Drugs, what's best?

I've resisted drugs for half a year now , however with my t getting worse and worse and my I intake of wine going up and up, I mAy consider a drug.

What is best at calming and keeping anxiety at bay as well as lowering the t volume if at all?!!

 

Klonopin. Its long lasting meaning it stays in your system longer.. Helps
Me tons with my anxiety in general.. Shorter lasting is xanax which alot of people say they do good with also. Ask your doctors opinion which he thinks
Is best for you.

 

I'm on a low dose of Anti Depressants. Not exactly sure what they do. At first is was about sleeping. Getting a good sleep every-night is important to me. Work with your Doctor and say, Yes Doctor I need some drugs,,,,, it's ok.

It's like the quality of my sleep is related to the quality of my life. The better I sleep, I feel better, have more energy, less stress, do more things, more engaged in life and the T seems better (at times) , cause my life is better. If that makes sense.

Had a review for the pills, and the T has still not quieted down enough to stop taking the meds. To resist mediation for half a year, what's the point? Its there to help you and me, imo.

 

If you let up on the wine you may find that your T quiets down a bit--some people with T are sensitive to alcohol but it's a case by case thing as there is no evidence other than anecdotal to support that alcohol makes T worse. I do know that alcohol interferes with sleep and will cause you to wake up in the night as it wears off. Sleep deprivation makes T worse.

I use Xanax--I have since the second month. I tried to handle it on my own for a month and became so distressed I couldn't sleep and could hardly get through the work day. My doctor gave me enough ambien for about a week to get some well needed sleep and then put me on a low dose of Xanax. The first two weeks I took .25 3 x's a day to get used to it--now I take .50 3 x's a day. It is a low therapeutic dose and helps with my stress, my reaction to T and also it seems to soften my T a bit. I don't take sleep meds anymore and I sleep 7-8 hours a night. I also gave up caffeine--at first because my ENT told me to but then because I had never realized how jumped up coffee kept me all day. It has really made a big difference in my sleep and calmness.

I hope you feel better soon.

 

Thanks everyone. My doc will not give me xanax at all, nor sleep tabs as I have children. I am going to stop the wine and see if that helps. I think I'll try asking for something to take in the day to lift my mood. T sure bites you in the ass on days that I don't fill with activity.

 

I suggest you see a different doctor then. There is nothing wrong with taking xanax, or a benzo in general to help with the anxiety and habuitation process with T. I understand some doctors look at them as no good but then again they must not know what its like to have T and the anxiety and panic that goes along with it. I bet if they knew you were drinking wine to suppress the anxiety that they would prescribe you a low dose of xanax or klonopin....or maybe not cause like i said alot of doctors just look at those drugs as dangerous and risky and there so afraid to prescribe them to people who ACTUALLY need them to help to cope.

 

I can only speak for myself but I have to warn you about the danger of benzo's (klonopin, xanax)

I was on Klonopin .5 mg for 5 months for anxiety. I decided to taper off of because it actually does more harm to your body than good, and let me warn you, I suffered and I mean SUFFERED through withdrawal for 8 months. Not joking. Not exaggerating. Missed a month of work.

It might really work good for some people, but it's a dangerous thing to mess with. It's such a damn shame too, considering that studies show it helps with T too. I wonder if any SSRI's help with T?

 

Its different for every person. Before T i was on .5 to 1 mg every day for panic attacks and stayed on that for about 10 monthes... Quit cold turkey thinking id be fine and turned out i had no withdraw symptoms. But i was stupid.. No one should ever quit cold turkey and i know now if i were to ever go back on daily, that when i decide to stop, to get weened off by my doctor.

 

It must be totally different for everyone. My primary care physician explained to me the difference between tolerance and addiction. He also said that for all his years of practice he has never seen a patient who takes a low therapeutic dose of Xanax correctly get addicted or have a hard time tapering off. I've been taking .5o 3 x's a week for 5 months and have never had to increase to more. I started at .25 for a couple of weeks to get used to the drug. I think when you take things exactly as directed there is no problem--unless you are sensitive to the drug. Now on the other hand, I took an SSRI and had a terrible reaction to the first pill--so never took it again!

 

A doctor casually put me on benzos. I didn't ask for them. Another doctor wants me off. Luckily she's letting me take a lot of time (months) to do it.
You haven't lived til you've awakened in the morning squirming, and full of fear. Some mornings I don't think my body is my own. The only thing that makes it better is more benzos. Then there's the palpatations and grumpiness. The bouts of energy then tiredness. I never had this before benzos. This ain't gonna be easy.
If I could go back in time, I'd take some loud T over this any day.
And oh, withdrawal from benzos makes more T.

 

why don't you try valerian root or melatonin?? Non habit forming and
works for many people.

 

From the informal research I've done, @I who love music is spot on. Benzos, for anything more than a couple weeks, are bad news. When I hit a rough patch a couple months ago my GP suggested valium, citing ability to relax muscles (I had a stiff neck at the time too). I filled the script but took only a couple the first few days. Like playing with fire IMO.

One approach to improving quality of life might be to look into boosting serotonin naturally. An excellent research-journal review article I have suggested four elements: diet, exercise, light therapy, and talk therapy.

Agree with @James that quality sleep is crucial. Personally I look to certain supplements and focus on maintaining good sleep hygiene habits.

 

Avoid anti depressants if possible. Take camomile tea at bedtime to relax your nerves @Penelope33 .

 

The Benzos can cause tinnitus withdraw syndrome that can be tricky to recover from and are not good to take anyway. Some SSRI's or related have been traced to causing tinnitus as well. Cymbalta may not do this, but I don't know. Generally I'd say you don't need more unknown variables introduced into your tinnitus questions. If you are well enough emotionally then I suggest body weight exercises.

Do you know what caused your T or the onset? Somebody mentioned somatic tinnitus. There are many causes of tinnitus. The auditory cortex of the brain is not only fed by the dorsal cochlear nucleus as I understand it. So, you could have a problem anywhere in the hearing system, or not even in the hearing system. Anything that feeds into the auditory centers of the brain will cause tinnitus.

You can look up somatic tinnitus and all the upper back and neck muscles related to that. A common one is the SCM. All my life I've had brief moments of somatic tinnitus which is extremely loud with brief decrease in hearing. This is the most common form of tinnitus called somatic tinnitus, but is a special kind with a name for it I forget. This kind is normal.

However, there can be other more constant somatic (muscle) induced tinnitus. This does not mean that if you can create tinnitus by muscle movement that that is your cause of tinnitus. It just means there are multiple layers of inputs and modulating one does not mean it is the only layer you are hearing. It could be a non-muscle tinnitus you are hearing.

It is really ridiculous how little doctors know about tinnitus for the little that is known and documented about it. Somatic can often be cured.

Also avoid tooth sensitive toothpaste, any pain medications, pure opiates, or NSAID, or combinations. Avoid antibiotics, especially the ones known to be toxic. Look up side effects of any medication you want to take on the internet separately from the package insert for lesser known side effects.