Opinions - Hydroxyzine vs. Benzos therapeutical effectiveness

[Laudaphun]

Just wanted to get some input on what people think of hydroxyzine being used as an anxiolytic. This is not a thread to compare the recreational uses of benzos vs. hydroxyzine but rather in the treatment of acute anxiety. SWIM was injected with hydroxyzine once I.M. in the emergency room for an acute panic attack when he was very young and didn't even know what a panic attack was. SWIM remembers that it was effective, however it was administered via injection.

But when it comes to pill form SWIM wonders how many people that have anxiety issues are able to use hydroxyzine in place of benzos. Hydroxyzine is supposed to work pretty well for anxiety, while it has little abuse potential. So the obvious question comes up... How does it compare to benzos? I'm looking for people who have used both drugs and are able to compare to give comparisons. So far SWIM has only taken it after having already taken a benzo and can definitely say that it has very definite sedative properties, however SWIM hasn't been able to try it by itself. Currently, SWIM is thinking that it may be effective for anxiety, however a little too sedating to be used in place of benzos in many situations. SWIM will experiment with it and post his results.

[Orchid_Suspiria]

Swim wishes he could say more but he vaguely remembers taking hydroxyzine once and wasn't impressed.

[Paracelsus]

Please correct the spelling of hydroxyzine in the thread title.

Reputation Comments on this post:

thanks for pointing out my misspelling... I would have eventually noticed but it might have taken me awhile.

[Politicalchalk]

SWIM is prescribed hydroxyzine regularly for bipolar I and tourette's. SWIM has trouble sleeping a lot, so taking a dose of about 150mg - 200mg seems to help (I think I have a tolerance, despite this being an anti-histamine). As for anxiety, it's different than a benzo. If you're pissed off RIGHT NOW, hydroxyzine will help calm you down. Benzos are more of a "chill pill"

[Matches]

Rather take 100mgs of this than an atypical for sleep. It doesn't help at all with rebound anxiety specifically related to benzo withdrawals. Just a more archaic form of Benadryl with less anticholinergic properties. Something like ...Mirtazapine is a better aid (for sleep and anxiety, imho.)

[Politicalchalk]

SWIM is prescribed 50mg x 3/day. "Take them throughout the day, or all at once. I don't care." said SWIM's previous psychiatrist (guess which part of that made him change psych's?). So, 150 is just what was prescribed. And interestingly, hydroxyzine metabolizes into cetirizine (zyrtec, now OTC). According to the wikipedia, pure cetirizine removes some if not all of the anxiolytic/analgesic properties of hydroxyzine.

SWIM has anxiety and allergies, as well as sleep probs. 50mgs for allergies, 100 for anxiety, and 150 for sleep. It's quite an interesting chemical if you like pharmacology as it has many many actions/indications. SWIM's 1978 copy of the PDR goes on and on, listing a lot of clinical info.\

Finally, there are 2 different salts of hydroxyzine: the pamoate and the hydrochloride. SWIM finds that the former is more soothing (Vistaril in the US), and the latter is more sedating (Atarax in US). SWIM likes the pamoate because he can take it in the day and function, as well as in higher doses at night for sleep.

[Laudaphun]

Originally Posted by Matches

Rather take 100mgs of this than an atypical for sleep. It doesn't help at all with rebound anxiety specifically related to benzo withdrawals. Just a more archaic form of Benadryl with less anticholinergic properties. Something like ...Mirtazapine is a better aid (for sleep and anxiety, imho.)

Mirtazapine is an atypical antidepressant. Depending upon the text you read, it will be listed as such, however it certainly does not fall neatly fall into any of the regular anti-depressant categories. SWIM was recently offered this by a shrink, but SWIM has decided that the lab rat will no longer be testing anything falling under the anti-depressant category, unless of course the lab rat becomes severely depressed. So SWIM is interested to hear more personal encounters of this drug, but that would be for another thread.

[Matt The Funk]

So SWIM recently got out of the psychiatric ward and the doc there gave him a bunch of crap for using benzo's (even though he has had them prescribed for a while now, and they worked perfectly for him, but after a while realized he should only take them for panic attacks) and switched him to Gabapentin as need, which only works if he takes it once a week, and at a higher dose than what he is prescribed, and honestly hasn't done shit for him. Before he got admitted though his normal psych gave him Atarax (hydroxyzine) for his insomnia problems that benzos can't help (nor almost anything else besides cannabis for that matter, which was losing it's effectiveness before he was placed in the ward, but that is a completely other story) , but he never got it filled and is now thinking about getting it filled to see if it will help not only for his insomnia, but if he could use it instead of the nuerontin for his anxiety? To be honest he would prefer not to use benzo's for his anxiety anymore, unless it is ABSOLUTELY needed as he has addiction problems with them, and is currently using low doses of valium (diazepam) to help him until his next psych appointment.

His normal doses for panic attacks would be 2mg of clonazepam (klonopin) or 2mg of alprazolam (xanax) and for sleep he was given 30mg of temezepam (restoril) but as he said before that wasn't really helping, and he would have to take up to 120+mg to feel sleepy.He doesn't find any insomnia relief from diphenhydramine (benadryl) and seroquel (quetiapine) fucks with his blood sugar and after a while doesn't help insomnia either.

Any input? Or experience with both types of medications?

[Bluedrip]

SWIM found hydroxyzine to be very good for sleep and moderately good for hives (strong allergic response), but of little value in treating his anxiety. The upside of hydroxyzine is that it is not a benzo and does not work directly on GABA. It does not induce physical dependancy like benzos do if used regularly, so if it works for SWIY then that is great. SWIM did find one non-benzo that helped with his anxiety: the beta blocker propranolol. SWIM also finds that really good quality Kava-Kava is helpful to him.

Reputation Comments on this post:

hey thanks for the tips and info, input was much appreciated