Alternatives To Xanax

[girlx]

i have generalized anxiety disorder and was prescribed xanax about 5 years ago by my doctor at home. i rarely use it unless i am really stressed out, and still have a couple pills left from that time (which probably have expired now). recently i have been under more stress than usual and have been thinking of ways to treat it. i tried to get a new prescription of xanax from a clinic near me but they treated me like a drug addict, and i doubt i will find the real version at an pharmacy outside of the hospital. so i have been looking at alternatives... thus far i have tried passion flower capsules, which a pharmacist in malaysia recommended to me. it actually worked pretty well to calm me down but i bought a small bottle and haven't been able to find more around here. i have tried valerian as well (another herb) but that didn't really work at all. i have also tried yoga (been doing it for a year) and that works really well, when i have time to do it (which is rarely these days as i am overwhelmed by work and personal crises). any other suggestions? thanks for any help.

[jdinasia]

Go to the hospital with your old Rx .. they will likely make you see a shrink, but if the Dr thinks your diagnosis is valid you will get your new Rx

[John K]

The fact that you rarely take them suggests your diagnosis was wrong. It sound like some one on one with a therapist would be the preferred method to help you sort out the occasional reasons that pop up. Please know I do not advocate the use of medications as first choice as they are vastly over prescribed. If the doctor that prescribed them to you has a huge case load, I think you can connect the dots that he simply did not have time to help you so he drugged you.

[jumnien]

I was prescribed xanax for two years and eventually began abusing it. I had panic attacks and anxiety disorder. Eventually, I found vipassana meditation along with not drinking caffeine to be a cure. It's been 12 years now and the panic attacks just vanished and never returned. I guess you'll never read this on the Starbucks website! Good luck. I also found the fellowship of a 12-step program essential. Not that you need that. But keep an open mind about any opportunities for spiritual fellowship that come up. The yoga sounds great!

I am eternally grateful that I had panic attacks as I would never have become so committed to a spiritual path without having to.

[Luckydog]

Go to a good Hypnotherapist. I live in Pattaya and I had a Hypnotherapy Clinic for 8yrs in Richmond prior to coming here.

OR call Dr Veruree in Chang Mai. She is a fantastic herbalist and will be able to help I am sure. 0811806881 is her Mobile number.

All the best.

[girlx]

The fact that you rarely take them suggests your diagnosis was wrong.

nah i just don't want to get addicted to them. i am supposed to take them only when my anxiety gets out of hand or blows up into a panic attack.

thanks for the advice, yoga does work for sure but like i said i don't always have time. anyone know anything else about herbal treatments or where in thailand i might find more passion flower extract? thx

edit: oh i should mention also that in the US i smoked a lot of pot which helped... it made me more physically anxious but less mentally anxious, if that makes sense. not an option here though.

Edited June 20, 2007 by girlx

[donna]

im not sure if you can get st johns wort here, but its worth a shot....

[markr]

edit: oh i should mention also that in the US i smoked a lot of pot which helped... it made me more physically anxious but less mentally anxious, if that makes sense. not an option here though.

Could be the root cause of the problem

[sleepyjohn]

hi girlx

there is new thinking that actually benzodiazepines can be more useful than simply as a mask if be taken occasionally exactly when required.....but the operative word is occasionally....... therefore obviously this is for more specific anxiety as in phobias. If you take it for generalized anxiety you may end up taking it in a generalized fashion. You must understand that given the rebound nature of benzos, the same as alcohol and many drugs, after they wear off you are more vulnerable. This is a breeding ground for more taking and then addiction. I know that of which I speak, I was addicted to benzos for 14 years and it took two years to get off them.

I thought up the following principle and followed it:

The human organism, body and mind, will tend to get better given supportive conditions. Therefore I suggest you put these conditions in place and give it patience.

Exercise and physical work.

Ethical correctness.

Meditation or some calm alternative.

Friends.

Try to replace wrong thinking, the root of our problems, with right thinking. The Buddhist method is available and a pretty good one to help there. There are others.

