Buspirone, anyone?

[Ne/Neva Eva]

So, Ed, my husband, got a prescription for buspirone from our psychiatrist. I can't recall having ever read about anyone who has taken it. I definitely don't recall anything about buspirone and HDB.



The only precautions are related to the combination of CNS depressants. He's been on HDB for 4 years, so I'm not overly concerned about that one.



Anyone have any thoughts or research about buspirone?



Much love to the MWO meds community.

[Molly78]

Hi Ne.

I think no one has answered your question because no one really knows how buspirone works! It seems to fool the brain into thinking there is more serotonin around than there actually is. It doesn't affect the GABA system, doesn't work like the bezos, there's a lot of other stuff it doesn't do, which means I think that no one knows exactly what it does do.

It's usually prescribed for short term use in anxiety, but doesn't seem to be prescribed much at all - it's a generic like baclofen, so possibly it's lack of use is down to not being heavily promoted by Big Pharma? Doesn't mean it doesn't work, would be interested to know whether your husband has found it useful.

Molly.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Thank you for responding.

The pdoc is avoiding the traditional anxiolytics for the obvious reasons. She doesn't like treating men with SSRIs, which I really don't think are appropriate in this case anyway, or other antidepressants bc of the sexual side effects...

We've decided he should take it and see if it helps. It's all just a grand experiment, right? <sigh>

[Mom21961]

I took this med with Baclofen, but it was early days and I was on a relatively low dose. I took it for my IBS, which it didn't help with, so I quit. However, during that month, I did notice a significant decrease in my anxiety and it delayed the need for that first glass of wine

[Ne/Neva Eva]

That's interesting, 2JTx3. Thanks for chiming in.

Ed's been on it for almost a month now? More than a month? Whatever. Let me tell you what happened...

We are redoing our porch, tearing it out and rebuilding it basically. My parents were supposed to come down last weekend and cancelled at the last minute. So Ed and I spent 3 days working on this porch reno ourselves. And something was very, very different. My husband is not an asshole, but I swear when we work together, we clash and he gets very short-tempered with me. I don't really get it, but I know I'm not always the easiest to work with...At least that's what I've always told myself.

Well, those days that we worked together we got along swimmingly. I wasn't even being pacifying! ha.

I did ask our pDoc about it, soon after he started taking it. She said that it was an amazing anxiolytic when it worked for someone. She even said that she'd taken it, but when it went generic she found that she couldn't take the generic version. Anyway, I think it might be working wonders and I'm suddenly wondering how difficult I actually am!

[Poink]

Ne, I am on some bipolar drugs, and my Psych just prescribed Buspar yesterday. He thinks it might help with the anxiety that I get every time I put the bottle down. It is supposed to take a while to help, and the med should be taken at the same times every day. You can take it with food or without, but it should be taken the same way every time. I only started last night, but will let you know how it goes.



I almost never come here because of what SF has done to the group, so I would love to be included in your new group. My email is poinkster at gmail.com. I only use it here, so I will ditch it soon.



What SF fails to understand is that we are here because we can't stop drinking. Many of us have spent years trying. I have been thru several rehabs. We are all looking for something that kills the beast so that our willpower will be sufficient. If you don't need the help that meds might provide, you ought to stay the fuck out of this forum. Yeah, that means you, Spirit Troll.



Up or down, you have always been one of my favorite posters.



Thanks for all you do.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Poink, I'll ask Ed how he feels buspar (buspirone) has helped him. I think I notice a difference. It's been about a month.

When I asked our psychiatrist about it, she said that it was in a class all it's own and that she has found that for some people it can have a really life-altering effect in terms of dealing with anxiety. She also said that she used to take it, but that she had an intolerance of the generic version, so when they stopped making the other one, she had to stop taking it. I thought that was interesting. I also think I have a remarkably open shrink. ha.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

And thanks. I appreciate your comments. Hang in there.