I was wondering if anyone here has taken buspar for anxiety? My doc prescribed this to me yesterday, I wanted to start my Prozac again, but she said this is much easier on the nervous system. Anyone tried or like it? Thanks!!!:wave:

I took it, 7.5 mg 3 times a day for about 6-7 weeks with very little relief. I was very dizzy with this medicine and couldn't sleep. It does seem to work very well for some people though. From what I understand it works better for mild anxiety and not much for moderate to extreme or for panic attacks.

Good luck!

Tori

I took Buspar for awhile as well and found it relatively useless. It helped a little with light anxiety but again, I had no luck with it stopping panic attacks. The best bet for immediate anxiety relief is a class of drug called Benzodiazepene. They also have the least amount of side effects. Check with your doctor about it. Also, Prozac and other SSRI's are anti-depressants not anti-anxiety meds. In fact, doctors simply found that it helped some people by trial and error. Buspar works similar to SSRI's in that it works on the seratonin in your brain and it may take time to reach its full potential.

good luck.

Thanks ocdengineer and nuttygirl, the prozac was awful the first 2 weeks that I took it, but after that it was great. I have only taken 15 mg of buspar last night, and 15 mg this evening. Can you still take xanax with buspar?:confused:

I have taken buspar and sad to say am like the others had little effect.
I did so much better with the xanax I do suffer from panic disorder so maybe that is why.. The buspar just made me sleep, and yes I had some dizziness on it too:wave: .. Good luck

Thanks ocdengineer and nuttygirl, the prozac was awful the first 2 weeks that I took it, but after that it was great. I have only taken 15 mg of buspar last night, and 15 mg this evening. Can you still take xanax with buspar?:confused:

I was taking both when I first started xanax but my pdoc said to just quit the buspar because as he said " giving buspar to someone with severe anxiety and panic disorder is like giving someone with a migraine a baby aspirin" his words. But I do know of people taking both. They take the xanax only as needed such as a panic attack. Talk to your doctor if you're not feeling much relief from the SSRI.

Take Care,
Tori

Jenny-

I have taken buspar and it didnt work well because it felt time released. from every person I know who has taken meds for anxiety, zanex is the only one that truley works.

I have been on Buspar since mid August. I have been told by the doc that it can take a few months to really reach it's full potential so I'm hanging in there & being patient.
I was prescribed 15 mgm 2 x day but the doc said I could split it anyway I found comfortable or convenient. I found by taking 7.5 mgm 3-4 times per day I do not get the initial dizziness & less rebound anxiety- I still get some, but not as bad.
My doc said Xanax could be taken for severe panic while on Buspar, but to try to avoid it. I have only had to take a small dose of Xanax once since starting the Buspar.
I agree, I don't think it's great for severe anxiety, but perhaps with time it becomes more effective. Like everything else it is a trial & error. Unfortuantely the trial time is so long. Feel like I'm "trialing" my life away.
It is worth giving it a good try as I think it has become a bit more effective for me as time goes.
I should add that I also take Remeron 22.5 mgm at night ( AD)

Good luck ~

Hi, this is the third time I've been on buspar/buspirone. I started up again on July 1st. The other times I was able to get results on 15mg. a day broken into 3 doses. This time things going on around me are causing me intense anxiety where as before it was just general anxiety that I had. The last 5 weeks I had been feeling really great, no more hot flashes or panic, but then one of my children found out they needed major surgery and after going to all the dr. appt.'s and sitting in the hospital the day of the surgery all day waiting for results took a lot out of me and two days later I fell apart like a cheap suit. I am now adjusting my dose up higher to try and find a theraputic level that will help me stay stable. When my dad died in 2000, I had been on buspar for 2 years and was stable so I went through everything quite well. That's the only drawback of buspar, it is like a slow boat to china waiting for it to build up to a theraputic level. You have to be aggressive with the dosage and some people have problems with the dizziness. I have been lucky so far and the dizziness has been very light so it doesn't stop me from taking it. I usually only take 5mg. at a time, but I am now trying 10mg. at a time and uping my dose to 25 and possibly to 30 if all goes well to see if I can get back to where I was last week when I was feeling so good yet.