Good luck

Edited June 20, 2007 by sleepyjohn

[chaiyen]

edit: oh i should mention also that in the US i smoked a lot of pot which helped... it made me more physically anxious but less mentally anxious, if that makes sense. not an option here though.

Could be the root cause of the problem

If you are smoking alot of thai weed it might be part of the problem..In my experience with the extreme heat and humidity combined with smoking all day caused me to think too much, creating anxiety. I have also smoked loads of North American weed and the two are very different... Do you reallly think that you cannot sacrifice an hour a day for yoga??? If you say that it helps.. You have to decide what is more important.

[jumnien]

As others have said, pot smoking is often linked to anxiety disorders down the road. Whatever the cause, the solution is the same - sleepyjohn seemed to hit the nail on the head.

[johnh101]

Camomile Tea and Valerian Tablets should help.

[girlx]

thanks for the replies... as for pot smoking, i don't believe that smoking pot in the past causes my problems now. in fact my problems are due to a brain chemistry imbalance. and like i said, pot actually helped me feel much better. yoga- some days i really do not have time- i have been working 15 hour days lately on projects. valerian capsules and st. john's wort are crap for anxiety, in my experience. but like i said passion flower seems to work. thanks for those who sent me PMs saying where i can get xanax, but i don't believe that the pharmacies sell the real stuff. i bought something called "manax" once, which didn't work at all but to make me nauseous. if it comes down to it i will go to a hospital and renew my RX. but if anyone knows where i might find more passion flower capsules in bangkok please let me know! i tried GNC already to no avail...

[tim armstrong]

thanks for the replies... as for pot smoking, i don't believe that smoking pot in the past causes my problems now. in fact my problems are due to a brain chemistry imbalance. and like i said, pot actually helped me feel much better. yoga- some days i really do not have time- i have been working 15 hour days lately on projects. valerian capsules and st. john's wort are crap for anxiety, in my experience. but like i said passion flower seems to work. thanks for those who sent me PMs saying where i can get xanax, but i don't believe that the pharmacies sell the real stuff. i bought something called "manax" once, which didn't work at all but to make me nauseous. if it comes down to it i will go to a hospital and renew my RX. but if anyone knows where i might find more passion flower capsules in bangkok please let me know! i tried GNC already to no avail...

Hi Girl X,

As John K said, there are alternative ways to dealing with the anxiety problem other than drugs. Most of my colleagues over 30 years in the mental health business would rarely suggest meds as a first choice. Yes pot smoking might help a bit, but in the long term it's linked to depression. Pepsi, coffee, chocolate, sex, and exercise also help, but in excess have there problems too, because you are just buzzing all the time. I notice you work 15 hr days. You can't keep that up forever without something breaking. I guess you already know where this is going. To beat anxiety you have to identify the causes, the consequences and find ways to change your behaviour - if you really want to do that. Take some time out, think a lot, decide if you really want to change your lifestyle, talk to someone who will listen and not give too much advice, and just do it.

Good luck, Tim

[girlx]

found a place that sells passion flower online, and ships internationally, if anyone else needs it-

see here

also, info on passion flower to treat anxiety

Edited June 22, 2007 by girlx

[meme]

girlx I am glad you posted this b/c I had some questions about xanax, but I don't want to take over your thread.

About 4 months ago I just stopped sleeping. I have always had a good 8 hours of sleep if not more. Now I realize that this is not the norm and it may just be that I am getting older (Im 28). Anyway It was really making me crazy. I am a teacher and the kids really suffer when their teacher is sleep deprived. Granted I was under some stress...but I would not say I was having panic attacks. So a friend suggested I get some xanax to help me sleep. So only before bed I have been taking .25 mg everynight before I sleep.. now my plan is that as soon as I leave Korea and move back to Thailand (in 7 days) I will no longer need the xanax..for several reasons..that I don't really need to get into...but anyway, I did know that xanax is addictive and I did have a drug problem 5 years ago but kicked it cold turkey and have been clean ever since, and it was uppers not downers. Anyway the point to my question is can I just stop taking it?? I mean is it not a really low low dose?? I only only take it to sleep.

