two options for each drug/class, one being 'the drug was effective' and the other being 'the drug was ineffective for me', then it might give a better picture, because then we'd see the ratio of successes to failures. That might require a new poll though because this one has already started acquiring data about response to meds but not about non-response.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

Ok I'm thinking of making a new poll, what do you guys think of this? *draft*;



> -An MAOI such as Nardil was effective for me
> 
> -An MAOI such as Nardil was not effective for me
> 
> ...


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## TheoBobTing (Jul 8, 2010)

jim_morrison said:


> Ok I'm thinking of making a new poll, what do you guys think of this? *draft*;


That would be a good improvement.

What could be even better could be to have a subsection of the medication forum where each med would have its own thread with a detailed poll asking about things like response vs non-response, quitting due to side effects, 'poop-out', addiction/tolerance/withdrawal effects, et cetera. Kind of like the treatment reviews section, but with detailed polls to quantify the information better.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

TheoBobTing said:


> That would be a good improvement.
> 
> What could be even better could be to have a subsection of the medication forum where each med would have its own thread with a detailed poll asking about things like response vs non-response, quitting due to side effects, 'poop-out', addiction/tolerance/withdrawal effects, et cetera. Kind of like the treatment reviews section, but with detailed polls to quantify the information better.


Ok thanks for sharing the ideas . We'll start with the poll. And look into ways of implementing those ideas into a new treatment review-like section of one-med specific threads.


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