Ativan Alternative

[Ladycreole03]

Anyone know of other meds that helps with sound, motion, and light sensitivity?

 

[Learner1]

Glad you are looking for alternatives. Benzos can be addictive and difficult to get off of. Things that helped reduce my light and sound sensitivity:

1. Finding and treating infections like Epstein Barr, HHV6, chlamydia pneunoniae, etc.
2. Taking thiamine - especially benfotiamine
3. Taking other B vitamins,, especially folate, B6, B12, B2, etc.
4. Reducing peroxynitrites (oxidative and nitrosative stress)
5. Repairing membranes with NT Factor
6. Treating autoimmunity affecting nervous system

 

[Ladycreole03]

1. Taking thiamine - especially benfotiamine
2. Taking other B vitamins,, especially folate, B6, B12, B2, etc.

Is benfotiamine a form of it?

Also do i need to take them separately or thrres a B complex supplement?

 

[Learner1]

Yes.

I base my supplementation on comprehensive nutrient testing, because the ratio and dose of various Bs I need isn't found in any supplement. I take a combination of Life Extension Mega Benfotiamine, Thorne MethylGuard Plus, Neurochondria, Riboflavin-5-phosphate, pPyridoxal-5-phosphate, 5-MTHF, and Pantethine.

I found Patrick Holford's book New Optimum Nutrition for the Brain to be helpful in learning about how nutrients affect the brain.

 

[lenora]

Hello All.....As someone who has both treated my own anxiety by attendeding weekly group meetings at Survivor's Anonymous & used the AA Blue Book, even though I've never had a problem with alcohol in my life...but the book helped, I would like to say this:

I was young (42) at the begining of my bouts of anxiety. I did learn to control it, but it returned years later when I had three rounds of shingles one right after the other. This time it took a more ominous turn....I was suicidal. Thus I went on a non-addictive drug, Buspar. It worked for many years.

Sometimes supplements, vitamins, etc., just aren't enough. Most don't have an immediate response and it's necessary to break the train of thought. By the way, I'm the first on board to try natural healing, if possible. But when you're on a true runaway train, the onus is on you to get immediate help and immediate help usually comes in the form of something that you may not ordinarily choose (who would choose such a thing, anyway?). It has to be stopped, and stopped now.

If someone wants to try an alternative method, fine....talk it over with your Dr., wean off the drug and get proper medical supervision about what you want to try. Just trying to help some people and save some lives here. Not all anxiety/panic disorder is the same. How I wish! Yours, Lenora.

 

[Learner1]

If someone wants to try an alternative method, fine....talk it over with your Dr., wean off the drug and get proper medical supervision about what you want to try. Just trying to help some people and save some lives here. Not all anxiety/panic disorder is the same.

Obviously, if one is in a crisis, taking a drug to stop the immediate symptoms may be wise, while working on identifying what's causing the anxiety. Unfortunately, the drugs can be addictive, deplete nutrients, damage mitochondria and are otherwise counterproductive, and many people lose their curiosity for what's wrong once the drug masks the symptoms, leaving themselves vulnerable to serious long term effects.

Microbiome dysruption, zinc/copper imbalance, and B Vitamin and amino acid depletion and imbalances have all been known to cause anxiety. And they are pretty common so a good place to look for answers, ideally with testing to identify the exact problem.

As for doctors, most don't know about anything but drugs. I took a family member with severe symptoms to 21 doctors who prescribed 9 psychiatric medications causing weight gain and loss, fatigue, and further psychiatric symptoms without solving the original problem before finding a naturopathic doctor who found celiac disease, multiple food allergies and a number of nutrient deficiencies and imbalances, and was able to get the patient off of the psych meds permanently, with no recurrence over the past decade.

 

[Learner1]

@lenora I see on the other thread that you mentioned you have autoimmune encephalitis, which I'm sorry to hear.

So, it might be wise to add to the list above that people should look for autoimmune antibodies affecting neurological health. These can then be treated with treatments like plasmaphresis, IVIG, Bortezimub, or Rituximab. Many times these antibodies are triggered by ongoing infections, so looking for the infections might be wise as well - herpes family viruses are a good place to look, but many other infections can trigger auto antibodies as well.

 

[lenora]

Hello Learner1.....That sounds like a very bad experience and I can see why it would be hard to trust the average doctor. It's odd that not one of them tested your relative for what we now know to be fairly common...celiac disease.

Today's world has drugs being used for so many different purposes. I've noticed that even children with autism are sometimes treated with immense amounts of drugs and as a result have 4.0 averages. However, I question what this will do the child over the long term.

Personally, I'm grateful for first of all, gabapentin, used for seizures as it was the first real drug we had for pain relief. Granted, it wasn't optimal, but reduced the level of the pain considerably. It was a beginning.

Even better is the next generation of it called Lyrica. Fewer side-effects yet helps with the volume of the pain.
Nerve pain is rather unbearable....so something was needed. I take (and have taken) the products you recommend. I even give myself B shots every week. I'm older, though, and sometimes one can't avoid certain meds. I try to keep things at a minimum, am very aware of the seriousness of certain drugs (e.g. xanax for people of my age) but I'll take precautions if/when necessary. The necessary equipment is already in the garage.

There are many drugs that I won't go on b/c of side-effects; others are just necessary.

Insofar as you're concerned, I'm glad that you found a good naturopath. Best wishes. Yours, Lenora.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

Anyone know of other meds that helps with sound, motion, and light sensitivity?

Anything that has the same effects as Ativan will also have the same issues, and will all clear thru the same P450 liver enzyme pathways. They will all have serious problems in terms of weaning off of them, and they will all have essentially similar side-effect profiles....

No easy answers .....

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

I found Patrick Holford's book New Optimum Nutrition for the Brain to be helpful in learning about how nutrients affect the brain.

Terriic rec, and thank you for posting it .... it should be a must-read for everyone with this dizzying little whirlpool of an illness ....

Unfortunately, the drugs can be addictive, deplete nutrients, damage mitochondria and are otherwise counterproductive, and many people lose their curiosity for what's wrong once the drug masks the symptoms, leaving themselves vulnerable to serious long term effects.

That's a great summation of the many reasons that benzos, in any form, are a poor idea for 'treatment', regardless.

Benzos, Z-drugs (benzos in a new and misleading suit), and anti-psychotics also play havoc with your gut microbiome, which is your first defense against a whole lotta crepe you don't want.

Along with a few other brave souls in these threads, I believe that the gut microbiome has a lot more to do with this illness than most, including researchers, credit ....

 

[perrier]

New optimum nutrition for the Mind, is what I am finding (not brain).

 

[Learner1]

New optimum nutrition for the Mind, is what I am finding (not brain).

You're right - thank you for the correction! I have the black version of the book and I know that one is useful.