Have you used beta blockers or other antianxiety medication?

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raggle-taggle-gypsy
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08 Jan 2009, 8:19 pm

I'm curious about anti anxiety medication. After failing my first three driving tests, I have another one coming up soon. I think some tablets might be useful to relax me. I'd like to have a few drinks before the test, but I think that's illegal :lol:

I don't think xanax or any drug that slows my reactions down would be great, as i need to be very perceptive during the test, but something to stop my heart making random jumps out of my chest would be nice. Any suggestions?

I know taking drugs to calm anxiety isn't a long term solution, but I need to pass my test before march, and I basicly have two more chances to do that. Otherwise I'm back to square one with much moer work and much more hassle. I'm quite a capable driver when I'm on my own, but when I have a critical or nervous passenger, my brain overloads with information and I get nervous. It's a catch 22 situation


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08 Jan 2009, 8:47 pm

raggle-taggle-gypsy wrote:
I'm curious about anti anxiety medication. After failing my first three driving tests, I have another one coming up soon. I think some tablets might be useful to relax me. I'd like to have a few drinks before the test, but I think that's illegal :lol:

I don't think xanax or any drug that slows my reactions down would be great, as i need to be very perceptive during the test, but something to stop my heart making random jumps out of my chest would be nice. Any suggestions?

I know taking drugs to calm anxiety isn't a long term solution, but I need to pass my test before march, and I basicly have two more chances to do that. Otherwise I'm back to square one with much moer work and much more hassle. I'm quite a capable driver when I'm on my own, but when I have a critical or nervous passenger, my brain overloads with information and I get nervous. It's a catch 22 situation


Beta blockers are mostly used to control hypertension and arythmia of the heart.


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unreal3x
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08 Jan 2009, 8:56 pm

Do you live in Ireland? Exactly what does the driving test consist of out there? And I dare not say how it is out here, pale in comparison. Lets just say you basically buy your drivers license.



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08 Jan 2009, 11:42 pm

I take antianxiety medication as an adjunct to sleep medication, in cases of severe headaches, and for situational anxiety. The medication is lorazepam (Ativan). It is a short acting benzodiazepine, similar to Xanax.

I take a small dose of it and find that while it is enough to calm me, it is not enough to cause impairment.

Although some beta blockers are used off label for anxiety management, this is not their primary therapeutic use. They are usually prescribed for high blood pressure. They also should be used with caution while performing activities like driving.

Talk to your doctor about this and see what is recommended.


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eristocrat
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08 Jan 2009, 11:43 pm

Buspirone works really well for my anxiety with fewer side effects than xanax, but you have to take it for at least a couple weeks before you notice a difference. Definitely worth it if you don't want to feel drowsy though.



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09 Jan 2009, 12:33 am

I've taken Beta blockers, not for anxiety, but for a heart arrythmia. I do have high anxiety though and can say the Beta blocker did nothing to lessen it.

I would suggest a non-medicinal route to calm your nerves- that is learning biofeedback techniques. The 4-7-8 breathing technique can also calm you.



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09 Jan 2009, 12:48 am

I use Seroquel and Neurontin, which are fairly effective in reducing anxiety and panic attacks. They do make you sluggish and drowsy though, especially in the beginning, so be warned that it takes a few months for your body to adjust. If your anxiety is severe enough(as mine was) the trade-off may be worth it.


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rpm2004
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09 Jan 2009, 1:26 am

yes.


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marshall
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09 Jan 2009, 1:32 am

In my experience anxiety medications make me feel sleepy without helping the anxiety all that much.



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09 Jan 2009, 1:37 am

jawbrodt wrote:
I use Seroquel and Neurontin, which are fairly effective in reducing anxiety and panic attacks. They do make you sluggish and drowsy though, especially in the beginning, so be warned that it takes a few months for your body to adjust. If your anxiety is severe enough(as mine was) the trade-off may be worth it.


Seroquel is suppose to be used to treat bipolar disorder. Neurontin is mainly used for seizures, but sometimes prescribed for bipolar disorder, nerve pain from the herpes virus or Multiple Sclerosis and for migraines. These are some serious heavy duty meds and its not advisable to be suggesting such meds to someone who wants to calm their nerves just to pass a driving test.

Seriously Raggle-Taggle-Gypsy something is wrong if you need meds in order to pass a driving test. If you can't handle a driving test maybe its not right for you to be driving at this time. You may have an anxiety or other mental or mood disorder that needs professional treatment. You may even have a heart condition such as MVP if you're heart is that jumpy. MVP can surprisingly cause some weird behaviors though you wouldn't think a faulty heart valve could do that. I think the best advice anyone could give you is really to see a medical doctor. There very well may be a short term medicine the doctor can give you to calm your nerves enough but only the doctor will know for sure what is safe. Screwing around with beta blockers and heavy duty psych meds is not something that should be done. You shouldn't take those kinda meds unless you have the medical condition they are prescribed for. We don't want you to go through more upset than you are already dealing with.

