Avoidants and medicine /what have helped you?

eeyore1 wrote:hey tleps drawkcab,

yes, I guess lsd is similar to mushrooms although magic mushrooms are natural and lsd is a synthetic drug. don't know about the difference in "trips" because i haven't tried either.

your old avatar was good for my depression. it used to make me chuckle!

You mean this guy...

Kava Kava helps my anxiety/social ability a decent amount it also helps with depression. (i currently take 450mg twice daily)

Lyrica

I have never been to a psych, and therefor have never done prescription drugs, but I have tried some things you can order online or get in a walmart.

Help:
Combination of vitamin, fish oil, tumoric, Grape seed extract, and Piracetam(the main ingredient): I think this has made me feel a lot better. The effects became strongest after a few months, and my depression was mostly lifted, and I feel like I can conquer phobias much easier, and I am in more control of myself. For a few weeks I actually went into a non-reactive, maybe hypomanic state where I created/reactivated social media profiles and posted a ton of content on them (60 tweets over the course of a few weeks, and about 5 facebook posts and talking to people in facebook chat at least once/day, neither of which I had posted more than 5 things on before this). Since it is non-reactive, and it had been "building" since I first took the combo, I assume that the combo was to blame. I just started to get into a better and better mood until I felt like I just had to talk to people, and nearly forgot all fear. It is different from normal because past states like this only lasted for a day tops, were caused by something good, and would immediately go into depression after anything bad happened, whereas I felt just as well as ever even after some severely disappointing events.
Oxiractem: Calm, stimulant feeling. Pretty good and the effect happened from the beginning.
Forskolii: Only my 2nd day of taking it, but it seems to make me feel in a better mood. Too soon to tell for certain, though, It could just be environmental/cyclical.
Antihistamines: Takes away the constant, dull or irritating physical pain that happens all the time. My skin is quite sensitive and irritable. I don't take them every day, though. Only when the pain is bad.

Conflicted
Sudoephedrine and piracetam combined: Makes me feel in control and feel like I am smarter. I am more social and happy, and I feel warm. The downside is that after the good effects wear off, I am stupid and depressed for about 12 hours. Being smarter with it, I think is not true because I don't do any better on tests or anything when I take it, but not worse either. I try to stay away from it because I am afraid it is excitotoxic.

Hurt:
St. John's Wart: Absolutely nothing after about 3 days of taking it.
5HTP, one pill: took away most symptoms anxiety but replaced it with confusion and being spaced out. I still was afraid of things, but that anxiety part of my mind didn't register it, and I couldn't do the hyper-attention thoughts on things that I was worried about. It was at an airport where I am normally anxious in the first place and this made it hell.
5HTP, two pills: Made me sweat, almost lose bowl control, and have severe mind-fog. I also think it was the cause of my eyes twitching for about 3 days afterwards.
Mix of Gaba raising herbs: Reduced anxiety, but made me feel very stupid. I could not think of any sort of creative thoughts or anything like that. It was not fun. I could not even really feel things like normal. I was sort of disconnected and in a dreamy state. Also, lost motivation and felt slightly sad.
Aniracetam: Made me feel sick and depressed(the typical, sad kind of depression). I wanted to crawl into the corner of the room and cry at my college orientation, and I had no idea why. It only started after about 3 hours, though. Before then, everything was okay and maybe a little better than normal. The drug has 2 stages, the original molecule, then it is metabolized, and I think the metabolite was what had the bad effect.
L-tyrosine: Headache and pressure in lower back.

LOL cheers mate!

nice one brainslug more food for thought

Adderall helps with social anxiety for some people. They'll only prescribe it for ADHD and narcolepsy though since it's a "controlled substance."

Promethazine lowers my anxiety; barely any side effects. I like it.

There are no meds for PD's, but there are meds which work on some of the symptoms that go with PD's. Side effects vary from one person to the next, and what works fine for one person can cause unbearable side effects for another. They don't fix everything, but they make life a lot easier without the depression/anxiety/paranoia etc.

At the moment, I take a mood stabiliser which slows down my BPD mood swings and knocks out my paranoia and most of my anxiety. Doctors have been trying to find an antidepressant that works for me but the right one is extremely elusive. I also have xanax which I use when my anxiety gets bad. I don't like using it much because if I take it for more than one day, when I stop it again my anxiety hits me in a big way but it helps just when I need it.

Ive been on a heap of meds, namely SSRI, SNRI's, mood stabilisers, anti-psychotics etc. I can say that none have really helped enough for me to say that it is worth taking them. But I do want to get better so I continue to take them. In terms of AvPD Ive found the best thing for me has been using a beta-blocker for social situations, since taking them my avoidance of such situations has reduced. But unfortunately, you can't take beta-blockers every time you may potentially have contact with other humans, so Im still on the trail for a decent med cocktail that reduces my depression enough for me to function, and keeps my physiological anxiety low.

benzos have been a godsend. they are TOO good though. benzo buzz = escape route to fantasy world away from social problems