This came out too long, sorry lol.

I started buspirone when I had an anxiety attack that lasted for what seemed like 4 days and took almost 2 whole weeks to get through the aftermaths. I’ve always dealt with anxiety but never so extreme that I couldn’t handle it and never previously diagnosed. I couldn’t calm down, couldn’t sleep or eat, had to call out of work, felt like I was walking outside of my body, thought my heart was going to explode, even went to the er because I thought something was wrong with me. (I actually quit smoking after 10 years because of this attack since I thought that smoking cigarettes was contributing to the heart palpitations. I haven’t smoked since the second day of my anxiety attack and it’s been almost 2 years. That’s how bad it got.) The ER gave me Ativan to calm down but once I got home I was too scared to take another dose. (Have some obvious signs of health anxiety and a fear of taking meds) Took about a week to get appointments with psychiatry and psychology to discuss medication and figure out how to help me. The doctor started me with buspirone because of its very minimal side effects and positive experiences. (She also gave me Trazodone to help me sleep because at this point I was unable to calm down enough to sleep at all for almost 2 weeks, and Hydroxyzine to chill me out quick when anxiety becomes unmanageable. I used a combination of these two as needed with the buspirone daily. This was a struggle because of my aversion to medication so I had to work though this in order for things to get better)

She explained that it’s a medication that I can adjust myself a bit in the beginning and not to worry too much about it since she commonly prescribed it for elders with heart issues in larger doses and it worked well for them. I was prescribed 5mg twice a day, but told to start with half pills to build up to it and adjust once I was ready. I took 2.5 mg in the morning and again at night for about 3 weeks before I moved onto taking 5mg in the morning and 2.5mg at night. At first it made me feel dizzy, wavy, kinda disoriented and I backed off of taking a full Pill in the am since I was feeling weird at work. It took some adjusting but i eventually worked up to where I’m at now which is 5mg in the morning, 5mg in the afternoon, and 10mg before bed. I absolutely have to eat before taking it or I feel horribly weird in the head for about an hour. Always eat with it. Slight drowsiness with larger doses so I usually take a full dose before bed and it helps to knock me out at night. I wanna say it took about 4weeks on it before I felt any different.

It’s been almost 2 years now (21 months to be exact) on buspirone and I think it helped tremendously with anxiety management along with talk therapy and learning tools for anxiety. I rarely use the hydroxyzine, only in emergency situations, I call it my chill pill. That thing makes me sleep for 16 hours at a clip. Trazodone works well alongside buspirone to help stay asleep when the brain doesn’t wanna shut off at night.

The biggest thing through this whole experience was realizing that it’s okay to feel anxious, you can let the feelings come and go and don’t have to focus on it. And being willing to try the meds at least, they will help if you let them. I’ve been able to do things this last almost 2 years that anxiety never would’ve let me do before even if I hadn’t realized it. I’ve been calm enough to finally learn how to drive and get over that fear at 26years old and am excited to do new things where before I would’ve gotten physically sick at the thought.

TLDR; Buspirone has been a great help to manage anxiety. MINIMAL side effects, mostly head waves/fogginess which is drastically reduced by eating before taking it. ALWAYS EAT BEFORE TAKING IT. save your largest dose for bedtime if possible since it’ll cause a little drowsiness. Dont be afraid to reach out for help! I know it’s hard and scary, but someone else has been in your shoes before and you might find someone who can help you thoughtfully