Mild legal drug needed to relax me in social situations

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I was diagnosed with AS at 18, I'm now 30 and married.

Apologies if this has been covered in the past:

When I was single I used to go to dance music clubs, which I enjoyed but found incredibly stressful. I could not relax and dance unless I drank, smoked or took some kind of "legal, herbal high". The herbal highs came in large colourful pills, and made me feel relaxed, mildly euphoric, and a bit sweaty sometimes.

I still feel anxious and panicky around large crowds, or when meeting new people, etc.

I don't want to drink or smoke because it's obvious to people when I'm drunk or high, and there are many undesirable side effects.

Is Seroxat or Zoloft or Prozac or whatever appropriate for occasional use in these kind of situations? I also don't want to accidentally become addicted to them.

What kind of legal herbal highs could help here, and where can I buy them safely in London?

Or should I just ask my GP (doctor)?

Me? I managed quite nicely with nature's one-two punch: alcohol and caffeine. Booze to take the edge off, and black coffee to keep me awake and going.

I was treated like a freakish mentat (think Piter devries, but with less charisma) in my daytime life; came the evening, though, I'd suit up in my best clothes, down several ounces of the needful, and, by God!, I found myself rather well-received socially. Actually turned out to be something of a ladies' man, believe it or not.

Try it for yourself - it's a cheap, relatively safe combination.

My doctor has me on several supplements that help, mainly Gaba and 5-HTP. Works wonders as long as I take them regularly. :0)

b.

Why are you still going to clubs? You already found your wife, and the whole point of putting up with the noise and social aspect is to find a wife. Or are you just using that as an example?

It's no wonder you're having trouble, given the lighting, loud sound levels which can damage your hearing, and idiots who might shoot you if you look at them wrong. It's been known to happen.

You really don't want to be too impaired, and, where applicable, consider using earplugs. The downsides of smoking anything far outweigh whatever good is supposed to come from it. I wouldn't touch anything illegal or any of that herbal crap, the best of which can be said for it is that it might not do anything at all. That basically leaves you with alcohol and caffeine.

Whatever you take, know what's in it, know the minimum effective dose, know the maximum safe dose, and stay below the maximum. Stay away from anything with mystery ingredients, or anything someone might have cooked up without the benefit of chemistry courses. Anyone who has taken chemistry will know that organic compounds can react in a zillion different ways, and that the resulting product will be anyone's guess, especially if multiple steps are involved.

No, not still going to clubs sgrannel, sorry I could have been clearer. I also believe the main point of clubs for me was to find a partner.

I just realised that I'd managed to medicate my way through clubs. Now I have no need for going to clubs as you said, but sometimes my wife and still I end up in loud and crowded bars, restaurants or malls when meeting people.

And yes, I agree it's a terrible idea to ingest unknown chemicals... I just wondered if there were some safe, known versions of these "legal high" pills. I wonder if there are any good websites about those specifically? I haven't bothered to google, as I'm sure it would return 99% unsafe sites.

Last edited by Will__ on 13 Aug 2011, 3:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

Well my father (who I consider to have undiagnosed AS) did tell me once that he thought he'd been born "two pints short". I always thought that was a fantastic way of describing it!

I guess I have a fear of being thought an alcoholic, but alcohol is so common I'm sure no-one I know would bat an eyelid actually.
Any recommendations of the best types of liquor?

By the way, I have also noticed that too much caffeine causes my heart to race, making me feel more anxious sometimes. Does that ever happen to you?

Also, doesn't drinking both alcohol and caffeine make you want to pee a lot more often?

My shrink has me taking 50mg of Seroquel once a day, which nicely dampens down the social terrors.

My shrink has me taking 50mg of Seroquel once a day, which nicely dampens down the social terrors.

Indeed. I wouldn't go to clubs. If you want to go out, find a nice quiet pub instead. In the UK, if you can find a nice quiet real ale pub with cask ales - many of which are fairly low-alcohol in nature (< 4%), you'll be golden. You'll be getting out to socialise but won't have some of the nastiness and aggression that dominates in clubs.

If clubs aren't for you, ditch them. I'm sure your wife will be relieved.

This is what I used to do as well. Quite heavy on the caffeine and heavy on the alcohol. No-one believed me but it did me little harm and it basically worked.

(Oops, misread the OP. I'm not saying that herbal stuff is not worth trying. I just have more knowledge about pharmaceutical stuff.)

