Anyone currently on anti-psychotics for stuttering?

[supergeo]

I know there are several threads in the past on this, but just wondering, anyone currently taking anti psychotics for their stuttering (zyprexa, risperdal etc)? I know about the potential nasty side effects, but the question is, does it help with your stuttering?

I've been taking propopanol for the last 3 weeks or so, and so far notice no difference in my stuttering. At some point I may consider trying out an anti psychotic.

Thanks,

[jekintel5]

i had tried it b4 for 3 month, but found it it does nothing(no effect:( ) for me.

[urbanmermaid]

yes, i've been taking Xanax in combination with Anafranil for the last 6 months or so and the effect it has had on me is incredible. i know some people are taking propranolol, risperdal, buspar, etc but as far as i know those are medications for blood pressure. Maybe thats why they dont work on stuttering

[jekintel5]

yes, i've been taking Xanax in combination with Anafranil for the last 6 months or so and the effect it has had on me is incredible. i know some people are taking propranolol, risperdal, buspar, etc but as far as i know those are medications for blood pressure. Maybe thats why they dont work on stuttering

what does this mean (effect it has had on me is incredible)? it works for u?

[urbanmermaid]

yes, it does work very well for me...

just check all of my previous posts for all the details......... i must have repeated this at least 5 times already

:P

[mo885]

yes, i've been taking Xanax in combination with Anafranil for the last 6 months or so and the effect it has had on me is incredible. i know some people are taking propranolol, risperdal, buspar, etc but as far as i know those are medications for blood pressure. Maybe thats why they dont work on stuttering

Urbanmermaid- xanax and anafranil are not antipsychotics. Xanax is an anti-anxiety medication and anafranil is an antidepressant. You listed risperdal that is an antipsychotic.

I briefly took propranolol and buspar and while they made me less anxious that didn't have any effect on my speech.

[urbanmermaid]

well, when i was little i took Thioridazin, which IS an anti-psychotic drug, and it cured me completely... for 2 months. Then i got mad at someone and the stuttering returned lol

[Adrian]

Benzodiazipenes such as Xanax are hard core anti-anxiety medications. It would make sense that they would reduce stuttering, if our stuttering is worsened by anxiety. I would just suggest anyone interested in these drugs be very careful. I understand it is very easy to build up a tolerance and they can become habit forming. My doctor gave me a few pills to help with presentations in grad school, but he urged me not to make it an everyday drug.

I'm not suggesting avoid them entirely, just be very careful.

[urbanmermaid]

this is true if u take them in large quantities, like more than 2 mg over a long period of time. I'm taking 1mg in the morning and has helped me enormously. I highly recommend it

[urbanmermaid]

plus it can never work if u just take xanax before a presentation. With me it took like 2 months to notice the full effects... so u really have to take it for some time, but like i said, never more than 2 mg

[Adrian]

plus it can never work if u just take xanax before a presentation. With me it took like 2 months to notice the full effects... so u really have to take it for some time, but like i said, never more than 2 mg

Urban, 2 mg is not a high dose, but I was told we would begin to habituate to the drug and must take more and more as time goes by. Has this happened to you at all?

[urbanmermaid]

no... i talked to my neurologist about developing tolerance to 1 mg and she said u can only develop tolerance if ur on high doses...

my advice: if you're smart enough and want a better quality of life, give it a try. it wont cure everyone 100% but it will definitely help. and i think we should stop talking about whats hard core and what isnt. if it helps i'll take it. for me the stuttering wasnt so bad as the panic attacks i experienced... when that Pagaclone comes out someone will probably say "ohh thats a hard core drug"... the combination of xanax and anafranil has been very succesful.. read my previous posts

;)

[Adrian]

no... i talked to my neurologist about developing tolerance to 1 mg and she said u can only develop tolerance if ur on high doses...

my advice: if you're smart enough and want a better quality of life, give it a try. it wont cure everyone 100% but it will definitely help. and i think we should stop talking about whats hard core and what isnt. if it helps i'll take it. for me the stuttering wasnt so bad as the panic attacks i experienced... when that Pagaclone comes out someone will probably say "ohh thats a hard core drug"... the combination of xanax and anafranil has been very succesful.. read my previous posts

;)

When I say hard core, I mean they really work. It is not like propanolol which just takes a little bit of the edge off. I'm glad this is working for you. I am not a doctor, so if you're under a doctor's care I'm good with whatever you are doing.

