Question:
Hi there..Agoraphobic here!! GAD too..I am taking klonopin.It is the best! Vistaril also helps, but is addictive.(I am a nurse) If I can help. let me know..
Response:
1) I take atarax(aka hydroxyzineor vistaril) along with corgard(nadolol) & Meclizine,to treat my cerebellar0 vestibular inner ear anxiety disorder & my doctor,a board cert neurologist never told me atarax is addictive. can you elaborate?
Response:
Hello, Vistaril (hydroxyzine) is used as an anti histimine, but I took it for years as an anti anxiety med. I can assure you, it has addictive qualities…Look it up.. Steph
Response:
I’ll just be annoying and add "me too," so you’ll know it’s not just you, Philip. ;) Best Wishes — Blue (who will probably never read Dr. Levinson’s book at this point)
Oh….Thank God someone said something!! I really thought I was being cranky about this and kept telling myself to lighten up. I know I will never read the book, might have dreams about the title, being i have seen it in so many posts<VBG Jackie 
Response:
Moe wrote : This is an old troll in this group. It used to go by the nick BOOTCAMP7. Actually, a real discussion of Levinson’s ideas might prove interesting. However, the modus operandus here is repetitive pitching of Levinson’s book until everyone is sick of hearing about it. We’ve been down this path before. Moe
An interesting theory, Moe, and, unfortunately as a Newbie, I wouldn’t be one to know whether what you’re saying is true or not. However, it wouldn’t take much of a leap in my imagination to believe that what you’re saying IS true. Too many posts, IMO, and I just read a post where MarshAngel/Whoever told someone they needed to see her/his cardiologist. <sigh Best Wishes — Blue
Response:
Very true. I read that book a couple of years ago and I have experimented extensively with antihistamines and motion sickness drugs (antihistamines also). snipped Also, like benzos, they are a CNS depressant. Unlike benzos, you just get the depressant effect, without the calm, serene-like effect of some benzos. Take them long enough and they can gradually take you down the slippery slope to real depression.
I have a large libarary on antihistamines (and other motion sickness meds) and I have been unable to find one reference stating that long term use of these medications causes depression. Please supply the info. you have on this matter. I think it would be unwise to combine benzos with antihistamines, and especially unwise to combine say Prozac with benadryl. The combined depressant or antidepressant effects are very unpredictable. Pete
1) Are you under the impression that Prozac is a benzodiazepine? It isn’t! 2) Are you aware that the antihistamine/antidepressant combination is well proven as a migraine treatment, so much so that there are migraine meds. which are a combination of the two! And the benzo/antihistimine combination is also regularly used? Ian
Response:
I have & do & it is called ATARAX you should read my doctor’s book PHOBIA FREE by Dr Harold Levinson
<snip It may just be me or the bad weather (six weeks of continuous rain and wind) but this Dr.L. thingy is beginning to get on my nerves. I think we now know that you recommend his book, that he relates anxiety to inner ear problems and that you are happy to have been his patient for 14 years (but were you actually cured? Being someone’s patient doesn’t sound like it…) Philip
I’ll just be annoying and add "me too," so you’ll know it’s not just you, Philip. ;) Best Wishes — Blue (who will probably never read Dr. Levinson’s book at this point)
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have & do & it is called ATARAX you should read my doctor’s book PHOBIA FREE by Dr Harold Levinson MD PC atarax=inner ear harmonizing -DR Levinson is the discoverer of inner ear dysfunction as the cause He & I found it works best combined with meclizine,corgard & kavakava sincerely.marsha lampert mba
It may just be me or the bad weather (six weeks of continuous rain and wind) but this Dr.L. thingy is beginning to get on my nerves. I think we now know that you recommend his book, that he relates anxiety to inner ear problems and that you are happy to have been his patient for 14 years (but were you actually cured? Being someone’s patient doesn’t sound like it…) Philip
Response:
thank you !! sincerely marsha lampert MBA Dr Levinson’s patient since 9/84(14 yrs)
Response:
Pierre wrote <snip <Some of their side effects, like dryness of mouth, extreme drowsiness can actually exacerbate a panic attack. Also, like benzos, they are a CNS depressant. Unlike benzos, you just get the depressant effect, without the calm, serene-like effect of some benzos. Take them long enough and they can gradually take you down the slippery slope to real depression. Pete
What you say here, Pete, has been my experience precisely. Where I am currently living, cedar trees pollinate during the winter, and a lot of people, including myself, experience "cedar fever." It’s a hellish time for me, as it seems I don’t have the need for antihistimines during any other time of the year. The symptoms are sneezing, congestion, and often a feeling of just being sick, as though one is running a fever. In times past, I have found that taking Actifed has been the best OTC med for me, but the side effects are that I feel irritable, depressed, foggy-brained, and grumpy. And although I don’t experience PAs, I am dealing with anxiety and severe depression. That’s why when the doc gave me the script for Vistaril, I didn’t even try it. I suspected it would dehydrate me, and act much like the other antihistimines I’ve tried. Something encouraging, though, was last winter I tried some homeopathic remedies, and I was actually very surprised at how well they worked. For the first time in years, I felt there might be something else that would be as effective as an antihistimine med. FWIW, YMMV… Best Wishes — Blue (dreading the winter season)
Response:
I have & do & it is called ATARAX you should read my doctor’s book PHOBIA FREE by Dr Harold Levinson MD PC atarax=inner ear harmonizing -DR Levinson is the discoverer of inner ear dysfunction as the cause He & I found it works best combined with meclizine,corgard & kavakava sincerely.marsha lampert mba
Response:
Anti-histamines often help panic attacks and chronic anxiety. They target the inner ear system. Damage to the inner ear has been linked by numerous doctors to the onset of panic/anxiety/depression/ phobias. See Dr. Levinson’s book Phobia Free for details on this.
