Anxiety Meds Experiences?

[Abstract]

Just wondering if others would share with me their experiences of anxiety meds.

What have you tried? What positive and negative effects did you have? Did you have problems with dependence or not and what did you put in place to prevent it? What about interactions with other drugs such as SSRI's?

Thank you.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

I have tried Klonopin and Xanax. Currently I am on Xanax.

I didn't noticed a difference with Klonopin so I was put on Xanax. It calms me but it's not drastic. I don't feel drugged up or out of it when I take it. My does is 0.5 mg. I think that is maybe low or normal I don't know.

I don't have any issues with dependence. My bottle of Xanax says I can take it up to three times a day. That sounded excessive and also made me think if you are always on Xanax then you can't really try to work on making progress with the anxiety. So I prevent dependence by not taking it very much, only when needed, when all other coping skills have been used. Or when I know I need to do something that will cause anxiety that will be beyond what I can normally cope with, I will take it before hand. But I will tell my doctors that I don't need it very much, so even though one bottle (by the written instructions) should last a month most of the time it lasts me two or three months. That makes them happy and I know my new psychiatrist likes that I don't use them like candy.

I am not on any SSRI's so I can't answer that. I react badly to SSRI's. All my other drugs are mood stabilizers (Lamitical) , anitpsychtics (Saphris) and Lithium. Plus Xanax. My drugs doses on the other drugs are high; both Saphris and Lamitical are maxed out. I haven't noticed a bad reaction with Xanax to the mix.

 

[Bedbug]

Diazepam (Valium). Very calming and definitely helped my anxiety, but also made me super groggy, nauseous, and I had really vivid dreams (although not nightmares). My short term memory just went to pieces as well. I was supposed to take it for a week when I was going through a really bad patch last year, but I only took half the prescribed dose for three days and still have leftover pills.

I've taken a single pill on a couple of bad occasions since, but regretted it each time. It takes too long to kick in, by which time I could probably have held out or managed to calm myself down, and makes me feel the bad side effects for two or three days.

I wondered about asking my doctor to switch to alprazolam (Xanax) as that is faster acting but I decided I'd rather try to manage without any medication at all.

EDIT: I was tempted to take codeine earlier today, but didn't. It's been a rough day.

https://www.myptsd.com/threads/codeine-for-anxiety.40075/

 

[EvenStrongerNow]

I'm a very sensitive girl so my experience may be in a very small percentage.

With benzodiazepines of any kind, I have a paradoxical reaction. I am like 3 years old if the dosage is too high and I sleep for days. On an extremely low dose, I would fly from one end of the pendulum to the other. For example, without it, I was extremely anxious and extremely analytical. On the low dose, my inhibitions flew to the wind, I hyper focused only I couldn't finish a project (I made big messes sure that I was making headway, but it took forever--that could've been due to the Welbutrin (NDRI) I took simultaneously), and I did not care about anything . . .For example, nothing bothered me, which is not what I wanted. I wanted a balance.

The only SSRI I've taken in life was Paxil. It caused me to become manic.

I have found that Buspar was a great non-narcotic anxiety med for me in the past. I experienced no side effects.

I have taken Valerian root which is a natural valium. I had good results with that it seemed even though they smell like crap, but I worked through that by opening the capsules and stirring the powder into my tea.

I know you didn't ask about anything else. Just wanted to share. I am currently taking only Risperdal, .5mg. The results have been really great for me. Very great. I feel like I have a balance now.

 

[Kas_Can_Fly]

Fluoexetine - Worsened OCD to being unbearable, anxiety also worse,
Citalopram - violent allergy - extreme sickness, head pain and muscle cramps.
Sertraline - 6st weight gain in two months and 3 years post ssri sexual dysfunction.
Buspirone - Virtually no effect positive or negative. However when double dosed at the same time as a double dose of promethazine would without fail cause me to sleep. I think it may have reduced anxiety at one point but the difference was so marginal, I don't know if it's just because I wanted it to work.
Diazepam - No noticeable effect whatsoever.
Lorazepam - Works well (though better the first 4 times I took it), calms and no negative side effects, if it wasn't addictive I would use it more frequently or always, it's amazing for me.
Promethazine - Great for car sickness, mild anxiety relief and sleep aid.
Trazodone - No effect whatsoever anxiety, sleep or depression.
Amitriptyline - extreme suicidality resulting in failed attempt and hospitalisation
Mirtazapine - very little effect but no longer extremely suicidal - I don't know if this is because of the meds or a natural mood swing, still very down, anxiety still there, nightmares reduced but increased insomnia.
Zopiclone - Helps sleep as long as I actually try to go to sleep, if I don't lie down and shut off in 20-30 minutes after taking it, I get anxious and jittery and can't sleep at all - didn't have this the first time I took it, I don't know if the dose was different, because then I literally couldn't stand or talk.

