[yahcanmicrowave]

I am a 42 year old healthy professional male who has suffered anxiety since I was 20 years old. I surmise the condition first started after a major accident which nearly took my life. The anxiety comes and goes in cycles, usually intense for a while, then subsides.

When I was first diagnosed, I was given Prozac and Xanax. Both caused bad side effects (Prozac hurt my sex drive, Xanax put me to sleep).

Lately, my anxiety has been getting much worse. Almost to the point where I avoid almost any social situation. Obviously I cannot continue to live this way as it is hurting my relationships. Additionally, I have had this feeling of not really caring about much and not really looking forward to anything in particular. I used to love to travel and work out, now I could really care less about these things.

My question is, are the new drugs on the market really any better than the Prozac, Xanax, or other depression meds. I need something that will get me out of this fog and allow me to live a relatively normal life. Any suggestions? I have been to a shrink and that only helps for a very short time.

Has anyone used Buspar or Wellbutrin? Do these meds work for anxiety/depression without the sexual side effects?

Thanks!

[CamW]

YCM - There are really no new drugs out there, but there are some old drugs that you could ask your doc about. There is a heart drug (a ß-blocker) called propranolol (Inderal™). For some people it prevents anxiety, and the doses that are used for anxiety are much lower than that used for treating blood pressure. I have seen doses of 10mg twice daily work, but a usual anti-anxiety dose is usually 40mg to 60mg daily, in divided doses. I don't like the long acting propranolol (Inderal LA™ - once daily dosing), it doesn't seem to work as well as the twice daily propranolol.

The is another older drug called clonidine that is occasionally used for anxiety, but it has a lot of annoying side effects.

Also, it does sound like the dosages of Prozac™ (fluoxetine) and Xanax™ (alprazolam) that you were taking were too high. The doc could try you at half of your former dosages, if you were willing.

Low doses of Effexor XR™ (venlafaxine) in the range of 37.5mg to 75mg once daily seem to work very well in the few GAD (generalized anxiety disorder) I have seen, and there are several positive studies (most are funded by the drug company, though) in the literature on Effexor XR's effectiveness in GAD and social phobia. The upside (pum intended) is that Effexor XR at those low doses seldom results in decreased libido (although it does happen).

I hope that this gives some food for thought - Cam