3 ms·

If you suffer from anxiety, and haven't tried any of the following yet, worth giving a go: escitalopram (with medical supervision, also 10mg did nothing for me,

If you suffer from anxiety, and haven't tried any of the following yet, worth giving a go: escitalopram (with medical supervision, also 10mg did nothing for me, 20mg was life changing), ingesting silexan / lavendar oil, L-Theanine with your coffee, less coffee, less alcohol, propanalol (see a dr) instead of benzos for break-through anxiety, ashwagandha.

riazrizvi 3y ago
I personally have tried and agree with L-Theanine to reduce coffee anxiety without killing its alertness power, and anxiety certainly spikes a day after a night out drinking. But I think we are missing here the most important levers; 1) a steady regimen of well-scheduled exercises and injury-preventing recovery work, 2) a well-scheduled nutritionally balanced diet free of inflammatory products. Julia Ross’s The Mood Cure goes into specifics for the latter, for example sufficient L-Tryptophan is important for a feeling of well-being. I think scheduling is key because stress increases with energy unpredictability.
- petesergeant 3y ago
  I think I'm not qualified to talk about other people's mental health, but I haven't noticed much of a difference between periods when I exercise consistently and those where I don't. I'd always recommend people throw everything they can at chronic anxiety though, and consistent exercise is a win in its own right.
  - riazrizvi 3y ago
    The devil is in the details with exercise, just as it is for nutrition. There are so many ways to do exercise that ultimately increase anxiety; over the years I've had exercise regimens that made sleep difficult, or created increased inflammation (through oxidation, brief injuries or by being more careless with food/drink), or by increased muscle tightness, or lead to me not getting ahead at work because of time spent exercising. I find I have to be very clear on my exercise objective. Six Ironmen and many marathons later, I see I easily get caught up in athletic targets that are not helpful to my life goals.
jassyr 3y ago
I second escitalopram. 10mg changed my life.
- mrguyorama 3y ago
  It's really a roll of the dice. My mother was scared of me getting on Escitalopram because it gave her panic attacks but it was literally a silver bullet from me. 10mg a day turns me from a broken brain to a mostly normal human brain. It's such a lightswitch effect that sometimes I wonder if I'm overselling it to myself, and then I forget to get my prescription refilled for a couple days and I can feel that anxiety creeping back in from the edges, trying to make it's insidious way back into my life, and then I remember why I take it. My understanding is that each SSRI type med has a roughly 30% chance of working for you, though the odds are slightly connected for SSRIs that are similar. If only the ADHD was as easy.
  - petesergeant 3y ago
    Completely anecdotally it seems to be much, much more effective for GAD than depression. I did have a panic attack on the 3rd or 4th day of taking it (and interestingly the only one I've ever had), but I kept going. 10mg to 20mg was the light-switch for me: I was on 10mg for about 3 months with no noticeable difference, and then 15mg (climbing to 20mg) was exceptional. I have a graph from the time when I was recording my mood 10-30 times a day, and it goes from being all over the place to just being in a relaxed state. Also: "Escitalopram was well tolerated and only 7% patients withdrew, due to adverse events in the escitalopram group, versus 8% in the placebo group" -- people with anxiety disorders have panic attacks when they start lexapro at about the same rate as people who think they're on lexapro but aren't! Also I do recommend trying any/all of the others things I mentioned as an adjunct, they've all got some decent science behind them, and defense in depth seems like a good idea to me.
rejectfinite 3y ago
>L-Theanine This with caffeine is amazing! *Its whats in green tea that gives the calming effect

riazrizvi 3y ago

I personally have tried and agree with L-Theanine to reduce coffee anxiety without killing its alertness power, and anxiety certainly spikes a day after a night out drinking. But I think we are missing here the most important levers; 1) a steady regimen of well-scheduled exercises and injury-preventing recovery work, 2) a well-scheduled nutritionally balanced diet free of inflammatory products. Julia Ross’s The Mood Cure goes into specifics for the latter, for example sufficient L-Tryptophan is important for a feeling of well-being. I think scheduling is key because stress increases with energy unpredictability.

petesergeant 3y ago
I think I'm not qualified to talk about other people's mental health, but I haven't noticed much of a difference between periods when I exercise consistently and those where I don't. I'd always recommend people throw everything they can at chronic anxiety though, and consistent exercise is a win in its own right.
- riazrizvi 3y ago
  The devil is in the details with exercise, just as it is for nutrition. There are so many ways to do exercise that ultimately increase anxiety; over the years I've had exercise regimens that made sleep difficult, or created increased inflammation (through oxidation, brief injuries or by being more careless with food/drink), or by increased muscle tightness, or lead to me not getting ahead at work because of time spent exercising. I find I have to be very clear on my exercise objective. Six Ironmen and many marathons later, I see I easily get caught up in athletic targets that are not helpful to my life goals.

jassyr 3y ago

I second escitalopram. 10mg changed my life.

mrguyorama 3y ago
It's really a roll of the dice. My mother was scared of me getting on Escitalopram because it gave her panic attacks but it was literally a silver bullet from me. 10mg a day turns me from a broken brain to a mostly normal human brain. It's such a lightswitch effect that sometimes I wonder if I'm overselling it to myself, and then I forget to get my prescription refilled for a couple days and I can feel that anxiety creeping back in from the edges, trying to make it's insidious way back into my life, and then I remember why I take it. My understanding is that each SSRI type med has a roughly 30% chance of working for you, though the odds are slightly connected for SSRIs that are similar. If only the ADHD was as easy.
- petesergeant 3y ago
  Completely anecdotally it seems to be much, much more effective for GAD than depression. I did have a panic attack on the 3rd or 4th day of taking it (and interestingly the only one I've ever had), but I kept going. 10mg to 20mg was the light-switch for me: I was on 10mg for about 3 months with no noticeable difference, and then 15mg (climbing to 20mg) was exceptional. I have a graph from the time when I was recording my mood 10-30 times a day, and it goes from being all over the place to just being in a relaxed state. Also: "Escitalopram was well tolerated and only 7% patients withdrew, due to adverse events in the escitalopram group, versus 8% in the placebo group" -- people with anxiety disorders have panic attacks when they start lexapro at about the same rate as people who think they're on lexapro but aren't! Also I do recommend trying any/all of the others things I mentioned as an adjunct, they've all got some decent science behind them, and defense in depth seems like a good idea to me.

rejectfinite 3y ago

>L-Theanine This with caffeine is amazing! *Its whats in green tea that gives the calming effect