Anyone had bad experiences with anxiety medication? - SCARED

Mental health
1

Hi :slight_smile: had a call with my doctor today about my anxiety that I’ve had for 4 years and she’s finally suggested I take some medication to help along with CBT again. she has prescribed the lowest dose of Clonazepam or Chlordiazepoxide (I can’t remember what she said but it began with a C and i’ll research more once I actually get the prescription) plus Valium for when I’m having a panic attack
I have read up about Benzodiazepines and safe to say I am absolutely TERRIFIED to take them. Even normal antibiotics make me have weird thoughts and make me feel terrible physically and mentally. my doctor warned me that I will feel worse for about 2 weeks before I feel better and I don’t know if I could cope feeling much worse than I already do.
Not only am I scared of the physical side effects, having some sort of fatal reaction or getting addicted, I’m mostly scared I’ll start feeling suicidal, not going to lie and say I haven’t had horrible thoughts like that in the past when I’ve felt extremely low but i’ve always managed to stop myself thinking it because I know I would never ever do anything to harm myself, it wouldn’t make much sense as my anxiety is literally all about worrying about my health and dying. Harming myself is my biggest fear and I am scared the medication will make me lose control of myself / my thoughts or something
I don’t know if its worth taking them but like I said anxiety has ruined my life since I was 18 (22 now) I refuse to waste another year of my life worrying something is wrong with me, CBT alone hasn’t helped so I feel like medication is my only option now unless anyone knows of any natural ways to ease anxiety such as CBD oil? Has anything worked for anyone else or what have other peoples experience been with medication?

Thank you

2

While you take Benzo its fine. you get good sleep and the effect of being profoundly rested.
But the stopping is the big problem…
Best Regards

3

Medication can be a God send. However it’s THE LAST RESORT. Try magnesium, vitamin D, natural remedies like Valerian root. See a natural specialist. If going regular med route ask if propranolol would be acceptable for your symptoms.

A benzo will make you very relaxed at first but use it sparingly, only as needed. Some of these drugs can help now but become a problem down the road. You listed two different benzos and it’s very unlikely a doctor would even prescribe those together. Many times a benzo is used to get people over the start of an SSRI and personally I was much worse on a SSRI. For others though they can’t function without these drugs. Everybody is different.

4

You should not be scared of taking benzos. It just a matter of finding the right one to make you feel right. I cant stand kolonopin, it makes me fuzzy, and lazy, groggy and out of it all day long, so I switched to xanex and i dont have those symptoms anymore. So dont knock all benzos because you had a bad experience with one… there are others that wont make you feel that way, xanex, adivan, valium, to just name a few. Consider a med change instead of total withdrawal. You obviously need a benzo, other wise why would the doctor prescribe it? So just switch it up. Let the doctor know whats going on and you want to try something else.