Poll Best medication for ptsd

[EveHarrington]

I took Efexor (Venlafaxine) for nine years and suffered acute memory loss and impaired cognitive func...

Effexor is notorious for having bad side effects. I’ve been on many drugs and Effexor, hands down, was the worst!

The goal of medication isn’t so much to suppress our emotions so much as it is to regulate them. I’ve done a LOT of healing but I needed to recently start on a mood stabilizer because I couldn’t stabilize my moods on my own. (God knows I’ve tried! Sometimes skills aren’t enough.) I’m now on an anticonvulsant. It’s an epilepsy medication that regulates electrical signals. If I had epilepsy I wouldn’t think twice about taking this drug!

I’m felt all the feels that I need to feel. Regulation is the name of the game, and with damaged systems, some of us need drugs in order to function.

 

[MrMoonlight]

Hallelujah, it works so well I want to cry!

I'm so happy for you Eve. It feels like a miracle sometimes when we actually find something that jives with our systems. So great...

 

[anonymous]

I got pernicious anemia after taking Effexor, thought I was dying, I was in hell for almost a year. Poisonous shit.

 

[joeylittle]

Wellbutrin. But that’s for the depression diagnosis.

For PTSD, low dose Gabapentin. It’s the only thing I’ve been able to use to help me sleep.

 

[Deleted member 37474]

Trileptal seems to help with the anxiety.

 

[EveHarrington]

Ditto on the trileptal. It greatly reduces my anxiety so I’m not nauseous and can eat. Miss a dose and I’m sick again.

 

[littleoc]

I'm too afraid to take anything "serious" as my psychiatrist calls them.

I sort of feel like she's not taking me seriously, but it's okay I guess

I do take Prazosin for sleep and ridding of nightmares. Works very well

 

[EveHarrington]

I'm too afraid to take anything "serious" as my psychiatrist calls them.

I sort of feel like she's n...

What is “serious”...?

 

[littleoc]

What is “serious”...?

I don't know :/ Whenever I ask about something for anxiety or other things for fear or paranoia, she'll say, "Are you sure you want that? That would make you have to take a serious drug" and I'll say no I don't want that because it sounds frightening -- and like the right answer. The way she words it I guess

 

[EveHarrington]

I don't know :/ Whenever I ask about something for anxiety or other things for fear or paranoia, she'l...

It sounds like she’s trying to scare you.

It just sounds weird to me.

 

[littleoc]

It sounds like she’s trying to scare you.

It just sounds weird to me.

Hm

 

[EveHarrington]

Hm

I don’t mean to overstep my bounds, but she works for you. If you ask about a medication for anxiety or paranoia, she shouldn’t scare you away by telling you that they are “serious” drugs. It sounds like she’s talking down to you when she should be explaining the various drug options instead.

Would she call mood stabilizers “serious” drugs? Half of them aren’t even approved for mental health uses and are used off label. Technically I’m taking an epilepsy medication, not a mental health drug, but it KILLS my anxiety like nothing else. Is “off label” her definition of “non-serious”....? And if so, why hasn’t she even offered those to you?