Anyone take BuSpar?

[CathrynRose]

What do you think? Yay or Nay?

 

[dcentity2000]

From what I've heard it's generally a very good drug.

From my archives:

Buspirone is an anxiolytic drug unrelated to conventional tranquillisers such as benzodiazepines. In terms of efficacy it is roughly equal to the benzodiazepine medication diazepam in the treatment of generalised anxiety disorders but is less effective than benzodiazepines in general. It is also very useful in the treatment of anxious depressive illnesses when mixed with SSRI antidepressants in particular. Unusually for an anxiolytic, buspirone is not sedating and does not interact with alcohol; it is also thought not to be addicting. Unfortunately the drug takes several weeks to take effect so patients are often treated with faster acting tranquillisers initially. Buspirone should not strictly be mixed with RIMA or MAOI antidepressants.

Hope that helps!



Rich::

 

[MushyMushy]

I know Rich's description says it's not sedating, but BuSpar made me feel like a limp, wet noodle after it kicked in. I had absolutely no energy or motivation whatsoever when I was on it. I hated it, so my doctor took me off.

 

[Micca]

I know Rich's description says it's not sedating, but BuSpar made me feel like a limp, wet noodle after it kicked in. I had absolutely no energy or motivation whatsoever when I was on it. I hated it, so my doctor took me off.

Mushy I have found that energy and motivation are highly overrated

Good luck Cathyrnrose. Hope it works out for you.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I'm on it and like it a lot. For me it's relaxing without making me sleepy. I've been on other meds that make me real sleepy (xanax makes me sleepy, for example). Buspar is also not supposed to be addictive, which is why my dr wanted me on that particular medication.

Mushy, that's the thing about medications...everyone can have such varied responses. I was on Depakote for migraine prevention and it made me sleep almost all the time. I slept the whole way last summer when we drove from Orlando to Maryland. Thankfully I wasn't the driver. I woke up to go to the restroom and to (barely) eat. It was actually kind of a nice drive. But when we got home I would go to sleep early, sleep all night long, wake up to eat breakfast, and then go back to sleep for several hours. It's not supposed to make a person that sleepy and I couldn't stay on it long enough to see if it helped my migraines. I'm now on a different medication that's in the same class of drugs and I'm fine with that one.

 

[dcentity2000]

A decent site I frequent with info on BusPar:

http://www.crazymeds.us/BuSpar.shtml



Rich::

 

[SeeDisney]

OMG!!!! I'm sitting here with the bottle of Buspar right in front of me!!!!!! I just got off the helpful website Medications.com for any opinions/side effects/reviews. Apparently, there's very few.

My doctor, YESTERDAY, prescribed this new medicine, Buspar, for me for my anxiety issues --- I'm getting more and more anxiety. Xanax is not really doing the trick for me. She wants me to take Buspar everyday, actually twice a day.


Truthfully, I haven't started yet. I'll probably will in a day or two. I've never been on a day to day anti-anxiety medicine so I'm skittish and fretful here.

I can't believe the timing of your post, cathryn Rose. WoW!!

 

[Pop Daddy]

I dont know what it is, but I will take some

 

[enyaj40]

took it a LONG time ago and remember that it made me nauseous

 

[Tigger&Belle]

OMG!!!! I'm sitting here with the bottle of Buspar right in front of me!!!!!! I just got off the helpful website Medications.com for any opinions/side effects/reviews. Apparently, there's very few.

My doctor, YESTERDAY, prescribed this new medicine, Buspar, for me for my anxiety issues --- I'm getting more and more anxiety. Xanax is not really doing the trick for me. She wants me to take Buspar everyday, actually twice a day.


Truthfully, I haven't started yet. I'll probably will in a day or two. I've never been on a day to day anti-anxiety medicine so I'm skittish and fretful here.

I can't believe the timing of your post, cathryn Rose. WoW!!

Not sure what instructions your dr gave you, but I started out at a lower dose and increased it gradually. It's a med that you're supposed to take ar regular intervals, not something that's taken just as needed. I take one tablet, twice a day. The nice thing about it is that if it doesn't work for you, you can go off of it without withdrawal issues, unlike some meds. It doesn't make me feel doped up or anything like that, just a bit calmer.

 

[Christine]

Let me caveat this "speech" with the information that I am a freak! Seriously, I am.

