meds that help?

Hello all,

I have generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks and social phobia. Being
bipolar too the above problems just get pushed under the rug and I am not being treated.

Can anybody tell me what´s worked the best for them (medication)?
I see my pdoc in a week and I want to discuss meds with him.

thanks,
nirmal

HI Nirmal

Here is the sites reference library for anit anxiety meds, you may also wish to explore the anti anxiety properties of some ssri's.

http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/ant...y-medications/

Paddy

If I may - If you feel you cannot express this clearly (verbally) to your doctor that you write it down....
that way they'll know EXACTLY what is important and what you feel is not being put into the equation.
I do this.... cause my thoughts race so much

Agree totally with Star....

I Thank you All, you´ve been a big help. I only hope I can get some relief, because this is taking over my life and I am imprisoned in my own house.

I will write that note and give my pdoc a list of meds that aren´t benzos,
which is what he always says.

Thanks again,
nirmal

Zeldox is good for mixed mania

Bromazepam is excellent for treating anxiety

Lamotrigine is a good mood stabilizer

For me, Klonopin and Zoloft. I've been on both for 15 years, mostly. (When I stopped I get horrible anxiety and major depression.)

Here is a bit of my story. Panic disorder, ocd, agoraphobia, and told borderline personality disorder too.

I was taking Lexapro in 2007 and 2008 for panic attacks, ocd. I have had panic attacks since I was 7 years old. I am now 40. They seem to be real bad for awhile (months, to a year or so) and then I can get myself back to where I can handle life without meds.

I took myself off of Lexapro because of a 10 pound weight gain, Sept. 2008. I didn't eat crap foods and I exercised even more. I even ate less. I have never had a hard time losing weight before. So I panicked and quit. The Lexapro WAS helping with anxiety though. I will give it that. In hindsight, I shouldn't have quit. Maybe the weight would have stopped at 10 pounds.

So 3 months later, December 2008, I couldn't take the anxiety that was back any longer. My Mom had passed away in 2007 and we were best friends, practically an appendage. I have been lost without her. When I stopped Lexapro, all the separation anxiety came rushing back at me and it was hard. I tried natural stuff but it couldn't help. I also have Xanax.

But the Lexapro was not helping like it did before. If you have taken SSRIs, then you know of all the start up side effects, and all the stuff that comes with that. I had just had to go through the withdrawls to get off of it! But the Lexapro was giving me a living hell. Just wasn't working the same. Some people can go back on the same med after awhile and it's all fine again. Not me. By April 2009 I couldn't take it anymore and took myself off again.

Here it is July 21st and I am trying to figure out what to do now. I am so torn. I am having daily anxiety but I just don't want to do the SSRI thing again. This time I would be trying Zoloft. I have read some good things about it, great things, and then I will find some scary things and it puts me right back at the beginning of not wanting to start it again. It's horrible not knowing what to do. My doctor wants me to take it of course, but he is against natural means of healing, and so I have little faith in his appraisal of things. He didn't even know what Taurine was or that people with depression and anxiety have lower amino acid levels---b vitamins, taurine, tryptophan, etc. That scared me. I was thinking, "Yea, you are another puppet at the hands of the pharmacutical companies, sadly.". I have read a ton of pros and cons of SSRIs.

Yes, they do help with anxiety and depression, but from what I have read, they also deplete our natural reserves and we make less because the med is there. Therefore, we can get lower than we were or worse anxiety than before the med, because the chemicals are messing with our neurotransmitters.

Now I have to decide..........take the Zoloft and feel better now (or within a few weeks, rather, after side effects subside if they aren't permanent!), deal with withdrawls and med poop out later or don't take it and feel anxious all the time, except when I take Xanax every few hours with Benedryl? Which, btw, is a nice mixture. It helps the Xanax give you a mellow feeling of ok-ness.

Hope my story helps you. 'Cause I still don't know what to do. I have the Zoloft sitting in my fridge waiting on me to make up my mind. If anyone has a success story with Zoloft I would love to hear it. Long term use would be best to hear from, but anything would help.

Doesn't it seem, when we are sitting at say, a Conoco, watching people go in and out, that you are the only one with anxiety problems, or depression or whatever? It just seems like "they" are just fine, flowing with life like I want to and feel is my natural state but have lost it at the moment. I know that many people are suffering though, because of all the posts all over the net! We are they, and not alone in this, though it sure feels that way.

Good luck to us all.

