frenchiebull

I see a psychiatrist on a regular basis for my xanax perscription and have been on it for almost 3 years now due to having a stroke 3 years ago while i was driving.Driving still scares me to this day and my psychiatrist has been trying to get me on another med to go with the xanax but im very sensitive to all meds and end up allergic to most of them.So i've done some research on buspar and it seems to have the least side effects but how well does it work?Im very scared to try paxil and other stuff like that because it seems to give people nightmare side effects.I dont want to sound vain or anything but i dont want a med that will aggrivate the acne and hairgrowth and weight loss problems that i already have!Plus not to mention some of the serious allergic reactions that i've had.I'm just so sick of being afraid of driving.It's to the point where i will not go more than 20 minutes away from home by myself.I'm only 30 years old and this fear is really taking it's toll on me and my family.I used to drive all over the place but since my mild stroke 3 years ago i wont drive anywhere far away unless someone can come with me that can take over the wheel "just in case"i start to feel funny.

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5'5 weight 155-goal 135.Meds-Aldactone 150mgs.Yasmin,xanax,claritin-d.Currently getting back into weight lifting and attempting to low carb!

Lendi

I don't know much about buspar, just wanted to send you some encouragement. Hope it works really well for you. Maybe some therapy as well, would help. Let us know how it works. It would be worth trying, you could always quit taking it again.

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It's ok to cry if you're sad. Tears are God's little safety valve.
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pleasantlyblew

frenchiebull,

I know a little about Buspar, as I took it for a few months a couple of years ago.

I'm not sure why you are on Xanax? Are you saying that you take it due to the anxiety you felt over having your stroke whilst driving?

I took Prozac for a couple of years, due to severe depression brought about by being on the wrong medication. It's a long story but briefly, I was over prescribed thyroid replacement, which caused me to have seizures. This led to me being mis-diagnosed with Epilepsy and therefore medicated with anti-seizure drugs. The drugs caused me to have severe depression, so I was put on Prozac (which I believe saved my life at the time.) However the Prozac made me very anxious and hyper, so I was prescribed Buspar because it has been found to counteract the anxiety caused by Prozac. Buspar made me feel very sick initially but once I settled down with it, I felt a little better. I was also prescribed another drug for the severe anxiety (I kept feeling like we were going to crash, when we were travelling or that someone was going to die, etc) which I can't remember the name of now but it worked very quickly to stop these awful thoughts in my head.

I found a lot of useful information from this website:

http://www.biologicalunhappiness.com

you may find that there is a lot more you can find out from other previous Q's & A's.

One thing I will say though, is that I really believe that anti-depressants can be very helpful short term but longterm they just mask the underlying problem. I totally understand why you feel so freaked out by what happened to you - it was a very traumatic event in your life but sometimes the anxiety felt, can be caused by the anti-depressants more than the actual event itself. You need to feel your pain and let it out and not feel ashamed about feeling these very natural emotions. I'm guessing that you probably thought you were going to die and that your fear of driving is centered around the 'what ifs' and 'I could have died' thoughts. That is completely understandable but if the Xanax is causing extra anxiety, this may be preventing you from getting over your fears and may be making them into something bigger and more long lasting.

It's good that you are seeing a psychiatrist but maybe you just need to scream about what happened to you and let it all out, more than analysing it over and over. Obviously I am making huge assumptions about exactly how you and your therapist are dealing with this problem but the most important thing is for you to get your life back on track and be able to live a life free of this awful anxiety. Sometimes the longer you are on medication and in therapy, the more longterm the fears become because you are stuck until you can find closure. The sooner you can do that, the sooner I believe you will be able to put it all behind you.

Sorry if it seems like I'm giving you a lecture - I just would hate for you to get caught up in the whole nightmare of trying one drug after another or worse still in combination with each other.

As a side note, you mention that you often become 'allergic' to meds - I have read that this can be a sign of poor adrenal or thyroid function, so it would be worth having this ruled out, as both conditions can have an effect on your mental health.

Hope this helps some. Good luck

Nikki x