As you know, I've had panic and anxiety for years and have tried many, many meds. The SSRIs give me a rough time.

Anyway, my GP wanted me to try Buspar and he gave me one of the starter packs that get you to ramp up on the drug in a certain way. Knowing my sensitivities to meds, I started even slower than the ramp up pack; i.e., I took probably half of the recommended first dose and so on. The first day I took it I don't recall feeling anything which was a good thing for me. The second day, I started feeling really energetic. This continued. I remember that on one particular day, which was a Saturday, I couldn't sit down. I usually sit in a chair in my living room and look out this window when I'm having phone calls with my friends and I just couldn't sit still.

I had so much energy and I really loved it. I got everything done in my house and when it was time to just sit down and enjoy things, I couldn't. The other thing I noticed was that my mind would not obsess over every little thing that it does. I overanalzye probably everything. A real thinker. Well, suddenly I just didn't really care too much about things. This was a GOOD thing in my mind and probably something that helps with the anxiety.

On the 5th day of the medication, I just couldn't take the "ramped up" feeling and decided just to stop it. I was never told that I needed to taper or anything. So, that particular day I did not take the medication at all. I was also very agitated from it at the point. I went to work, attended 3 hours of my training class, broke for lunch. When I started eating I felt that "switch" click in my head, out of nowhere, and I experienced the biggest, most humongous panic situation of my life. I don't call it an "attack" because it lasted well over 3 hours. I had to leave the training facility, have a friend escort me back to my office. In the meantime, I was stopping at every bathroom because the adrenaline was fueling my intestines, if you catch my drift. My heart rate was incredible, I kept clenching my jaw so hard it scared me. My coworkers were freaked about my appearance. I couldn't drive and had to leave my car at work. My coworker had to drive me home. I had to take several of my Xanax pills to stop it and they worked so I do believe it set off some sort of panic versus it being a drug reaction because you wouldn't think Xanax would stop an adverse drug event.

At any rate, I think I'm the only person in the world who had this response. No one can ever convince me that it wasn't the meds because never before and never after have I had anything to this degree. I don't know if it was the med itself or the lack of taking it that day.

Most people find Buspar very mild. My friend took it for awhile but stopped because she felt very dizzy all the time.

I don't mean to scare you off of it--I think you should give it a try but I do, myself, like to be informed.

 

[heart4pooh]

I took it last year. I was upset that my wonderful vet suddenly passed away during a procedure that was part of his treatment for an operable lung tumor. He was my age and didn't smoke. I took it to help with depression and to stop smoking. It worked well for me. I was on it for about 4-5 months. I must say it helps with obsessions, too. I stopped wanting to Dis!!

 

[shortbun]

I took it 13 years ago for a short time. I made me feel horrible. My legs were so weak I coud barely support myself. I felt heavy, dry mouth, nauseous. I stopped taking it and all the symptoms went away. My doctor did not agree that the Buspar had caused those side effects. She is no longer my doctor.

 

[maxiesmom]

My doctor has me taking it for anxiety attacks, but I don't take it daily. Only as needed. And it does work on me rather quickly, after 10 minutes or so. So I'm kind of baffled by the literature that states you need to be on it for a while for it to work.

 

[swilphil]

I just spoke to a psychiatrist (for children) last week about prescribing this for my son's anxiety. The doctor said it was a "gentle" medication though it could cause sleepiness and have other mild side effects. He did say that it takes a while for it to kick in, and that my son needed to take it twice a day, initially with a 1/2 tablet twice a day and then a full tablet twice a day.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

My doctor has me taking it for anxiety attacks, but I don't take it daily. Only as needed. And it does work on me rather quickly, after 10 minutes or so. So I'm kind of baffled by the literature that states you need to be on it for a while for it to work.

I think it does take a while to totally kick in and get regulatated in the body, but I do notice the relaxed feeling a little while after taking it, so I understand what you're saying.

 

[dcentity2000]

My doctor has me taking it for anxiety attacks, but I don't take it daily. Only as needed. And it does work on me rather quickly, after 10 minutes or so. So I'm kind of baffled by the literature that states you need to be on it for a while for it to work.

I reckon that it does build up in the body, increasing in effectivity to a certain point. I also believe that in many, if not most cases, near instant results can be experienced. Even Fluoxetine (Prozac) exhibits such behavior, even though it takes YONKS to build up in your blood stream.



Rich::