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Propanolol is a fantastic anxiety treatment. In some ways better than xanax, at least for me.

Highly, highly recommend trying it. They say it's for "stage fright", which can be offputting because "stage fright" (at least to me) seems almost wholly unrelated to the type of anxiety I suffer from.

It's a miracle from my perspective. If you suffer from generalized anxiety, please ask your doctor about it.

Just to really hammer this home: I had doctors recommend this drug to me for years, and I always more or less ignored them. I have taken xanax for quite some time, and took this recommendation as them being apprehensive about prescribing it (which i understand, since many people abuse it).

Propanolol seems to have the same type of calming effect, but with none of tired/disassociative feelings that xanax gives (which I don't like). The first time I took it I almost wanted to cry. It really was just like a switch that turned the anxiety off. It does take about 60-90 minutes to fully kick in, though.

Thanks for the suggestion; I appreciate it. Is this something you take daily or as you need it?

As needed, but it's fine to take daily with no negative downsides.

I'll take it before I need to go do something which might have triggered an attack, but the long term benefit here is that doing those activities without getting triggered lessens the sensitivity to the trigger (if that make sense).

So lately I haven't taken any in weeks, but when I was first prescribed it I took it every day.

I feel that propanolol helps with physical effects of anxiety (which are not much of a problem for me), but doesn't affect the mental side of anxiety the same way benzos do. It's much less addictive than benzos of course, and preferable for that reason if it works.

I only get the physical effects, which is why it works so well for me.

I'm a hobbyist musician with IBS-D, which is often triggered by general anxiety. I've been asked to play with the pros several times, and every time I have to say 'no' several hours beforehand b/c I'm chained to the toilet. Do you think that propranolol would negate those issues? I have also tried CBT with a therapist and it was only marginally helpful

I think the drug is often prescribed for this exact scenario (stage fright, essentially).

This is not medical advice. However propranolol is prescribed off label for “performance anxiety” so it may be worth discussing with your PCP. It is not an anxiety medication per se, it is a non selective beta blocker, it blocks some of the effects of (nor)adrenaline. How this can help isn’t entirely understood but part of performance anxiety is a positive feedback cycle where your physical feelings of anxiety provoke more anxiety.

The good thing about propranolol is that since it does not have meaningful addiction or tolerance potential it’s reasonable to take long term. It’s relatively safe in otherwise healthy people, so it’s overall low risk, with depressed heart rate and BP leading to syncope the main one. It historically was a blood pressure medication, but oral beta blockers are poor first line BP meds. Few PCPs have qualms prescribing it if there are no contraindications.

+ 1 for propranolol. Its a beta blocker. It binds to receptor sites for adrenaline so adrenaline doesnt have effect. Usually anxiety attack is a loop where brain panics, triggers body reaction like increased heart rate etc and that causes brain to panic further and this loop escalates. Propranolol blocks this loop in the body, as in, heart rate wont increase.

Personally I found it useful.

It's very likely that you had way too much THC. Especially if you vaped or ingested it.

When I first started smoking, 0.01g (yes, one hundredth of a gram - a barely visible layer on top of some tobacco) was enough to get a whole room of students incredibly high for a few hours. I used to buy 0.2g and that lasted 5 people the entire weekend.

And that was before all of this lamp-grown craziness with 10% and more THC content. If you used more than 0.1g of these medical dispensary strains, it's really no wonder you had a crazy panic attack. I'd have too and I'm an experienced smoker.

I know some people using weed to treat anxiety. They smoke so little they don't feel high at all. One gram might last them a month.

I have 2nd this. I've been using weed for a very long time and have seen so many people try to take a lung full of smoke as opposed to a small sip.

I don't do "vapes". That stuff is so highly concentrated that it makes me cough with even a tiny sip. Same with "gummies". I can't really know how the dose will affect me and I don't want to get "stoned".

I do think that if you're wanting weed to help with anxiety you should probably look into CBD too. That probably works better for anxiety.

For the curious reader: that clownshow is at ~30% THC these days.

I have diagnosed GAD as well. And the first time I smoked marijuana I had an intensely anxious experience. However, i find that small doses of edibles are like magic. I am sensitive to it but the dose makes the poison.

Apart from mindfulness practices (which do help, but slowly), I've found the following to be life-changing regarding my lifelong, debilitating social anxiety:

- psychedelic therapy (1-4 times a year, over 6 years, turned me into a functional person in social contexts)

- strong chammomile flower tea (depresses my nervous system to a normal baseline -- this has been the most dramatic way to ease physiological symptoms of anxiety for me)

> I’ve been fighting this for decades and it doesn’t get better as I get older.

As someone younger than you quite possibly suffering with the same thing, that’s saddening to hear. Is there anything you did that you wish you’d done sooner? Have you tried any (pharmaceutical) medication?

See here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39278214

I do take Clonazepam when I get severe panic attacks or right before something I know usually triggers a panic attack, but nothing on a day-to-day basis. Clonazepam does seem to help with my symptoms, though it just makes me feel euphoric (which, I guess, is better than feeling like I'm dying). I take a tiny dose, but it seems to help a lot.

I have a few things I wish I'd done sooner if you'd indulge my ranty and highly personal list:

* Moving out of the city and into the country. I know this one is not feasible for most people, but it helped me to get out of the hustle and bustle and back to an environment similar to where I grew up.

* Reducing caffeine and increasing water intake. I limit myself to one cup of coffee in the morning and no caffeine afterward.

* Quitting my high-stress job in favor of a job at a startup and taking more breaks.

* Daily cardio exercise for at least 30 minutes.

* Talking about how I'm feeling with my partner. It seems simple and silly, but this one is crucial for me. I tend to lock up when I'm feeling crappy and lash out. Overcoming that and talking about how I'm feeling has helped enormously.

* Going to therapy.

These are all helping me cope, so I still have panic attacks, but not as often as a decade or so ago.

> if you'd indulge my ranty and highly personal list

Not ranty at all; very helpful in fact!

It’s interesting you say cutting down on caffeine helped… I feel the opposite would be true for me. For some reason it seems to have a calming effect.

Anyway… good luck to you. I hope it continues to gradually improve.

Anxiety is likely to get worse as you age, unfortunately. If you have it when you're young, the prognosis isn't good.

I'm way less anxious as an adult than I was as a kid. Likely due to various coping strategies that I've ingrained over the years.