3 replies to this topic

[cat-nips]

I've realized that many of my issues arise from a stressed and anxious mind, and that it's essentially a useless emotion as it leads to a severe productivity loss while being a drain to my body. Looking for a non SSRI, or benzo way to manage anxiety over both the long and short term that isn't sedating or affect cognition negatively.

 

I'm currently taking on a daily basis, phosphyltidylserine, DMAE, Aniracetam, Magnesium and SJW. Have experimented with the Racetams and some amino acids like Tyrosine and DLPA and some adaptogenic herbs like Ashwagandha, which seem to have unreliable effects for me. Phenibut is not really an option as it gives me horrible rebound anxiety and I'm scared of it's tolerance and withdrawal profile.

 

Does anyone have suggestions for long and short term anxiety management? Short term, being 2 days before the day of an exam up till exam day, and I'm so anxious that I can't sleep, study, think, or do anything except stress about being stressed and sometimes inevitably psych myself out into not doing anything or walking away.

 

 

[toto75015]

I'm experimenting with Kava for more than two months now.These last two months were interesting because before I had the feeling that my number one problem was depression, and that anxiety was a side effect of it, but now I'm starting to think that may be it was excess anxiety that drove me into depression. I didn't make my mind yet on this topic, but after all it makes sense that irrational anxiety, and the consequences (social isolation in particular, loss of self confidence etc.), can trigger a vicious circle that leads someone to depression.

 

Anyway, I've spent some money on different strains of Kava, and I tipically dose on the morning with a strain that relieves my anxiety and causes euphory without being to sedating. It helps me pass the day without being taken down by my usual anxiety, and I can say that it's much more easy to deal with my daily work, other colleagues, customers meeting etc.

 

At night if I'm stressed I take another strain of Kava, a sedating one, and I fall asleep very easily.

 

I can only recommend you to search about Kava, and experiment different strains, because apparently everyone reacts differently, is more or less sensitive, and depending on the strain and the supplier the potency can change by a factor of 4-5 (for some strains I need only one tablespoon to feel the effects, while for other I need 4 or 5 tablespoons).

 

So far it's the best cure against anxiety that I've found.

[cat-nips]

Thank you for your experiences. I'll look into Kava for sleep and situational anxiety. And yes, depression can be a result of anxiety. If anxiety levels get too high, it can prevent you from doing or working towards the things in life that you want but won't do because of those useless anxious thoughts. And when you don't do anything, well it can result in depression and giving up which only leads to more depression and then eventually more anxiety.  I've found that for me, SSRI Effexor took care of both. But it comes at a cost of sexual dysfunction and it's offsetting to deal with that side effect if that situation were to come up. 

[nowayout]

Short term a fast-onset and short-acting benzo like xanax may be helpful. Taken as needed. Try to stay away from long-acting benzos like klonopin because of the risk of tolerance and dependence. Longer term, apparently lexapro has a good reputation for anxiety, but if you don't want SSRIs, which is understandable, you could consider Buspar (similar effectiveness to benzos but takes a few weeks to kick in) or hydroxyzine, an antihistamine sometimes prescribed for anxiety.

Edited by nowayout, 14 March 2015 - 05:37 PM.