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And to top it off, we have no drugs that are both effective and effective for the long term to treat anxiety per se (maybe an anti-depressant will help you thin

by hga 10y ago

And to top it off, we have no drugs that are both effective and effective for the long term to treat anxiety per se (maybe an anti-depressant will help you think more clearly and not think yourself into anxiety, and there are some semi-wild off label avenues, but...). Also the case for personality disorders, but they sound to me like problems that aren't amenable to medication. (Whereas we have imperfect but often very effective, even miraculous as my mother observed first hand in her nursing career drug treatments for the other major mental illnesses, depression, bi-polar disorder, and schizophrenia.)

Jaruzel 10y ago
Exactly. I'm on a beefy anti-depressant to treat my depression which also has the added bonus of calming my anxiety - it's the only avenue long term. Short term there's relaxant drugs to overcome the attack-in-progress but nothing available to take as an ongoing management dose.
- hga 10y ago
  I myself have a genetic disabling combination of anxiety and "depression of a bi-polar nature", our best guess, it's not the normal unipolar and my engineer uncle with this is frankly bi-polar, but e.g. self-administered cognitive therapy in the '80s helped a lot, and at least for me there's one other treatment, low dose (50-100mg) Seroquel taken before bed (and now very small doses at 8 hour intervals in between to avoid withdrawal effects during the day). Would not be able to sleep more than 4 hours a night without this....
  - tcj_phx 10y ago
    Seroquel is a tranquilizer (aka neuroleptic aka 'antipsychotic')... Anxiety is partially a metabolic problem. I have two friends whose stimulant use turned them into alcoholics. One quit meth amphetamine, then the anxiety started. She discovered vodka after getting hooked on benzodiazepines. Alcohol is broken down into acetate, which is an energy-rich molecule that is easy for the brain/nervous system to use as fuel, especially when those cells are insulin resistant (and therefore have a hard time using sugar as fuel).
- tcj_phx 10y ago
  > it's the only avenue long term. fixing the metabolism, and reprogramming the 'fight or flight' response, is an option too.

by hga 10y ago

Jaruzel 10y ago

Exactly. I'm on a beefy anti-depressant to treat my depression which also has the added bonus of calming my anxiety - it's the only avenue long term. Short term there's relaxant drugs to overcome the attack-in-progress but nothing available to take as an ongoing management dose.

hga 10y ago
I myself have a genetic disabling combination of anxiety and "depression of a bi-polar nature", our best guess, it's not the normal unipolar and my engineer uncle with this is frankly bi-polar, but e.g. self-administered cognitive therapy in the '80s helped a lot, and at least for me there's one other treatment, low dose (50-100mg) Seroquel taken before bed (and now very small doses at 8 hour intervals in between to avoid withdrawal effects during the day). Would not be able to sleep more than 4 hours a night without this....
- tcj_phx 10y ago
  Seroquel is a tranquilizer (aka neuroleptic aka 'antipsychotic')... Anxiety is partially a metabolic problem. I have two friends whose stimulant use turned them into alcoholics. One quit meth amphetamine, then the anxiety started. She discovered vodka after getting hooked on benzodiazepines. Alcohol is broken down into acetate, which is an energy-rich molecule that is easy for the brain/nervous system to use as fuel, especially when those cells are insulin resistant (and therefore have a hard time using sugar as fuel).
tcj_phx 10y ago
> it's the only avenue long term. fixing the metabolism, and reprogramming the 'fight or flight' response, is an option too.