Anxiety Medication

[crimson74]

Hi all sorry if this is in the wrong spot, but I'm really having hard weeks of late with my panic attacks and general anxiety to the stage that its making me wish I wasnt even here anymore :(

Does anyone take any medication to help them with their anxiety and does it work , I need to go to the doctor and I was wondering if I should ask my doctor about medication.

 

[falling_wave]

I take lexapro for depression but it's supposed to help with anxiety too. I also have constant anxiety. Lexapro worked amazingly fast to help with the feelings of wanting to not be here anymore and I generally had more hope. It was a tough physical adjustment the first week I was on it but keep telling yourself it will pass if you do get on it. I also take xanax as needed for panic attacks and a lot of times to fall asleep and that works miracles. Good luck! Just let them know your fears about meds and also exactly how significant your symptomscare. A good doc will take all that into consideration when making a choice.

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

I was against taking any sort of medication that would help me. I am generally anti-medication. That said, I know take medication and it is helping me. It is kind of a trial and error to find what works. I find that I've been more helped by a psychiatrist (or psychiatric nurse practitioner) more than my primary care doctor, but I did start with my doctor. There are different kinds of medications for anxiety. There are "fast" acting ones that are meant to help when you're having a panic attack. There are longer acting ones as well to help manage the overall anxiety. I think if you anxiety is as severe as you describe above, go ahead and have that conversation with your doctor about medication. Just talking about it doesn't commit you to anything. Since I notice you are new here, I will also add that having the right kind of therapist is very helpful, too. Medication alone most likely won't help the most by itself. Most "experts" say that the best combination is medication and therapy, but everyone is different and with the help of your doctor and other supports you might have, you can figure out what is the best path for you because you are the expert on what works for you and what you feel comfortable with.

 

[Friday]

I usually have a short acting med as a safety net.

 

[Underdog]

My doctor prescribed Xanax, but when I finally saw a psychiatrist he said he wished I had not been given that but would work with it for the time being. The reason he stated is that doctors don't understand PTSD as well as mental health professionals, so what they will give you may be different from what a psychiatrist would prescribe. That being said, I'm on Xanax as an immediate fix and most of the time it does work but you can't just go cold turkey and stop with it because of its addictive nature. I'm also on Abilify, Depakote and Lexapro which are all for depression and anxiety relief. The Depakote also helps slow my mental processing down a bit. The Abilify was to help boost the Lexapro more immediately as I was in bad shape when I first went in to see the psychiatrist. Now that I've been on them for several months, I can feel the changes but I still occasionally am triggered hard and sometimes still feel the anxiety rising. That's where daily meditation, trauma sensitive yoga and other game plans come into play.

 

[Jenelle 34]

Hey sorry if this is brief I have found a psychiatrist and trauma psychologist helpful in combination with exercise. I've been pretty unwell this year with major depressive disorder and complex ptsd resulting in a hospital stay and feelings of hopelessness. I have started Lithium on top of Mirtazipine, Pristique and Seroquel which seems to be restoring my hope. I hope you get the care you need and let them care for you x

 

[sun seeker]

I used to take amitriptyline for anxiety and sleep, and it worked at the time, though my anxiety didn't really cross over into panic. I stopped because it made me so emotionally flat - it numbed the anxiety, but it numbed everything else too. It was also physiologically habit-forming and made my sleep worse for about six weeks when I stopped taking it. But if your anxiety is really intolerable it might be worth looking into. I don't remember any side effects besides the emotional numbness.

 

[ghotiff]

I was nervous to start with I now take sertraline, on the lowest therapeutically effective dose and it has done wonders for me. I started taking it because after beginning therapy and opening old wounds I got suicidal ideation which I hadn't had for many years. Sertraline has stopped my SI and has also helped dampen my general anxiety.

Good luck.

 

[TonyG]

Anxiety is the worst part of PTSD for me, when I first went to the doctors I was given Diazapam 5mg for quick relief but it wasn't really working for me so then I was given Zoloft 50mg and that worked but I still had really bad days so after a month my dose was increased to 100mg and I still take Diazapam on top of that on bad days.

 

[crimson74]

Thank you everyone for your responses it has helped me and what I have noticed is that it looks like a personal thing seeing as people on here take different meds so im assuming its a trial and error thing until you get what right for you . I would just like to have a semi normal life to start of with and then go from there . Thank you agsin all :)

 

[ghotiff]

I believe the trial and error in part comes from seeing if 1) they work, and 2) are the side effects okay. Both these questions are very individual and only trial and error confirms it.

 

[crimson74]

Well I had my doctors appointment today and they gave me sertraline to take 50mcg and now im sitting here nervous to take them because of all the side affects , its weird to be nervous about meds that should get rid of the nervousness and now ill have to pick a day and start but my doctor said that the first few weeks on it can be kinda rough so not looking forward to it but well here goes and ill see how i feel