Years ago, I was prescribed an SSRI for anxiety by my GP. It did nothing but make me feel numb and I had horrible side effects. I quit taking it, deciding I'd rather deal with the crushing anxiety. About two years ago, my therapist convinced me to see a psychiatrist. At the time, I was not depressed, and after I told him how I was affected by the SSRI, he decided I really probably just needed something for anxiety. He started me on a low dose of klonpin, which didn't work well. Then I tried Ativan, again, didn't work well, then tried Xanax, which worked great! I was on a fairly low dose for nearly two years, before my diagnosis changed to bipolar, and I was switched to Seroquel. I did have some minor physical withdrawal symptoms as I started Seroquel and my Xanax usage dropped, but that only lasted a week or so and was mostly just a headache and slight upset stomache.

Seroquel has helped my anxiety even more than the Xanax did, but it still creeps up on me now and then. It helps to have a therapist that has taught me how to cope with the breakthrough anxiety.