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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by chess on May 14, 2005, at 0:36:11
i was taking Lexapro 20mg for 9 weeks and have now been up to 30mg for 2 weeks but i still have GAD
my psy doc is offering to add Buspar for the GAD
anyone taking Buspar with Lexapro and found Busapr to be HELPFUL for anxiety?
(i also have OCD and i don't want to take anything that will make it worse)
Posted by med_empowered on May 14, 2005, at 4:11:52
In reply to Buspar, worth trying?, posted by chess on May 14, 2005, at 0:36:11
hey! I take Buspar (45mgs/day now, up from 30mgs/day) for anxiety, and it works **VERY** well for me. I have Bipolar NOS/Bipolar I (the exact DX seems to be ever-changing), social phobia, GAD, insomnia, mild OCD, and ADHD...basically your typical Bipolar cluster of crazy. Anyway, the Buspar works great, its cheap (generic works great), and the side effects are, for me at least, pretty mild (headache the first couple days, thats about it). I've heard that the trick to Buspar is that you should take it with an anti-depressant that's working for you; somehow, combining it with an AD seems to boost the Buspar, and the Buspar may boost the AD. Buspar shouldn't do anything to worsen the OCD, but in the wild wild world of psychiatric drugs anything can happen, so do be cautious. From what I've read, about 10% of Buspar users stop taking the drug b/c it either doesn't work or the side-effects are too rough to handle. The good news is that Buspar is non-addictive, there doesn't seem to be a problem with tolerance, it plays well with other meds (and alcohol), and it can boost anti-depressants and may lessen the side-effects of anti-psychotics. Good luck!
Posted by chess on May 14, 2005, at 8:25:29
In reply to Re: Buspar, worth trying?, posted by med_empowered on May 14, 2005, at 4:11:52
hi med_empowered,
---did Buspar help reduce the chronic physical sensations of general anxiety (weak legs, jittery, tingling feeling, etc)?
---can it be taken once a day?
---or if taken twice a day, can it be taken in the morning and at bedtime?
thanks!
> hey! I take Buspar (45mgs/day now, up from 30mgs/day) for anxiety, and it works **VERY** well for me. I have Bipolar NOS/Bipolar I (the exact DX seems to be ever-changing), social phobia, GAD, insomnia, mild OCD, and ADHD...basically your typical Bipolar cluster of crazy. Anyway, the Buspar works great, its cheap (generic works great), and the side effects are, for me at least, pretty mild (headache the first couple days, thats about it). I've heard that the trick to Buspar is that you should take it with an anti-depressant that's working for you; somehow, combining it with an AD seems to boost the Buspar, and the Buspar may boost the AD. Buspar shouldn't do anything to worsen the OCD, but in the wild wild world of psychiatric drugs anything can happen, so do be cautious. From what I've read, about 10% of Buspar users stop taking the drug b/c it either doesn't work or the side-effects are too rough to handle. The good news is that Buspar is non-addictive, there doesn't seem to be a problem with tolerance, it plays well with other meds (and alcohol), and it can boost anti-depressants and may lessen the side-effects of anti-psychotics. Good luck!
Posted by med_empowered on May 14, 2005, at 8:30:25
In reply to Re: Buspar, worth trying? » med_empowered, posted by chess on May 14, 2005, at 8:25:29
hey! Buspar is **ideally** dosed 3X daily, evenly (example: I take 45mgs, so I do 15mgs 3X daily). But, I did 2X daily when I was at 30mgs/day, and that worked well, also. As for the physical symptoms of anxiety...Buspar will **not** work on these directly. In my own experience, when the Buspar fully kicked in (3 weeks for me), these symptoms started to dissipate, but **not** because the Buspar worked on them directly (like, say, Miltown, benzos, and barbiturates do), but rather because the Buspar significantly reduced the anxiety itself, which in turn caused a reduction in the physical symptoms of the anxiety. Buspar cannot be taken as needed and it takes a while to kick in...you may want to talk to your doc about low dose klonopin during the interim. Some people with both GAD and panic attacks find that Buspar helps with the Panic aspect of their anxiety, while others need add-on meds (low-dose benzos, propranolol, whatever) to fully treat their anxiety. Good luck!
