I have really severe panic and anxiety xceldanes. Vistaril is considered an antihistamine and both vistaril and buspar are prescribed to treat mild anxiety. If the anxiety is severe, it probably will not work. The plus things about using these two drugs for anxiety is that they are not addictive and there is not that much of a problem from tolerance to my understanding. The benzos will work for anxiety. They are true anti-anxiety agents. There is both good and bad when it comes to benzodiazepines like klonopin, xanax, ativan, and valium. Good - These are very safe meds, virtually no adverse side effects other than making most people feel a little drowsy in the beginning but this sedative effect usually goes away after a few weeks but the drug will retain the anti-anxiety effect. It is almost impossible to overdose on benzos alone. Often you will hear of people dying with benzos in their system but these drugs have to be combined with other drugs like opiates or booze and then the combination can be lethal. The other good thing about the benzos is they have all been around for a while and available in generic so the cost is pretty cheap. Bad - These drugs are extremely addictive. If you take them chronically, you can become medically addicted in as little as two weeks in some cases. Usually after about a month, most people are hooked. Tolerance is also another problem that you see with these drugs. This has happened to me 3 times over a 30 year timespan. Tolerance is where the brain starts to adapt to the presence of the drug and the brain starts to require more and more of the drug to get the same effect. Then, most people have to start increasing the dose to get the desired effect or switch to another benzo which may or may not work since the meds are all cross tolerant. I became completely tolerant to both xanax and klonopin after many years of use. After I became completely tolerant, no amount of the drug really works and you can become extremely sick from the withdrawal effects. In fact, a lot of people say benzo withdrawal is the worse w/d you can ever go thru, much worse than heroin and opiates and much longer. The pain is incredible and hard to put into words. I went thru this with klonopin many years ago and thought for sure I was going to die. It was a horrible experience that remains etched in my mind today. Not all people become tolerant but almost all people will become addicted. It you are addicted and never become tolerant, as long as you take the drug, you will feel fine. I know of several people who have been on valium over 40 years. Now for the buspar and vistaril. I have taken both and personally found both to be ineffective for my anxiety because it is too severe. They have given me vistaril via IV in the ER and that did calm me way down but the pill form that you get from the pharmacy never did anything for me. The same thing can be said for buspar. They say buspar can work pretty good in some cases if you have never exposed your brain to the much stronger benzos like valium. Personally I would try the two milder drugs 1st xceldanes. If they work, they are a much better option than the stronger benzos. Don't be afraid of the benzos, just use caution. They will work for anxiety but can be problematic after long-term use. ****************signature line disclaimer****************
I am no doctor nor do I have any medical training. Anything I write is just my personal opinion from my personal experience that you may or may not find helpful. Health & Healing have many different paths. Find the one that is right for you and hopefully reclaim your health.
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