[girlx]

you shouldn't be taking it every night. if you really really can't get to sleep then maybe take one, but there are other, non-addictive pills you can take for sleep. try valerian instead (an herb). some people are prescribed xanax to use on a daily basis but to be honest i would not want to- it kicks my ass! i would feel like a zombie if i took it daily. people who need it have serious panic disorders and can't usually function normally. look up insomnia on google and see if you can find any alternatives. my stepfather was addicted to tranxene, a drug similar to xanax, and it caused him (and my family) loads of problems. you don't want to mess around with it if you have an addictive personality.

[JimmyCA]

i have generalized anxiety disorder and was prescribed xanax about 5 years ago by my doctor at home. i rarely use it unless i am really stressed out, and still have a couple pills left from that time (which probably have expired now). recently i have been under more stress than usual and have been thinking of ways to treat it. i tried to get a new prescription of xanax from a clinic near me but they treated me like a drug addict, and i doubt i will find the real version at an pharmacy outside of the hospital. so i have been looking at alternatives... thus far i have tried passion flower capsules, which a pharmacist in malaysia recommended to me. it actually worked pretty well to calm me down but i bought a small bottle and haven't been able to find more around here. i have tried valerian as well (another herb) but that didn't really work at all. i have also tried yoga (been doing it for a year) and that works really well, when i have time to do it (which is rarely these days as i am overwhelmed by work and personal crises). any other suggestions? thanks for any help.

Xanax is easy to find around BKK, Panax is the generic version also easy to find.

[girlx]

well i haven't been able to find it in a phamacy, though my friend did and like i mentioned earlier i am pretty sure it was fake.

[meme]

you shouldn't be taking it every night. if you really really can't get to sleep then maybe take one, but there are other, non-addictive pills you can take for sleep. try valerian instead (an herb). some people are prescribed xanax to use on a daily basis but to be honest i would not want to- it kicks my ass! i would feel like a zombie if i took it daily. people who need it have serious panic disorders and can't usually function normally. look up insomnia on google and see if you can find any alternatives. my stepfather was addicted to tranxene, a drug similar to xanax, and it caused him (and my family) loads of problems. you don't want to mess around with it if you have an addictive personality.

But how many mgs 'kick your ass'? Cause I read that ppl that are prescribed it for serious disorders are given like 4-6 mgs. The .25 mgs I take doesnt effect me in a negative way... that I notice. I wake up every morning and excercise, and work a full day..lead a "normal" life. I do understand that I should not be messing around with it though and I will stop. I will look into valerian root. Thanks.

[girlx]

i have taken the pink ones and the purple ones- i can't remember offhand how many milligrams they were, but i think the pink might be the .25. anyway, any time i have taken xanax they knock me out and i feel sluggish all through the next day. my friend takes them every time he flies because of this obliviousness (he is terrified to fly).

by the way the sign of addiction is if you can't get to sleep without it!

Edited June 22, 2007 by girlx

[StickKettleOn]

I am an occasional pill popper. If i have to fly.home, go on a visa run, or indeed any situation where i need to be out of it for several hours, i take 2-4 xanax and i am out for hours. I do not even move.

I only take xanax maybe once a month.

FYI - the best available in Thailand come in a silver strip of 10 x 1mg, costing around 100-150 baht. Look out for a brand by the name of 'HK'.

Blue xanax are usualy 1mg. Pink, usualy 0.5.

I take valium now and then - but only if i have had a bummer day and feel a bit stressed. Never more than a few times a month and only small amounts.

Regarding the pot smoking - i have my own take on this. I smoked a truck load of pot, from the ages 16-19 - about 15 years ago. I loved the stuff, and felt super chilled. As time went on, i gradualy become paraniod on the stuff. In time, i would have all out panick attacks to the stage that just 3 or 4 puffs would set me into a complete irational mindset, thinking about everything in a negative light, and super SUPER paranoid. I simply could not smoke anymore.

During this time, i began to suffer very bad panick attacks and became horribly paranoid. I would have these feelings for a good 5 years after - even though i would not touch the stuff, and could not smoke it.