But first the inner ear problem should be properly diagnosed. If there’s no hypoglycemia, no inner ear problem, no diabetes etc., it is useless and inadvisable to take antihistamines. So for Panic Disorder proper it wouldn’t do a thing that other meds can’t do much better. Philip
Response:
This was prescribed for me once 2 years ago, when I was first diagnosed with GAD. Before the Zoloft started working, I was having anxiety attacks almost daily, Dr. had given me 5 xanax pills and that was as far as he would go. Truthfully, the vistaril was useless. I agree with Philip. Sue
Response:
Very true. I read that book a couple of years ago and I have experimented extensively with antihistamines and motion sickness drugs (antihistamines also). I can’t say that I ever got relief from them. Some of their side effects, like dryness of mouth, extreme drowsiness can actually exacerbate a panic attack. Also, like benzos, they are a CNS depressant. Unlike benzos, you just get the depressant effect, without the calm, serene-like effect of some benzos. Take them long enough and they can gradually take you down the slippery slope to real depression. I think it would be unwise to combine benzos with antihistamines, and especially unwise to combine say Prozac with benadryl. The combined depressant or antidepressant effects are very unpredictable. Pete – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Anti-histamines often help panic attacks and chronic anxiety. They target the inner ear system. Damage to the inner ear has been linked by numerous doctors to the onset of panic/anxiety/depression/ phobias. See Dr. Levinson’s book Phobia Free for details on this.
Response:
Anti-histamines often help panic attacks and chronic anxiety. They target the inner ear system. Damage to the inner ear has been linked by numerous doctors to the onset of panic/anxiety/depression/ phobias. See Dr. Levinson’s book Phobia Free for details on this.
Response:
Since Paxil is only doing part of the job on my anxiety my Dr. has prescribed Vistaril. Has anyone here taken this drug for chronic anxiety? I asked him about klonopin but it turns out he is a benzophobe at heart. Thanx.
Hi, LHoX — When I was in another state here in the US, I was receiving counseling from the local mental health clinic. The policy was that I couldn’t see a doctor unless the counselor suggested it. So, she did. I had one session with the psych, and he wanted to put me on Vistaril. This was after the nurse practitioner there had decided that the first course of business was to get me off Xanax. (She was able to do this by calling a psych to get their approval.) Anyway, I saw the shrink. He wasn’t willing to give me any benzos, much less Xanax, as Xanax is thought of, at least in that circle, as being the *worse* drug for treating anxiety. Bottom line: I never tried the Vistaril. And, FWIW, one doctor who I saw and asked about Xanax told me "no way," and to take a Benadryl if I felt anxious. (Benadryl, in case you don’t know, is also an antihistimine.) I’ve found that antihistimines do make me sleepy, but that’s not what I’m wanting or feel that I need. So, FWIW, I’d find another doc, if you can. (IMO, YMMV, etc.) Best Wishes — Blue
Response:
Since Paxil is only doing part of the job on my anxiety my Dr. has prescribed Vistaril. Has anyone here taken this drug for chronic anxiety? I asked him about klonopin but it turns out he is a benzophobe at heart. Thanx.
I’ve heard of it being used for anxiety but not with success, ISTR. Anyway, it’s most certainly not the first combo that would spring to mind. An SSRI and a benzo would be a first choice combination. I’d say you need another doc. It’s never good to be dependent on benzophobic doctors. As you experience yourself it makes for artificial constructs which, God knows, may help by coincidence for somebody but it;s not sound medicating. Anyway, I believe that sticking to a few well-researched meds will be more fruitful than trying all sorts of things when it isn’t necessary. Philip – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – — They all laughed at Louis Pasteur | Articulating fine | I love humanity, They all laughed at the Wrights | wisdom and wit on | It’s just people But then, of course, | usenet since 1994 | I can’t tolerate
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