ovwerwhelming

Hi all -

I'm an older person (almost 60), and am feeling overwhelmed by life. Debt up to my ears, had a blood clot, have screaming tinnitus, and have bad anxiety so I start wheezing when I try to talk to someone, even my wife and daughter!

I tried some therapy last November, but I wasn't too keen on my therapist and my insurance company doesn't let me change therapists without appealing to the head of the facility. Tried Celexa and it had several bad side effects.

Can't sleep either.

Thanks for listening...

that's crazy that you can't change therapists! i'm sorry. it sounds like you have a lot you're dealing with. is there a possibility of anti-anxiety meds just to help you get through this patch so you can at least talk about it with a friend or your family?

Thanks. I belong to Kaiser, and they aren't the best for folks trying to deal with depression/anxiety. They claim to have a great setup, but it seems like Kaiser is a training ground for Dr's who go on to their own practices later.

I should go back to my regular doc and set some meds. Am so squeamish about it because of the last meds I took.

The SSRI's like Celexa are not very effective for anxiety for most people. The benzo's work the best but I suspect kaiser has an anti benzo policy. I had kaiser in Northern California for many years and found I got good service. They had some good experienced people at that time. I have noticed they hire a lot of people fresh out of school as therapist. Last time I went to a group there was a very experienced lady running it. Benzo's have a set of draw backs but are very effective. At your age I do not think I would worry about the draw backs. Just finding a doc who will prescribe them.

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I am 55 and understand. As I have gotten older, it seems a bit harder to bounce back. You are fighting not only the MI, but physical aging problems. It's rough. Do you have friends to talk to? Or relatives? I have a good T now, but I swear some "plain" people are more helpful than therapy.
Can you go to somewhere like credit counseling to help you figure out your debt? They are free and give really good advice.
I don't know about the tinnitus, but I know it is awful. If you have good insurance, have you seen all the specialists you can?
Make sure none of your meds have the side effect of bothering your ears.
Try melatonin for the sleep.
Hugs and hope you feel better soon. One good thing about this site is the amount of older people on here. The younger ones tolerate us "elderly" really well.

Thanks for the replies, lilipup and zinco. Admittedly I've been trying to go this alone for awhile, and that has NOT been an effective strategy. My wife hopes I can just be "over" my problems by being happy around me. A nice thought, but she's either not aware of or doesn't want to cope with how deep-rooted this disease is.

Good advice on meds. My regular doctor has been prescribing, instead of a psychiatrist, which I'm not as comfortable with. And yeah, my tinnitus really jumped to a very loud level after being on Celexa for a while. Went to the specialists for this and they basically told me I'd have to live with it. I have heard CBT is useful, but there is no cure.

I also may try getting a referral from Kaiser to go to a center.

Take care