Nocturnal

Trading one drug for another seems counter productive to me, God Bless.

sober808

Tku SoberJennie...I will check those out!
And I hear you pete1975. Going from addiction to addiction has been my issue. Currently although alcohol free coming on 27 days I need ambien to sleep. And pop a couple during day to chill due to anxiety.
As long as it's not a form of benzo I will deal with a sleeping pill for now. I guess I am just kidding myself.
Hope you all have a clean and peaceful holiday!

samseb5351

Hi Karate, thanks for this.

I have a fairly high caffeine dependency and have had some severe anxiety in my past and after almost 10 years of recovery for compulsive gambling, anxiety is rising again. I know it seems obvious but I keep dismissing my coffee drinking as normal or something I enjoy, when really I am just fighting back withdrawal. I am glad you mentioned this but I am realizing this increase in coffee is causing the anxiety again or at least its playing a role. Any tips on weaning off, or is cold turkey really the only way, I suspect the later is the answer.

SoberAlky

I have suffered from anxiety and debilitating panic attacks most of my adult life, one of the key reasons I became an alcoholic. I have been fortunate to find an addiction psychiatrist that has worked closely with me on finding non-benzo treatment alternatives. They include gabapentin (anxiety/mood stabilization/anti-craving), clonidine (anxiety/ADD) and baclofen (anti-craving), along with naltrexone (anti-craving), hydroxyzine (acute panic attacks) and ativan (doomsday scenario panic attack) as needed. I get very few ativan, so even if I were tempted to abuse them, I would just be out before they were able to do any damage. It was bad enough being an alcoholic. Thank goodness I never went down the benzo rabbit hole.

fotographia

Meditation, and exercise.

I've heard that benzos are very addictive, so I never took any or have been prescribed them aside from when I had my severely impacted wisdom teeth taken out. But that was after inhaling nitrous, and it was an IV and only one time.

fotographia

If you're on benzos or opiates and want to quit, talk to your doctor or a medical professional. Or maybe check into a detox/rehab place? I also think it's a bad idea to just replace one drug with another one especially since both benzos, and opiates are very addictive, and people have died from benzo withdrawal or had seizures.

Popeye2014

someone said:" I agree with rigorous exercise and healthy food. Easy on the caffeine and sugar and carbohydrates, heavy on protein and vegetables."

I also heard chocolate was good for cravings. Is that True about the chocolate?

Popeye2014

I'm on the wrong thread, sorry

Sbforever

I know no one wants to hear it, well I know I never did, but getting off the mind altering drugs and drinks is how I finally got relief from anxiety.

I really got burned bad by this one so called "non addictive" drug I was given for anxiety.

That term "non addictive" is not really defined , and I found out the real hard way when I got real real sick getting off this "non addictive" medication that made me feel zombie like all day unable to feel anything, a condition called anhedoinia.

"Non addictive" does not mean you can just stop taking a drug if you don't like its effects without consequences. Sometimes severe consequences. Mine were vomiting insomnia and anxiety 10 times worse than I started with for weeks on end. I was In the ER twice psych once over that one.

Some people find something that works, they do, but I spent to much time sick in the process of looking, years, and when I finally quit putting that stuff in my body is when things looked up and I got better. Thousands of pills , a dozen ER visits at least and many inpatient psych nightmares later.

Aiko

Seriously AVOID Benzos...!!!
I had problems and is going from one war to another...

I got anxiety problems... I am loosing my hair, my eye lid pulls now
the best is SPORT!!!

Take up hobbies that keep your mind occupied in projects,
classes, gym, learn languages, crafts, walk every day...
take up anything you always wanted to do!!!

and forget about coffee

But we have to learn to live without pills, is not the solution!
Change the centre of your life

Sbforever

In addition to my post above have to give credit to the AA meetings too, it was like training for being around people straight . A good place cause where else is it socially acceptable to go when all bugged out anxiety tripping and talk about it ?

In the beginning I would just sit there most of the time in like this anxiety paralysis "I hope no one can tell I am totally freaked out" don't call on me to speak. I hope an anxiety attack doesn't hit wile I am trapped in here.

I remember the call I got in the beginning to goto this "nice big meeting" and my reaction to it. Big meeting, how the hell is that a good thing ? How the hell is a room with 50 people in it going to help me ? The idea was horrifying.

A big breakthrough, I guess the biggest was realizing I could just walk out, that the 10 seconds of extra extra wicked anxiety walking past everyone (where is he going , so rude) was worth it to escape 30 more minutes bugging out in my seat feeling like the walls were closing in.

Now a room with a hundred sounds fun.

This anxiety is beatable , I was really really bad after all those years of drinks / Rx mind drugs but I am alright now.

It takes time , it was at least a year before anxiety stopped pushing me around, but it did. There was no magic pills for me.

If recovery was easy this website and all of this stuff wouldn't exist.

dsmaxis10

Me I'm tapering off them and reducing caffeine and eating healthy and working out I lost six pounds in three weeks feeling a lot better and sober a month today. And I started vaping instead of smoking three packs a day.The tapering gonna be months but it will be worth it.

Caitlin5

I use minimal msg. of klonopin daily for PTSD, and GAD. Alcohol was my DOC, but I know that Dr.s are very cautious about prescribing Benzos for anxiety. I have never abused what my Dr. prescribes. I was sober once for 14 years....... now I'm going on 10 years in August. Some can handle Benzos without abusing them. So far; so good. I'm also taking Prozac now. What do people here think of Prozac? My Dr. said that if I ever drink again----- no prescriptions for mental health issues! I can see why! Booze creates havoc in the mind!!!!!!!!!!!!

needtostopthis

What is NAC? Sorry if that was clarified already, but I am confused as to what it is. Thanks.

Plure

I'm on Lexapro and also Buspar (anti-anxiety med). The combo of the two seems to be pretty effective for me.

Buspar is not a benzo but has similar effect my doc said.

Leslie Catherine

Massage therapy is excellent for anxiety
and brings the body and the mind back into homeostasis.

keeper of keys

I have had extreme anxiety and fear all my life. My doctor just put me on Paxil about 4 weeks ago. It seems to help, but not sure I like how it works. It makes me not care as much. Therefore it's changing me. I have been self medicating all my life with pot and Coke. I just made the decision to go to rehab. At 47, it has been far to long. I can't do this anymore. I really feel ashamed and disgusted. So as a was saying, the Paxil is kind of working but not sure if I like how it works with not caring about things.