Posted by Sad Panda on October 13, 2004, at 0:18:19
In reply to What is the most potent sedative/tranquilizer?, posted by mmcconathy on October 12, 2004, at 19:57:58
> I know there's lots of benzo's. And dont forget about the barbiturates.
>
> I am just curious, because i took Amytal 50mg, and it was pretty sedating.
>
> Thanks.....
>
> Matt
>Barbiturates work in pretty much the same way as Benzos except they depress the brain stem much more making their therapeutic index much smaller. The therapeutic index is the distance between a therapeutic dose & a lethal dose. One months worth of Benzos is unlikely to kill you if you take them all at once, but one weeks worth of Barbs can.
If Benzos don't give the anxiety relief you want, you could try the alternate path of 5-HT2A antagonists. 5-HT2A antagonism is the main feature that makes most antipsychotics anxiolytic. Antipsychotics use to be know as Major Tranquilizers, while Benzos use to be called Minor Tranquilizers. 5-HT2A antagonism is also a feature of TCA's such as Clomipramine, Amitriptyline, Nortriptyline and other drugs such as Remeron & Trazodone. 5-HT2A antagonism is probably the reason that Clomipramine & Amitriptyline are the most effective AD's. You don't need to take them in big doseages either. I take a low doseage of Amitryptyline as a sedative/anxiolytic/IBS treatment & continue to take Effexor as my AD.
Cheers,
Paul.
poster:Sad Panda
thread:402362
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041012/msgs/402472.html