Tianeptine Should I Use?

TurtleNeck

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I have agoraphobia and panic disorder labeled by my doctor. I live in canada and the winter is starting soon. Ha-vent left my home since February this year. Been looking for help but no therapists or counselors want to do home visits which SUCKS.

Doctor prescribed me SSRI, sleeping pills, and some anti psychosis medication. Which I burned and threw away. Though now I am getting really depressed about the situation. Learning about learned helplessness makes me wonder about how to get out.

Some days I feel like it is almost easier to just stay here for the rest of my life (I live with my dad) but that thinking sounds dangerous and I would like to be free and change enviroment.


Tianeptine seems like the safest of the drugs too use. Ive come along way with diet and lifestyle but sometimes I feel like ***t being alone alot of the time. Using video games too cope.

Should I use it or no? I have great fears of substances after a year or two of supplement binges and having the worst trip of my life on a whole weed cookie when I was 17

Help!
 

Sucrates

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It seems a pretty well tolerated drug at the therapeutic doses. (3x12.5mg/day)
I used it for a while and didn't notice too much. I've spoken to a couple of people online who had great results with it.
 
M

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Never took any drug. Not interested in benzos heard some horror stories

It was a terrible drug trip that kicked off my panic disorder and agoraphobia too. So I am similarly cautious with drugs. Diazepam, however, has been a wonderful help to me, and I've had to rely on it occasionally for coming on 3 years. I've travelled to Australia and back, thanks to Diazepam. I've gone for periods of months where I've not needed it.

I think it's safe as long as it's used ONLY when needed, and is far more effective than anything I've ever tried. I only use it when I'm having a full-blown panic attack, and within 30 minutes I'm calm. Or if I'm really nervous about something - for example a trip to the cinema - I'll take some beforehand and will feel calm throughout the journey and probably won't need it next time. The benefit for me was knowing that if I started to panic, I knew I had something that would guarantee to calm me down.

I won't recommend Diazepam for you, because I don't know enough about you and your condition, and I completely understand your worries because I've been there myself. All I'll say is that for me it's been a life saver.
 

Makrosky

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Oct 5, 2014
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I have agoraphobia and panic disorder labeled by my doctor. I live in canada and the winter is starting soon. Ha-vent left my home since February this year. Been looking for help but no therapists or counselors want to do home visits which SUCKS.

Doctor prescribed me SSRI, sleeping pills, and some anti psychosis medication. Which I burned and threw away. Though now I am getting really depressed about the situation. Learning about learned helplessness makes me wonder about how to get out.

Some days I feel like it is almost easier to just stay here for the rest of my life (I live with my dad) but that thinking sounds dangerous and I would like to be free and change enviroment.


Tianeptine seems like the safest of the drugs too use. Ive come along way with diet and lifestyle but sometimes I feel like ***t being alone alot of the time. Using video games too cope.

Should I use it or no? I have great fears of substances after a year or two of supplement binges and having the worst trip of my life on a whole weed cookie when I was 17

Help!

Hi buddy,

Sorry to hear you are feeling bad.

I'm not sure you should try to self medicate with any psychoactive drug if you already have two psychiatric conditions. You ask "should I use it or no?" ... wow... how can we tell you that, man ? What makes you think tianeptine will help you ?

Of course if you decide you want to use it, start SLOW and see what happens. Take a single pill (12,5mg) and see how it goes.

See... tianeptine lowers estress a lot. If you have been running on stress hormones and serotonin for elevating your mood, and you suddenly have a drop of them, you can have a VERY depressing time. Be very careful with that.

Why do you want to start with psychoactive drugs ? Tell us about your diet, age, occupation, bowel status, etc...

Benzodiazepines are not bad provinding you use them sparingly. I use them very sparingly, like... 3 or 4 times a year. I like to keep them on hand. If you want to know more, ask your doctor how long can you take the benzos before developping a dependence. They should know, no ? This is the minimum I would expect from a psychiatrist. Lowering stress is always good wether with benzos or not.

What does your father think about your situation?

Cheers
 
OP
TurtleNeck

TurtleNeck

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Sep 11, 2016
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74
Hi buddy,

Sorry to hear you are feeling bad.

I'm not sure you should try to self medicate with any psychoactive drug if you already have two psychiatric conditions. You ask "should I use it or no?" ... wow... how can we tell you that, man ? What makes you think tianeptine will help you ?

Of course if you decide you want to use it, start SLOW and see what happens. Take a single pill (12,5mg) and see how it goes.

