To med or not to med?

I have struggled on/off with anxiety for about 10 years. Most of the time, not too severe and has been managable. I went on Paxil about 3 years ago and was on until about 10 months ago. I did NOT like the way the meds made me feel and, even on a low dosage, felt very "blah" and did not have much in the emotion-department. I tried others before that as well, but they made me physically ill.

Since I have been off of the Paxil, I have felt the anxiety creeping back stronger than ever. I am currently seeing a therapist that I am extremely happy with and feel like I'm making some progress. However, I stil am not feeling like I'm in a mentally healthy place and am almost always "on edge".

What I would like is some advice- particularly in terms of alternatives to medication. I really would like to not go back on anything and would like to learn to quiet the beast (somewhat!) on my own. Any suggestions?

OR any advice on medication with the least amount of side effects? I have not yet have children and hope to in the next few years- does anyone know anything about how meds interact with pregnancy?

Thanks!

Honestly, I have no idea what to tell you. I am basically in the exact same situation now except I was on Wellbutrin and it was almost a year ago (Feb 5th) that I quit. I got off because I felt like I was two separate people on and off meds.

Now I don't know what to do. I want to learn how to deal with the anxiety without meds, but at the moment it is looking like that may not be the best option. A new doctor (new to me) prescribed me Zoloft. But I'm really nervous about starting a different med. I'm a college student and I am really picky about my grades so I'm worried that a new med might bring new side effects that could be a hindrance to my classroom capabilities.
I have no idea what med might work for you. I know Lexapro didn't work well for me (gave me a high and then extreme drop), and I had tried Prozac but it made me sick. And I still don't know if I'm going to try Zoloft.

Good Luck. I hope others reply with some good advice, I could really use it too.

For alternatives to anti-depressants, St. John's Wart is suppose to help.
I take Prozac and Wellbutrin and it is a good combo for me.
I am glad that you have a good T. I think that is very important.

Try relaxing techniques like warm bubble baths, taking walks, listening to soothing music and things like that.

I know I wasn't of much help but hope that you continue to improve with your new T.

Best of luck,
Linda

Hello I hope things get better for you soon. If you PM Docjohn or Psisci who can usually be reached in the drug forum they can probably both tell you what they recommend and then maybe your Dr will change or adjust your medication. You really need to be HONEST with your therapist and Dr to let them know that the medicaiton is not working. I htink many times patients think their Drs know the medication is working because no one tells them any differently. There is nothing wrong in telling your Dr the truth that you are not thriving and feeling well taking the medication, in fact the Dr needs to know how you are doing on the medicaiton because Drs are usually morre than willing to help in these circumstances, to help you maintain your mental health. You have no reason for your concern the Dr is one of the most important people in your mental health treatment and is aware that there are medications that need adjusting and changed from time to time, and expects this as well from time to time, from patients. I hope the best for you Take care Soidhonia

I haven't been on anything for almost a year now so it's not that they're currently not working, I just haven't had luck in the past. I would rather not go down that road again... I know most people here are on a prescription so I'm not judging that choice, I just don' t think it's the best option for me. Although if this keeps up, I may have no choice...?

Also, I did just check out the meds forum and realized that's were I should have originally posted this- sorry!

I've always kept my anxiety in check using a lot of "logic." It's "just" anxiety and I've dealt with it before and will have it again. Getting myself in a position so I'm very aware of my physical surroundings, am out of my "head" and more in my body helps me. Talking to someone else, going shopping/being around other people, or working on a very detailed task can be a good help to me. Check in with all senses (feel corduroy, tree trunks, etc.; make a cup of tea or hot chocolate, bake something and smell the smells; watch something concrete and literal -- cats/children/dogs playing, birds in the yard, cars/traffic in the street; listen for "unusual" (to you) sounds -- specific birds (I'm on the water, have seagulls :-) or just the sound of the washing machine, drier, dish washer). The more you can combine things in literal, everyday ways, become "mindful" the more grounded you can feel and the less influence your anxious feelings will have over you.

Usually we're afraid of things in the future or which are in a sense, "imaginary"/not real. Shifting focus to the real/concrete helps me relax some. When I relax (like waking up from a bad dream) I then only gradually go back into my "head" by working hard on an intellectual exercise (my schoolwork :-) like reading a nonfiction book or doing physical chores. If it's the middle of the night, I sometimes get up and eat some yogurt or cottage cheese or other healthy comfort food (cream of wheat/oatmeal) and do a few exercises/stretches and decide to treat the "problem" as if it's a bad dream I am going to have so decide to go to sleep and have it and make the best of it in the morning.

Relaxation works nicely to get the adrenaline levels down and to feel better.

You might want to Google some relaxation sites to find some material tha would help. Here are a couple:

www.meditainment.com (nice guided imagery/meditation to try there)

Wholepersons.com for relaxation CD's or tapes.

It helps me and I hope it helps you too!

I've been suffering from a lot more anxiety recently than I have in about 4 years. What I do for myself is to knock off any caffeine including chocolate, coffee, tea etc. I try to take in more water and less sugars and salts. It does seem to help take the sharp edges off for me.

I used to take paxil years ago and I found the same thing happened to me as to you. I had absolutely NO emotions, nothing, nil, zip, nada. For a short time, it was good for me to be like that, but after about 4 months, I really needed to FEEL things again. My doc took me off the paxil and put me on Celexa. I did wonderfully on Celexa...it just did the trick for me and eventually I was able to stop it altogether. It allowed me to work through my problems with a clear head.

I wish you well and hope you find something that works for you real soon! Take good care.

Hugssssss
Jean

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
tiodlliwi said:
I know most people here are on a prescription so I'm not judging that choice, I just don' t think it's the best option for me.

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">tiodlliwi, I'm not on medication. My first T was strongly against it, probably too strongly, and it swayed me because I was too depressed to go against her (I was suffering from anxiety + depression). Some things she helped me with, that helped a bit: getting enough sleep each night (I had been exhausted for years and could not sleep) and building a support system of friends, family, etc. But I always felt this was tackling symptoms rather than the underlying problems. So I went to a different T who was willing to work hard with me in therapy to get to the root causes of my anxiety and depression. This helped me immensely. So my answer would be the alternative to drugs that has helped me is good psychotherapy with a caring and talented practitioner. Also, meditation, sleep, long walks.

Good luck. I hope you can find a T who supports your desire to try to heal without medication.


sunny

ive had depression/anxiety problems for along time and tried almost all the ssri's and none helped with anxiety or depression but then my psychiatrist put me on xanax and that kills the anxiety really good so you could ask you're psych for a bendzoidapine (ativan , xanax and others) for ur anxiety they normaly help when anti depressants don't the main side effect is sedation and sometimes people get angry on it i don't seem to have that problem yet tho

I do have a prescription for Xanax but I've always been told it's for "quick fixes" not necessarily as an every day medication because it is highly addictive? I take that for big-time events like airplanes and funerals...

I was taking Lexapro for anxiety and loved it. But, like you, I was concerned about its effect on pregnancy (I'm not yet pregnant but am trying) so I stopped. Wellbutrin is rated as safe for pregnancy, as a class B drug (Lexapro, Paxil are both class C drugs, I believe. Only Tylenol is class A. The lower the class, the more risk with pregnancy the drug is). I didn't particularly care for Wellbutrin nor did I feel it helped me, so right now I take nothing and am trying to manage my stress using other methods, such as yoga and meditation.

(ps - to respond to something Soidonhia said, DocJohn doesn't answer drug questions, but psisci does)

ECHOES