For no reason that I can determine Paracetamol and Ibuprofen both help me sleep a little, they seem to alleviate what I can only describe in the absence of it, mental pain.

I'm thinking of asking the Psychiatrist of adding Venlafaxine to the Mirtazapine because I don't want have to wean off and be medless at the moment, plus the two can be taken together and sometimes work very well together. If I find they work, depending on the amount they work I will either wean off the Mirtazapine or just stick with it. I think I may be treatment resistant - apparently that requires only 2 or more unsuccessful medication!

Edit: Just saw StrongerNow's post, also tried valerian in a concentrated form, chamomile and other herbal things my mum gave me when I was younger and I noticed no difference whatsoever, except that the Valerian tasted terrible :)

 

[sthrngirl]

I take klonopin. I've tried Xanax too. It didn't work well for me. Klonopin takes about 30 minutes to and hour for me to feel the relaxation feel from it, but it definitely works for me. I mainly only take it at night so I can sleep best.. I tend to get my worst anxieties at night when I'm alone with my thoughts etc.


I am on wellbutrin for depression, considering getting off to be honest. I don't feel that I need it anymore!

 

[bitterfight_]

I'm on 25 mg of Sertraline (Zoloft) and it hasn't really done too much except eliminate the nightmares every night, and lessened my overall anxiety (although some situations and stuff set it off etc). Other than that, I'm very new to medications too.

 

[Abstract]

Thank you everyone for your helpful replies! I am interested in any meds discussion and what it helped or caused so share away! Ironically I have taken anti anxiety meds before but I have no recollection of doing so at all so have no idea how I reacted. That includes Diazepam and Xanax. I think.

I need to look up what anti psychotic and sleep meds they tried and wanted to try me on as I can't remember. Had a terrible reaction to Amitriptyline and not one of the sleep meds helped me. None helped me sleep and most made me feel sedated throughout the day and sent my hypervigilence through the roof.

Feeling sedated is the one thing I can't tolerate in any form so don't want that.

 

[Notsowild]

I take 20 mg. of cipralex. It helped okay before my accident now I think I need something else. Will be seeing a psychiatrist in March to help with my meds.

I also take .5mg of lorazepam. It helps a lot especially with sleeping. But I am worried about getting addicted to it.

@Kas_Can_Fly

I don't know if the dose was different, because then I literally couldn't stand or talk.

This happened to me. I took 50 mg. for sleep, woke up the next day and almost passed out. I crawled back to bed, called in sick and I felt stoned all day. I threw them out.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

I need to look up what anti psychotic and sleep meds they tried

My saphris actually knocks me out every night. It takes some getting used to at first but once I did, I sleept much better.

 

[Notsowild]

@Ayesha ... What is saphris?

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

Asenapine; trade names Saphris: is an atypical antipsychotic developed for the treatment of schizophrenia and acute mania associated with bipolar disorder...it may possess some antidepressant effects in patients with acute mania or mixed episodes. (Wikipedia)

The last bit is important becasue bipolar depression doesn't usually react well or get helped by antidepressants. Saphris was like a wonder drug for me only being challenged by Lithium which I find to be wonderful too. Saphris keeps me stable, my head is much clearer, my thoughts more organized. It helps me sleep too. Without it I don't think I could go to school. A small dose of Lithium seemed to take away almost all major depression I would go through every few months.

Oh and a point I would like to make is drugs have off label uses. Saphris for example is given to people with PTSD to help with nightmares. Lithium is marketed mostly for mania, not depression and studies show it helps with depression (which is why it was given to me, I was out of options so they decided to start getting more drastic) and also Lithium is marketed as (and the only drug to my knowledge) decreases the risk of suicide which was another reason it was given to me.

Both drugs have given me a life outside of mental illness. I know some people don't believe in medications. I do.

Sorry went off on a tangent.