See... tianeptine lowers estress a lot. If you have been running on stress hormones and serotonin for elevating your mood, and you suddenly have a drop of them, you can have a VERY depressing time. Be very careful with that.

Why do you want to start with psychoactive drugs ? Tell us about your diet, age, occupation, bowel status, etc...

Benzodiazepines are not bad provinding you use them sparingly. I use them very sparingly, like... 3 or 4 times a year. I like to keep them on hand. If you want to know more, ask your doctor how long can you take the benzos before developping a dependence. They should know, no ? This is the minimum I would expect from a psychiatrist. Lowering stress is always good wether with benzos or not.

What does your father think about your situation?

Cheers

Well I asked the question to see what opinions were out there. Ive tried so many things, chromium, theanine, niacinmide, b6, zinc, evening primrose etc etc. I had so many suppliments !

I am 22 years old. Diet is good. I think I eat a variety of foods, lots of carbs, proteins and try to keep fats low but not going crazy about it. Bowels are good most days. I am unemployed obviously as I cannot leave the house
 
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TurtleNeck

TurtleNeck

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It was a terrible drug trip that kicked off my panic disorder and agoraphobia too. So I am similarly cautious with drugs. Diazepam, however, has been a wonderful help to me, and I've had to rely on it occasionally for coming on 3 years. I've travelled to Australia and back, thanks to Diazepam. I've gone for periods of months where I've not needed it.

I think it's safe as long as it's used ONLY when needed, and is far more effective than anything I've ever tried. I only use it when I'm having a full-blown panic attack, and within 30 minutes I'm calm. Or if I'm really nervous about something - for example a trip to the cinema - I'll take some beforehand and will feel calm throughout the journey and probably won't need it next time. The benefit for me was knowing that if I started to panic, I knew I had something that would guarantee to calm me down.

I won't recommend Diazepam for you, because I don't know enough about you and your condition, and I completely understand your worries because I've been there myself. All I'll say is that for me it's been a life saver.

Hmm. Interesting story man! Glad you took a trip must of been enjoyable! Im at the stage where I dont see ever going out. So I was thinking maybe high serotonin? Its a behavioural issue too but it doesent seem to want to budge
 

InChristAlone

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I find this type of panic disorder is very treatable with exposure therapies. The more your isolate yourself the less control you feel you have, the more fear you have leaving. I get panic attacks, and some of them have happened while on trips, but I have never became scared of driving or scared to leave the house because the worst ones I've had happened in my house just while sitting relaxing or something. For me they were from blood sugar swings I think and I have liver/gallbladder issues. Caffeine tends to make them much more severe. Without caffeine I might still get anxiety but I don't get a full blown panic attack that paralyzes me for hours and hours. We can keep this discussion going if you want. There are many ways to overcome this. I didn't do benzos. They made feel really the depressed the day after. But they work if used only when necessary.
 
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TurtleNeck

TurtleNeck

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I find this type of panic disorder is very treatable with exposure therapies. The more your isolate yourself the less control you feel you have, the more fear you have leaving. I get panic attacks, and some of them have happened while on trips, but I have never became scared of driving or scared to leave the house because the worst ones I've had happened in my house just while sitting relaxing or something. For me they were from blood sugar swings I think and I have liver/gallbladder issues. Caffeine tends to make them much more severe. Without caffeine I might still get anxiety but I don't get a full blown panic attack that paralyzes me for hours and hours. We can keep this discussion going if you want. There are many ways to overcome this. I didn't do benzos. They made feel really the depressed the day after. But they work if used only when necessary.

Thanks Janelle you have replied to my other posts too. It seems like I am posting alot but this is the only group of people i can talk too as no one wants to do home visits. Even my mom has chalked me up as a lost cause saying that I fake it and should just leave its not that hard. Just looking for a way out I guess and Everyone seems to praise Tianeptine
 

InChristAlone

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You are not a lost cause! Many people have overcome agoraphobia and so can you! I have found seeking out programs really helped me when I was in the thick of not wanting to go anywhere. Here is one channel the guy wrote a system called "panic away" Barry McDonagh

There is also The Linden Method, which I find similar to most every other advice about panic disorder, I downloaded it as a torrent. Related so much with Mr. Linden's experiences as he had non stop panic so it wasn't just phobias. But he journals how he would attempt to leave the house and then have to come back but he never gave up trying to leave.
 

d1d2

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Thanks Janelle you have replied to my other posts too. It seems like I am posting alot but this is the only group of people i can talk too as no one wants to do home visits. Even my mom has chalked me up as a lost cause saying that I fake it and should just leave its not that hard. Just looking for a way out I guess and Everyone seems to praise Tianeptine

I've had some anxiety related to work and found that cyproheptadine and Pansterone worked really well. I think my metabolism was progressively going downhill over the span of several years without me realizing it. I only take a quarter or two of a tablet of cypro (1-2 mg). I only take a couple drops of Pansterone too (about a quarter dose). I was cautious but it's worked well.