Posted by chess on May 14, 2005, at 8:43:40
In reply to Re: Buspar, worth trying?, posted by med_empowered on May 14, 2005, at 8:30:25
so if i understand correctly, Buspar helped with your anxious "thinking" and then you felt better physically after?
thanks again!> hey! Buspar is **ideally** dosed 3X daily, evenly (example: I take 45mgs, so I do 15mgs 3X daily). But, I did 2X daily when I was at 30mgs/day, and that worked well, also. As for the physical symptoms of anxiety...Buspar will **not** work on these directly. In my own experience, when the Buspar fully kicked in (3 weeks for me), these symptoms started to dissipate, but **not** because the Buspar worked on them directly (like, say, Miltown, benzos, and barbiturates do), but rather because the Buspar significantly reduced the anxiety itself, which in turn caused a reduction in the physical symptoms of the anxiety. Buspar cannot be taken as needed and it takes a while to kick in...you may want to talk to your doc about low dose klonopin during the interim. Some people with both GAD and panic attacks find that Buspar helps with the Panic aspect of their anxiety, while others need add-on meds (low-dose benzos, propranolol, whatever) to fully treat their anxiety. Good luck!
Posted by med_empowered on May 14, 2005, at 14:13:14
In reply to Re: Buspar, worth trying? » med_empowered, posted by chess on May 14, 2005, at 8:43:40
hey! You said in one short statement what took me a lot to say...the Buspar works on the psychological aspects of anxiety...for me at least, this reduced my level of anxiety, which in turn meant fewer physical symptoms.
Posted by Phillipa on May 14, 2005, at 21:00:07
In reply to yeah, thats exactly it, posted by med_empowered on May 14, 2005, at 14:13:14
I was told buspar would do nothing for me as I'd been taking benzos so lone. And it didn't. All I got were tiny red bumps on my stomach. Fondly, Phillipa
Posted by Iansf on May 14, 2005, at 23:07:10
In reply to yeah, thats exactly it, posted by med_empowered on May 14, 2005, at 14:13:14
> hey! You said in one short statement what took me a lot to say...the Buspar works on the psychological aspects of anxiety...for me at least, this reduced my level of anxiety, which in turn meant fewer physical symptoms.
You mentioned social phobia in your original post, which I also suffer from. However, I have no particular physical symptoms of social phobia - except in extreme situations - so it's not clear to me how Buspar would help in this regard. In what way has it helped you with social phobia?
Posted by med_empowered on May 15, 2005, at 21:12:51
In reply to Re: yeah, thats exactly it, posted by Iansf on May 14, 2005, at 23:07:10
hey! To understand how Buspar helped me, you should first know how my anxiety works: whether its social phobia, GAD, both, whatever, I usually have a constant level of low to midlevel anxiety, which then can be pushed up into panic attack levles or down to near normalcy. Now, when I was on Klonopin, the klonopin knocked down the anxiety a good bit, and also directly dealt with the physical symptoms of anxiety...and it did so within like 30minutes of taking a tablet. With Buspar, it took 3 weeks to get the full benefit, but when I did what happened was my previous level of constant, non-stop midlevel anxiety was pretty much eliminated and my reaction to other sources of anxiety was reduced (anti-depressants also helped here), so it wasn't so much that the Buspar directly relieved physical anxiety symptoms so much as it alleviated the underlying anxiety. See the distinction? Anyway, hope this helps a little.
Posted by 4WD on May 15, 2005, at 22:58:44
In reply to Re: yeah, thats exactly it, posted by med_empowered on May 15, 2005, at 21:12:51
Is Buspar considered an SSRI? does it help with depression at all?
This is the end of the thread.
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