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I've experimented with taking anti-anxiety pills for my needle phobia; I started out with normal doses, but when those had no effect on the actual experience I increased the dose until it worked (3x) Problem was, those doses were high enough to make me lose memory.

Aella

@Aella_Girl

Is this normal? People usually report anti-anxiety meds are pretty effective. Is it mostly for low-grade, chronic anxiety as opposed to acute terror experiences? Is there any drug that's real good at suppressing acute terror?

5:20 PM · Jul 19, 2022

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Yeah it’s fairly normal for benzodiazepines If you switch to propranolol, there’s a lot of evidence is can actually cure your fear. Basically it slows heart and when you get the stimulus but your cardiovascular system doesn’t respond your brain is like wait maybe it’s safe

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ooh ill need to try this ty

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Meds are not the solution to any of the problems you're listing. For phobias, try graded exposure with the help of a practitioner who doesn't have their head in pharma's ass

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not all phobias are created equal, mine's genetically inherited, it came on with no warning or cause one day when i was 16 (had no issue with needles before that), is a vasovagal reaction, and is the only phobia where the fear reaction itself has killed ppl before.

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Can you way which pill they were, and what dosage? Otherwise, telling you if it's normal is guesswork. So, guesswork: benzodiazepine → memory loss seems a common occurrence, see rohypnol.

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You reached the point of retrograde amnesia. So while at the time you were cognizant of what was going on, the memories just don't get stored. Its common. Stop taking benzos.

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which meds have you tried so far?

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might try a beta blocker like propanalol? I know a bunch of people take that for plane or public speaking phobias pretty sure it helped cure my wife's agoraphobia

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It's really not conventional, but I would suggest to try a dissociative at small dose. Maybe just ketamine if you can get your hands on some, I have only experience with analogues. Or ephenidine.

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Psychiatric medications can be very hit or miss. Make sure you're on a drug for acute anxiety (usually a benzo) and not something for more chronic anxiety (e.g., SSRIs). You may need to try a few before you find one that works and is tolerable.