BuSpar Index | Expanded Brand, Generic & Availability ›
Crazy Meds Comprehensive BuSpar pages

This is our basic overview for BuSpar, and is a brief summary of what we know about it. Clicking on a “Read more…” link will take you to a page with greater detail. The Comprehensive BuSpar pages contain the information from all of the “Read more…” pages.

1.  Brand & Generic Names; Drug Class

US brand name:	BuSpar
Generic name:	buspirone hydrochloride
Drug class:	Anxiolytics/Anti-anxiety

Read more about BuSpar’s brand & generic names, and availability

2.  Approved and off-label uses of BuSpar (buspirone hydrochloride)

2.1  US FDA approved use(s)

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

2.2  Popular off-label uses

PTSD, other anxiety disorders, Depression (either by itself or with other meds), SSRI-induced sexual dysfunction, smoking cessation.

Read more of BuSpar’s approved & off-label uses

3.  BuSpar’s (buspirone hydrochloride’s) Pros and Cons

3.1  Pros

Few drug-drug interactions, weight neutral, and a generally low side effect profile.

3.2  Cons

A lot of people conclude it doesn’t do shit.

3.3  Interesting stuff your doctor probably didn’t tell you

Per the the PI sheet if you take BuSpar with aspirin you will get a 23% increase in BuSpar’s plasma levels. Now combine that with the increase you get with taking BuSpar on an empty stomach and you get a significant boost. Provided you don’t puke it all up.
Read more of BuSpar’s pros, cons, and interesting stuff

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4.  BuSpar’s (buspirone hydrochloride’s) Side Effects

4.1  Typical side effects

The usual array of common med symptoms — dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea, headaches. Cold-like symptoms, i.e. less severe flu-like symptoms that every other med on the planet can cause. Nonspecific chest pain.

4.2  Uncommon side effects

Blood pressure changes. Conjunctivitis. Altered sense of taste. Muscle cramps. Urinary frequency.

4.3  Freaky rare side effects

Burning tongue. Photophobia, or turning into Vlad the Impaler. Pelvic inflammatory disease. Yup. BuSpar not only gave someone an STD, they gave them an untreated STD! Alcohol abuse. Honey, I didn’t mean to quit AA! The BuSpar done made me do it!
Read more of BuSpar’s side effects

5.  How to take and stop taking BuSpar (buspirone hydrochloride)

5.1  How to take BuSpar

The starting dose is usually 5 mg 3 times per day, for a total of 15 per day. With a half life of 3 hours, stepping up every two to three days is not unreasonable biologically — however, it’s insane from a common-sense point of view. Give BuSpar a week between dose step-ups at least, so you can see if it’s doing anything for you at the lower dose. Standard dosages of BuSpar in clinical trials are usually 20 to 30 mg per day; the maximum dosage of BuSpar is 60 mg per day.

5.2  How to stop taking BuSpar

Given a half-live of two to three hours, stepping down by 5 mg at every day is reasonable. Though every other day would be safer. Unless it didn’t do anything at all, including no psychiatric effects, including stuff like making the anxiety or depression worse. In which case go for 10mg a day.
Read more about taking and discontinuing BuSpar

6.  When will BuSpar (buspirone hydrochloride) start working?

6.1  How long until BuSpar starts working

Because of the nonlinear pharmacokinetics, it’s hard to know when you should get an effect from BuSpar, but Bristol-Myers seems to think two to three days should be sufficient. Like most things that work on your serotonin, especially as this is likely to augment an antidepressant, I would make that two to three weeks to decide if BuSpar helping at all.

6.2  Chances of BuSpar working

BuSpar seems to be immensely variable in how it hits people — even studies showing its effectiveness noticed this. Like most meds, it’s all a matter of hitting the right neurotransmitters in the right ways. But since it’s low on the side effects and non-addictive, it’s worth a stop on the med-go-round if you’re experiencing SSRI poop-out or inadequate relief of anxiety disorders with an SSRI.
Read more about BuSpar’s efficacy & comparisons with other medications

7.  What BuSpar (buspirone hydrochloride) is best known for

Being a total disappointment.
Read more of BuSpar’s noted traits, effects, and warnings

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8.  BuSpar’s (buspirone hydrochloride’s) half-life & how long until it clears your system

Half-life: 2 to 3 hours. Clearance: one day, three days at the most.
Drugs.com’s drug-drug and drug-food interaction checker
Read more about BuSpar’s pharmacokinetics & noted drug-drug & drug-food interactions

9.  How BuSpar (buspirone hydrochloride) works (the best current guess at any rate).

As with most of these crazy meds it’s easier to say what BuSpar doesn’t do. BuSpar doesn’t do any of the fun benzodiazepene fuck-you-up-and-get-high effects. BuSpar doesn’t knock you out. BuSpar doesn’t hit GABA. What BuSpar does do is to keep serotonin within the 5HT_1A neurons, thus fooling your brain into thinking it has more serotonin than it actually has. BuSpar also does some noticeable dopamine agonism-antagonism on the dopamine D₂ receptor. When combined with an SSRI this can help with sexual dysfunction and to prevent SSRI poop-out, per Dr. Stahl in Essential Psychopharmacology.
Read more about BuSpar’s pharmacodynamics

10.  Comments

BuSpar is a quirky med, and there’s currently nothing else approved for use in its class of azapirones. At least in English speaking countries.
While BuSpar’s value for some flavors of anxiety is important, more important is its potential to augment an SSRI that was working great and then quit on you, the bastard.
BuSpar is a maintenance med - i.e. you wait for the calming effects to build up and you keep taking it until you either learn to deal with your problems on your own or you live with the fact you’re going to be taking BuSpar for the foreseeable future. Something I feel should be considered as a maintenance medication long before the benzos, as it doesn’t build up tolerance or addiction, and thus avoids many of the problems with long-term benzodiazepine use, particularly as a prophylactic (preventing anxiety before it starts).
Read more comments
Read consumer/patient comments about & experiences with BuSpar

11.  Discussion board, PI sheet and other useful links

Crazy Meds’ BuSpar discussion board
BuSpar’s Full US Prescribing Information / PI Sheet
Useful Links

BuSpar Index | Expanded Brand, Generic & Availability ›
Crazy Meds Comprehensive BuSpar pages

Bibliography

Common and not-so-common misspellings. Because even Google needs help sometimes. And the least we can do is share the creativity expressed by people in their quest for information about neuropsychiatric medications.
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Date created Friday, 8 July 2011 at 10:56:00 Page Creator: Jessica Allan Last edited by:

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BuSpar Basic Overview is copyright 2011 Jessica Allan

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