I'm sure that my experience was not as severe but there are a lot of discussions on the forum about learned helplessness and PTSD, for example. Serotonin seems to be implicated and there are several approaches to approach that topic. Haidut's supplements have been very welcome by many folks. Please consider the best options for yourself and as others mentioned, make your own informed decisions and start slowly.
 
OP
TurtleNeck

TurtleNeck

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You are not a lost cause! Many people have overcome agoraphobia and so can you! I have found seeking out programs really helped me when I was in the thick of not wanting to go anywhere. Here is one channel the guy wrote a system called "panic away" Barry McDonagh

There is also The Linden Method, which I find similar to most every other advice about panic disorder, I downloaded it as a torrent. Related so much with Mr. Linden's experiences as he had non stop panic so it wasn't just phobias. But he journals how he would attempt to leave the house and then have to come back but he never gave up trying to leave.

Ive read both books and have downloaded lindon method as well! They helped me see through the illusion. But I feel so hopeless like the learned helplessness Ive read about. I wish I had a therapist to talk to It would make it alot easier!
 

InChristAlone

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Oh thats good! It would be good to have a therapist, don't some of these methods do phone consultations? Could you scrounge up money for those?
 
M

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There is also The Linden Method, which I find similar to most every other advice about panic disorder, I downloaded it as a torrent. Related so much with Mr. Linden's experiences as he had non stop panic so it wasn't just phobias. But he journals how he would attempt to leave the house and then have to come back but he never gave up trying to leave.

I think some of Charles Linden's advice is very bad. He literally encourages sufferers of anxiety to bury their traumas, rather than confronting or exploring them. In the long run, I can't see how that's a sensible approach, though apparently it worked for him and others.

Having said that, I find it quite hard to take him seriously given the way he's gone about his business. Very distasteful. But we're getting off topic!

I think Claire Weekes and her ilk gives better advice personally. And you can get it free from a library!
 

InChristAlone

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Yeah I don't like the business approach to anxiety. And I totally agree with you on not burying trauma. Thankfully I've read a lot from all angles on psychology and can appreciate 'waking the tiger' so to speak. But seriously when you are in the thick of panic bringing up trauma is not a good idea sometimes you do need to distract yourself so that you can get back to a sense of normalcy and recover.
 
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TurtleNeck

TurtleNeck

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Oh thats good! It would be good to have a therapist, don't some of these methods do phone consultations? Could you scrounge up money for those?

I think some of Charles Linden's advice is very bad. He literally encourages sufferers of anxiety to bury their traumas, rather than confronting or exploring them. In the long run, I can't see how that's a sensible approach, though apparently it worked for him and others.

Having said that, I find it quite hard to take him seriously given the way he's gone about his business. Very distasteful. But we're getting off topic!

I think Claire Weekes and her ilk gives better advice personally. And you can get it free from a library!


Read claire weeks as well! Janelle. Not that I know of. They said If I cant make it to there office then my case will be closed. Dont know what to do except keep trucking on!
 
M

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I read the Linden Method and found bits of it excellent, to be fair.

But his main approach is basically to avoid and distract and bury, and I can't see the sense in that.

Agreed, when your anxiety is at a peak the last thing you want to do is confront past traumas. I think attempting distraction is totally natural at those times, though it doesn't always work.
 
M

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Read claire weeks as well! Janelle. Not that I know of. They said If I cant make it to there office then my case will be closed. Dont know what to do except keep trucking on!

I have faith in you! Remember that you're not in any danger. Your subconscious just thinks you are. You've not left your house since February because, presumably, you fear that by stepping outside you'll spiral into panic mode again. You've made it a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.

I don't think there's anything wrong with taking medication that will help you take small steps out of your comfort zone.
 

DaveFoster

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Exposure therapy, as mentioned will rewire neural plasticity to tolerate the undesirable stimulus; structure and function are interdependent and all.

A good strategy is using a drug to overcome the inertia from not wanting to be around things you don't like, and then forcing yourself around those things under the influence of the drug.

After you've conditioned yourself, you can wean off the medication.
 

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