Probably best to consult your doctor when it comes to being legally psychically altered. But as far as alcohol -- it it helps then benzodiazepines might help, i.e. Xanax, klonopin, etc. The downside, though, is that that tolerance to those builds and it is possible to become addicted to them.

Some meds in the same class as Seroxat/Zoloft/Prozac can also be used to reduce anxiety, but (to me, anyway) feel very different than alcohol/benzos. On the upside, tolerance doesn't build. And you cannot become addicted to them. ...Err, that is to say: no one ends up taking them compulsively to get high (since they cause no euphoria at any dose), but you can have a "discontinuation syndrome," where if you taper off too quickly (or miss a dose) you get sick & discombobulated. Paxil and Effexor are notorious for that, but Prozac isn't, so it depends on which one it is.

I've heard of Atarax being used for anxiety. It's an anti-histamine, IIRC. Tolerance could build, but it's not addicting.

Also have heard of beta-blockers being used for stressful situations (like giving a speech, in someone with a fear of that). They basically block some of the effects of adrenaline. Tolerance could build, but they are also non-addicting.

Also, clonidine. Not addicting, not sure about tolerance.

It's weird, but the best anti-anxiety, and anti-inertial med I ever took was a muscle relaxant called carisoprodol. Unfortunately, I've read that it affects motor functioning even worse than alcohol (so no driving when on the stuff). And worse, a lot of people have apparently taken to abusing it. So, it's probably not a good thing to ask for, or you may get labelled a "drug seeker." And tolerance happens, and it can be addicting.

I think that ultimately "YMMV" is the biggest rule with psych meds (especially if you have a non-standard brain). I.e. I was once on huge amounts of Xanax, but had no difficulty withdrawing from it (a lot of people have a really hard time with that, apparently).

(I know all the above because I once had a crazy CFS doctor, who would try almost anything.)

I always take a beta-blocker and clonazepam ( Rivotril) before social situations that make me anxious even if it it is not really necessary.
I really don't want to take the risc to get a panic attack.

I personally dont take anything, but then rarely goto social situations. In the past i have taken stuff, but while i feel fine (or only slightly anxious) NT can see straight through the act and class me as a druggie or more odd then if i didnt take anything.

Lack of perspective taking on my behalf i suppose.

I find a half a Valium to be very effective. I'm no expert, but from personal experience it simply seems to dramatically decrease my !stress! reaction to just about everything including social situations, allowing me to be calm and think clearly and act like a normal human being and enjoy myself. People tell me I'm much more "mellow" and relaxed and fun to be around when I have one of these (though they don't know I take them now and then).

The downside of Valium is that it can foster depression and be habit-forming.

After a concussion a while back I went to a neurologist because the side-effects were continuing much longer than they should have, and he told me that my problems were likely not directly related to the concussion, but rather to stress, overwork, and lack of sleep. He prescribed me a "myorelaxant" called Myolastan (this is in the Czech Republic, not sure of brand names in other countries). It has a similar effect to Valium but without the risk of depression. However, it should NOT be taken with alcohol (I tried it and it gave me a terrible headache after only one glass of wine) and can also be habit-forming. However, if Valium doesn't work for you or you don't want the risk of depression, ask your doctor about myorelaxants. I was really happy with the results from these pills. I got a package of 20 about 6 months ago and I still have 6 left because I fear addiction/tolerance and use them only when needed.

I always use caffeine, I'm 20, though. I now need it just to wake up in the morning now, either an energy drink or cup of coffee. I find energy drinks a tad better, but coffee is good in it's own way, too. Problem is, you'll get addicted and without it you'll be worse than before, it's a tradeoff.

Then again, I'm not technically Aspergers, I got an NVLD diagnosis, so I got most traits, but it's more due to a deficiency in my right brain that I can't handle some things, so I'm assuming caffeine "fixes" that for a short time. I also didn't like pot the one time I tried it, I like alcohol a lot better, that feels like liquid courage to me, but I don't like it enough to like, bother with it. Right now it's just caffeine, caffeine, and more caffeine. When I'm stressed, I'll have like 4 16oz energy drinks a day. Theoretically, lots of prolonged caffeine use can induce psychosis, be careful with drugs of any kind.

I have heard that beta blockers can block adrenaline and help with anxiety during certain situations, an frankly, I have always been very curious if they would help me. Although not curious enough to try them. I think they could have other side effects, but not sure. I am kind of curious. It might help my problems going into buildings if it tampers down any emotional psychological effects I have from doing that. But I dunno if my dr would prescribe em and I'm always scared to death of taking new meds anyway.