Even such a simple task as getting on a train was a nightmare. I would feel convinced that everyone on the train thought i was mad - for no reason. I could not use any public transport. I could not go in a room full of strangers. Actualy it was even hard to sit in a room full of friends and fammily. I would feel convinced i was considered an odd ball, a freak. For no reason. if i left the room for 2 mins, i would be 100% convinced beyond doubt that everyone in the room talked about me.

Fark... i even developed a speeach impediment! My once confident tone turned into incoherent ramblings (a bit like this post, lol).

The panick attacks came several times per day. I developed claustraphobia - something i never had before. Even sitting in the back of a car would set off a panick attack. Lifts? No chance. I recall one time going to an ammusment park, jumping on a roler coaster and when the saftey belt came over head and strapped me in, i screamed blue murder - i told the guard if he did not let me off before the ride started, i would knock him out on my return. I was a real, bad mess.

Quit my job - couldnt work. For a good few months, i could hardly leave the house. Even walking to the shop to buy a paper, i would feel convinced the passing people in cars were 'looking at me'.

I told the doc i was mad. He said i was not, as if i was mad - i wouldnt admit to it, lol.

Sleeping - i would wake up in the middle of the night for no reason, on the verge of a heart attack. I would then pace around the room for an hour, trying to calm down. Dozens of iritional, crazy, meesed up thoughts going through my head.

Then over a period of around 12 months, it got better. Then, almost overnight, i got the spring back in my step and it all vanished. I have been 'back to normal' for a good 10 years now. No iritional thoughts, no attacks, very little anxiety - just real mild, when i have had a stress day.

I couldnt tell you how i got better. I just did. It all stopped. The turning point for me was when i had to give a presentation to 60 sales execs in a hotel corporate suite, towards the end of my 'recovery'. I came off the podium realising that i was not at all phased by the experience, and presented myself very well. Compare that to a few years previous - when i litteraly 'ran' out of a conferance room with a dozen people in attendance - just because i couldnt handle it.

I firmly put this down to pot. I am convinced. At the time, i did a little coke, a few extasy pills, the odd acid here and there - but honestly.... very very small amounts. Pot was my drug of choice as a teenager, and i blame pot for my wacked out state of mind for several years.

There probably are no Oasis fans reading this - but Noel Gallagher had exactly the same problems. He took drugs for a little while, then started having panic attacks and getting paranoid - it just came out of the blue. He wrote the song 'Gas Panic' about it.

Yep - bad times indeed. 5 years down the pan and i am convinced it was the pot that triggered it.

[girlx]

well, that could be true. pot exacerbates pre-existing mental disorders. i have friends who have had the same problem and had to stop. however, i also know people who have smoked heavily and long term and don't have problems like that at all. when i smoked pot, it helped me calm down immensely, focus on my work, and opened up my creative side. but i never smoked that heavily- just a joint a day or so. i did have problems in social situations being awkward, but i have those even without weed as i am super shy. i stopped smoking whenever i knew i had to deal with people. it never became a problem in my life. i gave it up (at least for now) because i don't want problems in thailand if i can avoid them. & i have no problems stopping anything cold turkey. depends on personality i guess. i have never been addicted to anything. i have never had the urge to take xanax for anything other than a serious episode of anxiety, in which i feel like i can't catch my breath and my heart is racing and my thoughts are speedy and i can't unwind my muscles. still, this happens quite often to me and i rarely pop a xanax.... however, i have seen someone else with a serious benzodiazepine addiction. i would never want that problem. that's why i am looking for an herbal alternative, though as someone pointed out in a PM that might not be so safe either as most herbal treatments are not FDA approved. i think the #1 best treatment for this sort of thing is yoga, breathing, and meditation. as tim armstrong said above, if someone is having problems with anxiety, then it's best to make some changes and set time to do that yoga and breathing. second best thing would be passion flower in my experience, and 3rd would be pot (for me).

[StickKettleOn]

Well, yep i guess it is different strokes for different folks. I recall back in those days, whilst i was on the verge of loosing it and became super paranoid on pot - half of my friends became super paranoid without it.

Good luck - it sends a shiver down my spine thinking of that awful period for me, and no one will ever truly understand just how horrible panic and anxiety attacks are, if they have never expereienced them. They are a sheer living nightmare when you get them daily.