If your anxiety isn't too severe, try it. My doctor has said you need to get your dose up to 20 or 30mg. a day to get good results and sometimes higher. You can take up to 60mg. a day and some doctors now prescribe even higher doses for treating depression. At much higher doses it has been tested with clinical trials and found to be a decent antidepressant as well.

I thought after a couple of weeks it was helping because I started sleeping better (sleep meds don't even help me). I was taking 5 mg twice a day. Now I'm on my way up to 10 mg twice a day. I hope it helps but after I saw the psych the first time, when I thought this was working, I started getting worse anxiety. I saw her Mon and we increased it. We'll see. I just have GAD and no panic disorder right now so I'm hoping...

My Dr and I talked about Buspar for anxiety but he put me on Xanax and Lexapro. Once the Lexapro kicked in I really do not need the xanax for anxiety anymore.

Sometimes you have to try different meds to find out how it works with you...I have been through several.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I'm only day 2, 15 mg, at night. After 2 weeks she wants me to up it to 30 mg, in 2 doses of 15 mg. I am feeling a little more anxious today than yesterday, I keep getting muscle twitches and itchy feelings everywhere, but no rash. I was like this a few years back when I started Prozac, after 2 weeks I felt better. Does anyone get twitches with buspar? Does it after it gets in your system , give you any energy, because right now I'm in a hole waiting to get out, I need more energy to get my life back to normal. Thanks so much again for all the replies, I never thought I get this many!!! MANY THANKS!!!!!!!!:wave:

have been on tons of different meds for anxiety and depression. buspar was the worst !! i was dizzy all the time, my blood pressure was way down, so no wonder. its a rx that drs can get away with prescribing, without all the paper work etc as its used for other things too. i hated it. but it cuts their paperwork....

Darla,

What other things is Buspar prescribed for ?

thnaks~
anxiousinnj

I took Buspar for awhile as well and found it relatively useless. It helped a little with light anxiety but again, I had no luck with it stopping panic attacks. The best bet for immediate anxiety relief is a class of drug called Benzodiazepene. They also have the least amount of side effects. Check with your doctor about it. Also, Prozac and other SSRI's are anti-depressants not anti-anxiety meds. In fact, doctors simply found that it helped some people by trial and error. Buspar works similar to SSRI's in that it works on the seratonin in your brain and it may take time to reach its full potential.

good luck.the same thing happened with me. Now I take Xanax and it's helped the panic attacks greatly.

I'm new to this board but will throw this out anyway..
I've taken Buspar, .05 mg twice a day for about 8 weeks. It helps alot but does not take away all anxiety. I saw no difference until I had been on it about 5-6 weeks and was ready to throw it away but my doc told me to give it time. I can also take Xanax in addition to it and do once in a great while.
Xanax botheres me because I have heard "horror" stories from people going off Xanax...like dt's but it's probalby different for everyone.
I really wonder if I'm kidding myself and am more anxious than I consciously think and feel. (my intro spells out more). Probably.

Honestly, I can't entirely knock the Buspar because I took it a long time ago and I think ti did provide some relief. My mother has been taking it for years and says it helps here a lot. I think like all of the other meds out there, it will work slightly different for everyone. It was one of the few meds that did not give me major side-effects though, so that is a huge plus in my book. The SSRI's were horrible, but Buspar was mild. For me it was like going to war with a sling shot though. Just wasn't strong enough to get rid of the major panic attacks.

Well its been a week at taking 7.5 mg of buspar, and I can honestly say that it seems to have helped some, I'm sure that after a month or so, and when I up the dosage next week I'll notice even more of an improvement. When I took prozac, I had the worse first 2 weeks, I had everything from cold flushes, electrical shocks, muscle twitching, fatique and dizziness. It was awful, but I was willing to try it again, my doc suggested the buspar because its supposed to be easily tolerated, which I can say, so far the only thing that I noticed is that the first couple nights I was really tired. So, all, in all, I think its working great for me. I never have panic attacks, just plain old health anxiety, and with a clean bill of health, and the the meds, hopefully I'm on the road to recovery!!!! Thanks everyone!!!!!:wave: