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Sunday, July 20, 2008 Mary asks

Q: which benzodiazepine is best to treat anxiety

My psyichiatrist has prescribed xanax for me in the past, and 2 months ago switched me to Valium at 5 mg twice a day for anxiety.  He has also prescribed Cymbalta for me at 60 mg per day for the past 3 years (until 1 month agao, I had been taking 120 mg per day of Cymbalta); and last week he prescibed 10 mg of Lexapro per day to help my depression.  I think that the Xanax helped more than the Valium.  I think that maybe the Xanax worked better.  Is there any evidence that Xanax works better for anxiety.   I am worried a lot about losing my job because of poor performance, and am in trouble with the truancy court because my youngest son, 12 years old, has had excessive absences from school due to poor sleep, headaches, and stomache aches.  He says he hats his school.  Can a child of 12 be prescribed anti-anxiety medication and/or sleep medication?  My anxiety includes excessive worry, fear, PTSD, and stress from a difficult marriage.   Undecided 

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Answers (2)
7/31/08 1:40pm

i take cybalta an have just started reduceing from 120  my doc put me up from 60 to 120 mg to try to hit the core of anxiety it failed.the best benzo by far is ativan or loz whatever you want to call it. it is also the most addictive, i should no i was addicted to 10mg aday i am now stable at 4 mg  still bad but i think i did well it is worse than heroin to come off. so baby short term only or your in big trouble. ihad a stupid psyc  doc stop all 10 dead.after two days i overdosed on a.ds if theres hell i was in it.

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8/ 5/09 8:01pm

Usually a long-acting benzo such as Xanax XR or Clonepin has much less risk of abuse; they need to be taken twice/day vs. every 4 hrs.  Thus there is less rebound anxiety and a slower release of the medication into the system.

 

 

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