Posted by jedi on March 8, 2006, at 1:04:52
In reply to What's your current social anxiety med regimen?, posted by Rocket Jackson on March 7, 2006, at 9:11:52
Hey Rocket,
For me the best treatment for social anxiety was Nardil combined with clonazepam. I am diagnosed with treatment resistant, major atypical depression (currently in remission) with social and generalized anxiety disorder. I am not currently taking Nardil, but it is the only medication that brought me out of at least three major depressions over the past ten years. It is also the gold standard for treatment of social anxiety. If not for the side effect of weight gain (severe carbohydrate cravings), I would probably be happy taking Nardil the rest of my life. But, because of this side effect, I try to quit the medication every few years. I wish that Parnate would have worked for me, but no such luck.I still take 1mg of clonazepam daily for the social anxiety. It helps, but is not as potent as the combination of Nardil with clonazepam. Currently I take 2400mg of EPA and 2000mg of DHA along with the clonazepam. I believe these fatty acids act as a mood stabilizer and enabled me to wean off the Nardil over a six week period. Because I am a long term daily user of clonazepam, I don't feel the "sigh" of relief that people get when using benzos prn. But I know it is still working on the social and generalized anxiety.
Good luck & take care,
Jedi...
> With that said, what have you found has been the best treatment so far in your experience? As I've mentioned in other posts, I currently take Klonopin 2mg + Provigil 200mg every 3-5 days prn for events or activities I anticipate will cause more anxiety than the typical baseline level I experience in my everyday living. I'm desperately looking for a daily treatment to add to my regimen to fill in the gaps, and have found Lexapro, Zoloft, Neurontin, Gabitril, Cymbalta, Buspar, and Wellbutrin to be complete busts. I've made a few attempts with daily Klonopin in the past, but it seems to lose its optimal effect when I take it more than 3 days or so. However, this really may be a case of taking an inadequate dose, less-than-optimal times or spacing, or just plain not taking it long enough to achieve good therapeutic levels. I just know how wonderfully it works when I do wait a few days between doses, and I don't want to lose that.
>
> Thanks for all of your support. It's great to see how much feedback exists for all of us who suffer from our various ailments.
>
> Take care,
>
> Rocket
poster:jedi
thread:616975
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060304/msgs/617347.html