Originally Posted by
MoAlpha
Anyone who has taken an old style antihistamine like Benadryl or any motion sickness prevention medication, for instance, has experience with anticholinergic drugs.
A fair number of people find that Benadryl is an effective mild anxiolytic. I myself have used it occasionally, and it seems to work like Baby Xanax - it turns off the squirrel running in the cage without stopping thinking altogether, whereas Xanax felt more like shutting everything down. I remember once, I caught a hint of a coming BIG reversal at a previous company, and I was working myself up to a panic attack, and took a Xanax, then went out with Mrs. GJ for a walk around the block. At first I was so wired that I had to keep stopping for her to catch up. Then it was like someone threw a blanket over my mind, and the anxieties and unhappy thoughts winked out one by one. By the end of the walk, Mrs. GJ had to keep stopping for me to catch up.
It was such a comforting feeling having no anxieties that it scared the hell out of me. I could see how people find the oblivion of some drugs addictive.