I would go with the yoga thing. I just googled it, and it seems that yoga is a well established proven method to cure this problem.

Best of luck

SKO

[Sheryl]

A nonaddictive alternative to benzos which is available in all pharmacies over the counter is Atarax, it is a minor tranquilizer/antihistimine. In Thailand comes in 10mg and 25mg tabs. For anxiety the dose is 25-50mg so get the 25mg tabs. Altho not addictive, its safety for long term use has not been established. No problem for occasional use, also helpful for sleep (again, use only occasionally). Main side effects are dry mouth and sleepiness.

Vipassana meditation is extremely helpful in enabling you to both feel anxious/ have insomnia less often and to be able to deal with it when you do without medication. Counselling/therapy is also helpful and definitely indicated for anyone who finds that they have so much anxiety that they need to take something to help them sleep or cope on a regular basis.

Anxiety is a warning signal from the psyche just like pain is from the body. It's telling you that all is not well. Like physical pain, an occasional twinge here and there doesn't really require investigation but severe or frequent does.

Meme: you are wise to get off the Xanax. I'd suggest you taper as follows: a half tablet (12.5mg) one night then a whole tablet (25mg) the next, repeat this cycle for about a week then half tab every night for a few nights then alternate half tabs with none and then stop.

Nobody with a history of addiction should take benzos....full stop. And nobody should take them on a regular basis.

[Irene]

A nonaddictive alternative to benzos which is available in all pharmacies over the counter is Atarax, it is a minor tranquilizer/antihistimine. In Thailand comes in 10mg and 25mg tabs. For anxiety the dose is 25-50mg so get the 25mg tabs. Altho not addictive, its safety for long term use has not been established. No problem for occasional use, also helpful for sleep (again, use only occasionally). Main side effects are dry mouth and sleepiness.

Vipassana meditation is extremely helpful in enabling you to both feel anxious/ have insomnia less often and to be able to deal with it when you do without medication. Counselling/therapy is also helpful and definitely indicated for anyone who finds that they have so much anxiety that they need to take something to help them sleep or cope on a regular basis.

Anxiety is a warning signal from the psyche just like pain is from the body. It's telling you that all is not well. Like physical pain, an occasional twinge here and there doesn't really require investigation but severe or frequent does.

Meme: you are wise to get off the Xanax. I'd suggest you taper as follows: a half tablet (12.5mg) one night then a whole tablet (25mg) the next, repeat this cycle for about a week then half tab every night for a few nights then alternate half tabs with none and then stop.

Nobody with a history of addiction should take benzos....full stop. And nobody should take them on a regular basis.

Believe me, this is the best professional advice on this thread one should follow.

[Phil Conners]

A nonaddictive alternative to benzos which is available in all pharmacies over the counter is Atarax, it is a minor tranquilizer/antihistimine. In Thailand comes in 10mg and 25mg tabs. For anxiety the dose is 25-50mg so get the 25mg tabs. Altho not addictive, its safety for long term use has not been established. No problem for occasional use, also helpful for sleep (again, use only occasionally). Main side effects are dry mouth and sleepiness.

Sheryl, thanks for your advise, it's much appreciated! In the same context, what do you think about Desirel (Trazodone)? I understand that is a similarly nonaddictive alternative available OTC in Thailand.

[girlx]

thanks for that advice sheryl, i hadn't heard of Atarax before!

here is some good info on it.

[vertigobkk]

You can get st johns wort here - i take it everynight before sleep and it helps me have a great deep sleep... i also take it when im feeling stressed and it calms me down.... natural too - and no bad side effects in my personal experience

Get it at any boots - Blackmores do it and its 500 THB for 30 tablets - its labelled as HYPERIFORTE

[endure]

thanks for that advice sheryl, i hadn't heard of Atarax before!

here is some good info on it.

One line on that site that seems slightly peculiar:

"Narcotics such as acetaminophen, meperidine hydrochloride, and oxycodone hydrochloride"

Acetaminophen a narcotic? I thought it was paracetamol?