for me clonazepam is the only thing that works good, ive been on a ton of meds for sa including alot of the ssris and snris

I have found that metoprolol, a beta blocker works. Doctors actually use them to help face 50-100 patients a day.

Since my heart attack in 2004, I have taken Metoprolol every day along with an Ace Inhibitor, HCTZ and Lipitor.

I can tell when I have forgotten to take the Metoprolol as I start to feel nervous and shakey.
It feels exactly like forgetting to take Valium and many times I have taken Valium but still feel nervous.

A quick check of BP and Pulse Rate gives me the answer.
If my resting Pulse Rate gets into the 90's or higher, 25mg of Metoprolol will bring the pulse rate down and my symtoms of anxiety go away.

In the beginning, I took these medications on a schedule, as the cardiologist recommended.
The result was too intense, with very low BP and Pulse Rate.
This resulted in dizziness, bumping into things and no energy at all.
When the cardiologist brushed off my reports of problems, I took it on myself to check my BP and Pulse many times a day and adjust the dosages to maintain a healthy BP-Pulse.
This has worked out well and I am able to function.

In closing, I believe Metoprolol and it's cousins are very powerfull drugs and possibly dangerous, unless one gets a home BP-Pulse monitor to check the pulse rate ?

There is a good reason they are banned from some Olympic sports.
Lowering my resting pulse rate to 50bpm allows me to hold a rifle scope dead on with no shaking.
Very handy for Olympic shooters and Hit Men !

Your milage may vary ?

Is this a cure for anxiety ?
Don't know. My shrink of 12 years never mentioned it, but he was not very smart, as I learned much too late.

For an Anxiety attack Xanax has always been the trick but for "Social Anxiety" a 2mg Roche Klonipin does the trick. Whether facing a crowd or going inro a business meeting or even having a conversation one on one or a moe intimate social setting the k's do best for me. Like I said though, facing a frightening anxiety-panic attack surely go with the QR XANAX for fast relief - 1mg usually does the trick, 2mg is pretty strong if using a decent brand, i.e. old skool upjhon or Pfzer. And just a note, Lorazepam or for me was always worthless unless I wanted to remain Anxiety ridden and go to sleep & Valium was always great for muscle aches/spasms but hardly worked for Social anxiety. I suggest a quality (Brand Name) Klonopin and start out at 0.5mg and go up 0.5mg every 30minutes to 1 hour while peaking at around 2mg-3mg(keep in mind weight and body tolerance plays a large part in meds being helpful/beneficial and you being functional and in turn you being a recreational drug user). Hope this helps.


-NUTSHELL

the only two drugs (other than SSRIs, which i hate for many reasons) i know about for social anxiety are beta blockers and long-term benzos like klonopin or valium.

i can't take beta blockers, NOTE: if you are asthmatic, do not take beta blockers. tell your doctor - you don't want to end up with an asthma attack that your inhaler won't stop.

i don't have social anxiety, i have PD, so i take klonopin anyway.

I'd agree that 0.5mg may be a good, if rather large for the benzo-naive, starting dose, but I wouldn't recommend repeat-dosing every hour or so. It is a long-acting drug, so I would say it's better to wait until another day to try a different dose, because like you correctly say, one should take the absolute minimum amount to relieve excessive anxiety and no more.

It would take one hell of a tolerance to take 3mg and stay functional.

In addition, anxiety is normal. It's only when it becomes crippling and disabling that meds should be considered. Once you begin taking benzodiazepines for situations that would normally induce normal anxiety, the chances are you always will.

when my husband had issues w/anxiety after both his parents died, he was put on .5 klonopin 2x/day. worked like a charm for him. that's not social anxiety, but i'm guessing you could start with a dose like that - or even lower (.25 2x/day), then titrate by .25 - .5 up until you were okay. do it very slowly. klonopin is long-acting; give it a couple of days.

Paxil works for me with S.A. maybe ask your doc for that..

i can't recommend an SSRI/SNRI simply for social anxiety. the side effects are too much for something that is intermittent.