[urbanmermaid]

the thing is, i read this forum quite often and it really pains me to see so many people struggle and suffer just like i did, because i know what its like when you just don't know what to do... if i could i would help every single person in the world who suffers from this. my advice is to give these drugs a try. hopefully when/if pagaclone is released there will be a specific drug for stuttering that will have even better effects.

[gt0327a]

What kind of doctor did you go to to talk about this problem? Did you have to show them any research to get these medications? It sounds awesome, and I want to try, but I don't know if any doctor would just describe these particular meds. Thanks!

[supergeo]

What kind of doctor did you go to to talk about this problem? Did you have to show them any research to get these medications? It sounds awesome, and I want to try, but I don't know if any doctor would just describe these particular meds. Thanks!

Usually you start with your general doctor, and if he feels it's needed, he'll refer you to a specialist. Taking meds is a serious step though, so I'd do all the research first on what potential side effects there are before asking your doc if you can try one. Anti psychotics in particular have some potential nasty effects that may not go away even after you stop taking the meds. I'm considering it after weighing all the pros and cons, and I'm still on the fence about taking them.

[Vermillion]

I took Xanax, Klonopin, Celexa for awhile, then I just stopped cold turkey lol.

The Xanax and Klonopin improved my stutter by about 10-20%...due to less anxiety..but I didnt like the side effects such as feeling tired all the time, memory loss.. At the end of the day, I just went home and fell asleep on my bed, very unproductive..
Klonopin is better than Xanax because you don't feel as tired as you do on xanax.

The first time I tried Xanax (1mg), some girl who I met after not seeing her for a year, commented "Hey I just noticed you stopped stuttering! I like the new you better!"

The celexa I took in combo with both xanax and klonopin, but I didn't feel anything with Celexa ( was taking 0.5mg everyday)

If you are going to use xanax, I'd recommend not using it everyday, and just save it for times when you don't want to stutter as much, such as dates with girls, parties (but dont drink while on xanax), job interviews, presentations).. I think the medication (along with other benzos) works best that way.

[Vermillion]

I took Xanax, Klonopin, Celexa for awhile, then I just stopped cold turkey lol.

The Xanax and Klonopin improved my stutter by about 10-20%...due to less anxiety..but I didnt like the side effects such as feeling tired all the time, memory loss.. At the end of the day, I just went home and fell asleep on my bed, very unproductive..
Klonopin is better than Xanax because you don't feel as tired as you do on xanax.

The first time I tried Xanax (1mg), some girl who I met after not seeing her for a year, commented "Hey I just noticed you stopped stuttering! I like the new you better!"

The celexa I took in combo with both xanax and klonopin, but I didn't feel anything with Celexa ( was taking 0.5mg everyday)

If you are going to use xanax, I'd recommend not using it everyday, and just save it for times when you don't want to stutter as much, such as dates with girls, parties (but dont drink while on xanax), job interviews, presentations).. I think the medication (along with other benzos) works best that way.

BTW it sounds like I took xanax and klonopin at the same time. Lemme make that clear

I took
Xanax + Celexa for about a month
Then I took
Klonopin + Celexa for 2 months

Just wanted to make it clear because it would be overkill to take 2 benzos at the same time.

[urbanmermaid]

I took
Xanax + Celexa for about a month
Then I took
Klonopin + Celexa for 2 months


Celexa didnt work for me at all. in fact it slightly increased my stutter. anafranil is way better.

why did u stop taking xanax and swithced to klonopin. is there any difference between the two??

[saedabaid]

hi all
as for xanax,i used it alone 0,25m and i didnt notice any improvements and side effects,should i take xanax and anafranil like urbanmermaid ???
im on inderal now for 1 week 40mg and didnt notice any improvement too
please help me

[couture57]

The drugs you are talking about are almost all psych meds, and even if you are not taking them for amy mental health issues, you must be aware of the fact that that is their primary function.