Here is a bit of my story. Panic disorder, ocd, agoraphobia, and told borderline personality disorder too.

I was taking Lexapro in 2007 and 2008 for panic attacks, ocd. I have had panic attacks since I was 7 years old. I am now 40. They seem to be real bad for awhile (months, to a year or so) and then I can get myself back to where I can handle life without meds.

I took myself off of Lexapro because of a 10 pound weight gain, Sept. 2008. I didn't eat crap foods and I exercised even more. I even ate less. I have never had a hard time losing weight before. So I panicked and quit. The Lexapro WAS helping with anxiety though. I will give it that. In hindsight, I shouldn't have quit. Maybe the weight would have stopped at 10 pounds.

So 3 months later, December 2008, I couldn't take the anxiety that was back any longer. My Mom had passed away in 2007 and we were best friends, practically an appendage. I have been lost without her. When I stopped Lexapro, all the separation anxiety came rushing back at me and it was hard. I tried natural stuff but it couldn't help. I also have Xanax.

But the Lexapro was not helping like it did before. If you have taken SSRIs, then you know of all the start up side effects, and all the stuff that comes with that. I had just had to go through the withdrawls to get off of it! But the Lexapro was giving me a living hell. Just wasn't working the same. Some people can go back on the same med after awhile and it's all fine again. Not me. By April 2009 I couldn't take it anymore and took myself off again.

Here it is July 21st and I am trying to figure out what to do now. I am so torn. I am having daily anxiety but I just don't want to do the SSRI thing again. This time I would be trying Zoloft. I have read some good things about it, great things, and then I will find some scary things and it puts me right back at the beginning of not wanting to start it again. It's horrible not knowing what to do. My doctor wants me to take it of course, but he is against natural means of healing, and so I have little faith in his appraisal of things. He didn't even know what Taurine was or that people with depression and anxiety have lower amino acid levels---b vitamins, taurine, tryptophan, etc. That scared me. I was thinking, "Yea, you are another puppet at the hands of the pharmacutical companies, sadly.". I have read a ton of pros and cons of SSRIs.

Yes, they do help with anxiety and depression, but from what I have read, they also deplete our natural reserves and we make less because the med is there. Therefore, we can get lower than we were or worse anxiety than before the med, because the chemicals are messing with our neurotransmitters.

Now I have to decide..........take the Zoloft and feel better now (or within a few weeks, rather, after side effects subside if they aren't permanent!), deal with withdrawls and med poop out later or don't take it and feel anxious all the time, except when I take Xanax every few hours with Benedryl? Which, btw, is a nice mixture. It helps the Xanax give you a mellow feeling of ok-ness.

Hope my story helps you. 'Cause I still don't know what to do. I have the Zoloft sitting in my fridge waiting on me to make up my mind. If anyone has a success story with Zoloft I would love to hear it. Long term use would be best to hear from, but anything would help.

Doesn't it seem, when we are sitting at say, a Conoco, watching people go in and out, that you are the only one with anxiety problems, or depression or whatever? It just seems like "they" are just fine, flowing with life like I want to and feel is my natural state but have lost it at the moment. I know that many people are suffering though, because of all the posts all over the net! We are they, and not alone in this, though it sure feels that way.

Good luck to us all.

Thank you so much for your input. I am on effexor and after almost 2wk I am beginning to feel not so anxious as before. If I don´t have any bad effects I plan on staying with it for the rest of my life because I cannot take this fear and phobia anymore.

Good luck to you!

Im glad you were able to get on meds that help you. Good luck!

I know this post is much older than a week but I just wanted to say I know how you feel sometimes I think anxiety disorders *especially* GAD are neglected (everything's about depression or bipolar or PTSD [although the last one is a good thing I think]).

I read an article last year on reasons for this but I don't really remember them—part of it was how researchers like to target specific symptoms and GAD by definition is a generalized phenomenon means it's less "interesting" to study and harder to sell a treatment protocol for it.

I'm currently on 40mg Celexa and am very happy. I ocassionally feel a panic attack coming on, and I then take a xanax to control the symptoms.

I tried zoloft from 25mg-175mg and couldn't find a dosage that helped my symptoms, but didn't make me a numb robot!

Good luck!

I'm really glad the Effexor is helping (((((Nirmal)))) That's great!

I have several Anxiety Disorders (GAD, Panic Attacks, Specific Phobias and some OCD). I take 100 mg Zoloft daily and I have Ativan for absolute emergencies (for example if I have to fly)

Happy New Year to all!