And what IF you do have some kind of heart problem you should find that out while you are young and only a doctor can help you with that. BTW- I only found out a year ago I had a faulty valve thanks to a good cardiologist and being given a calcium channel blocker (yeah beta blocker didn't work well) stopped the nasty heart palps that felt like a fish flopping around in there. Seriously I wonder if you could have something similar? Please see a doctor!! !

PS: A non-prescription herbal remedy might be worth looking into one that just now comes to mind is Bach's Rescue Remedy. Just a few drops taken on the tongue when needed. But still please see a real doctor okay!!



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09 Jan 2009, 1:47 am

marshall wrote:
In my experience anxiety medications make me feel sleepy without helping the anxiety all that much.


I always thought it peculiar when I was given anxiety meds it made me more nervous and also hyper. I was put on Xanax and I felt like I was going to explode on it not to mention it made my heart pound. When I went in for surgery once they gave me a Valium saying it would calm my nerves but instead I got so hyper the nurse ended up strapping my wrists to the gurney and they went ahead and gave me general anaesthesia early just to put me to sleep and quiet me down so they could handle me!



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09 Jan 2009, 2:14 am

Quote:
Ticker wrote:
jawbrodt wrote:
I use Seroquel and Neurontin, which are fairly effective in reducing anxiety and panic attacks. They do make you sluggish and drowsy though, especially in the beginning, so be warned that it takes a few months for your body to adjust. .


Seroquel is suppose to be used to treat bipolar disorder. Neurontin is mainly used for seizures, but sometimes prescribed for bipolar disorder, nerve pain from the herpes virus or Multiple Sclerosis and for migraines. These are some serious heavy duty meds and its not advisable to be suggesting such meds to someone who wants to calm their nerves just to pass a driving test.


You might want to read this last line again......"If your anxiety is severe enough(as mine was) the trade-off may be worth it."


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marshall
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09 Jan 2009, 2:36 am

Ticker wrote:
marshall wrote:
In my experience anxiety medications make me feel sleepy without helping the anxiety all that much.


I always thought it peculiar when I was given anxiety meds it made me more nervous and also hyper. I was put on Xanax and I felt like I was going to explode on it not to mention it made my heart pound. When I went in for surgery once they gave me a Valium saying it would calm my nerves but instead I got so hyper the nurse ended up strapping my wrists to the gurney and they went ahead and gave me general anaesthesia early just to put me to sleep and quiet me down so they could handle me!

I also have bad experience with benzos. A year and a half ago I went on a daily regimen of clonazepam for about 10 weeks. I don't recall it doing much of anything at first but after a few weeks I started feeling worse. It didn’t seem to matter whether I increased or decreased the dose. Either way I kept getting worse. My doctor had no idea what was going on. I figured it was the clonazepam so I tried tapering off but then my symptoms got even worse yet. I was having all kinds of strange loopy moods and odd sensations in my body. I remember one night I paced back and forth the whole night. I felt as if I couldn't get comfortable or make my mind shut off. There was this itchy sensation deep inside and I felt like I needed to crawl out of my own skin. Even after I was completely off it took an additional two months to get back to normal from the withdrawal symptoms (or whatever the hell they were, they started way before I ever decreased my dose). I won't EVER touch that s**t again.



raggle-taggle-gypsy
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09 Jan 2009, 9:27 am

unreal3x wrote:
Do you live in Ireland? Exactly what does the driving test consist of out there? And I dare not say how it is out here, pale in comparison. Lets just say you basically buy your drivers license.

I live in ireland, but I'm moving to France soon. The test is a 45 minute drive through a town with a tester in the passenger seat. He examines almost every aspect of your driving to look for mistakes. Every mistake gets a tick. Get enough ticks and you fail.

I'm a pretty competent driver. I have some things to learn, but driving is a continuous learning process. I wouldn't risk my own life and those of others if I wasn't competent enough to be on the road.

The testing situation is what I can't handle.

Rescue Remedy is mostly just alcohol and I've been born with a tolerance for that. I drank a whole bottle of rescue remedy once to try and get to sleep. As my grandfather would say, It's bad tack.

I don't want to take anything that slows my nervous system and my reactions down. What I'd like is something for my heart. It's not a great idea to mess with these things, but I need to pass this test before March. Otherwise bad things start happening that I'd rather not deal with.

I'd like to go to a doctor and have my heart checked out, as I suspect there are problems unlinked to anxiety. Most of my anxiety isn't mental anymore, but manifested in random jumps of my heart. I get sharp pains in my heart sometimes that make it hard to breathe. I suppose this is somthing I should get checked out, but it sounds very expensive and a nightmare process to deal with.

My sister spent three years going back and forth to GPs about pains in her abdomen. Only this week, they realised her appendix had been diseased. It was annoying her for three years, but they couldn't diagnose it because the symptoms would only show very irregularly - not during examinations. I couldn't deal with that


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09 Jan 2009, 12:24 pm

beta blockers are not just for heart stuff,am prescribed long release propranalol for two things-severe rages/meltdowns and migraines,and sister was prescribed the same drug on normal release for anxiety a few years ago.


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