I am currently taking several meds, but not taking them to help with the stuttering. I have bipolar disorder and MDD, and I also have an essential tremor. So I take propranalol for the tremor, and for the bipolar and MDD I take Lamictal and Neurontin. Neither of them are antipsychotics, and both have other more common uses than for mood disorders, but my doctor is VERY "up on" the latest research and I trust her knowledge. I also take Concerta to help with the "flat affect" common in MDD. I get the propranalol from my internist, the others from my psychiatrist. About a year ago I did some research on my own and found some info that indicated that Invega (which is an antipsychotic) had been known to help with stuttering. It also happens to be a good mood stabilizer, so I discussed it with my doctor and we decided to give it a try, adding it to my existing "tail". I found that it did no good for the stuttering, and it wasn't controlling my depression and mood swings very well, either. A couple of weeks ago she switched from Invega to Abilify (also an antipsychotic). I'm now up to a therapeutic dose, and it is definitely helping with the mental issues. My speech is suddenly better, too, but I don't know if that is a direct result of the drug or just the fact that I am not so far down in the black hole of depression.

I know the mental illness affects the stuttering, and vice-versa, but I am firmly convinced that it is not entirely a "cause and effect" thing. Yes, they are related, and we have already seen research that indicates the stuttering is caused by the same kind of chemical screw-ups in the brain that cause the mental disorders. And obviously, living with severe stuttering all your life is bound to have an effect on your mental state. But I still see them as essentially separate problems, and the drugs that work for one don't necessarily help with the other.

My advice is to NOT go to your regular family care practitioner or internist for these drugs. Seek the advice of a neurologist or psychiatrist, and prepare for a long-term relationship (believe me, you don't have to be mentally ill to see a psychiatrist - they are just the most knowledgable docs out there for these drugs). These are not drugs you can run in and get a script for, then not see the doctor for a year. And most of them are not things you can take "as needed" - they aren't like taking a tylenol when your head hurts. You have to get up to therapeutic level and stay there, sometimes for several weeks, before you really see what they are going to do for you. They can have nasty side effects, and you may decide that the side effects aren't worth any benefit you might get from them. For more info on this, there is a great website at http://www.crazymeds.us/ which has a lot of good info on what you can expect when you are taking these meds.

Having said all this (sorry this is so long!) I must also tell you that I don't have much faith in the ability of a drug to control stuttering. Over the years, I've been on so many different drugs, beginning with Haldol when I was very young (remember when THAT was supposed to be the miracle cure for stuttering?) Stuttering is such a mercurial beast - you never know when you're going to have a fluent day, or fluent hour, so how can you tell if your speech is better because of a drug, or just because the stuttering gods were smiling at you during that particular conversation? The past 3 or 4 days, my speech has been much better than it has in several months, but I have no confidence that it will stay that way. Even if my mood continues to get better, the speech will not necessarily follow.

[Vermillion]

hi all
as for xanax,i used it alone 0,25m and i didnt notice any improvements and side effects,should i take xanax and anafranil like urbanmermaid ???
im on inderal now for 1 week 40mg and didnt notice any improvement too
please help me

o.25mg is too little to have an effect.
Try .5mg, or 1mg.

[saedabaid]

ok but can xanax and anfranil reduce my stuttering if i would take it ?and what percenage can reduce?have they any danger effect if i take it along-term ?
thanks

[ratboy]

I tried zyprexa and it didn't work for me. i am talking lexapro for an anxiety disorder (anyone seeing a pattern here?) and i think it helps me a little... i've never been a really severe stutterer. i am also talking 5-htp... which despite being in GNC and being "all natural" and shit is kind of strong, because it has on me the same effect zyprexa (which is also supposed to deplete dopamine and increase serotonin): it puts me to sleep.

anyway, i've still to try in the near future xanax; my psychiatrist is reluctant because of its use out in the street.

um... good luck!

[rodnorp]

My Doc put me on Anafranil and Valium. I have had good results with that tail. Some side effects in the begining. (tired, sleepy) Now my body has adjusted and i feel great. I am like at an 85% fluency level. I'll take that over what it was. Better living through modern chemistry!!!

[couture57]

rodnorp, it's great that you can take that combination, and wonderful that it seems to help your stuttering. I can't take Valium (it knocks me out even in small doses) and I had problems with Anafranil when I took it years ago. It's one of the old tricyclic antidepressants, which have a lot of really nasty side effects, and are not considered very good for controlling depression, now that the SSDIs and other modern ones are available.

But if it helps your stuttering, good for you! I would kill for 85% fluency! (I'm at about 30%)