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P-Doc, I don’t like what you offered!

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Skywatcher

MyPTSD Pro
I have been having the worst anxiety I have ever had so far. For about a month now. In addition, I have had some dips into depressive feelings and panic attacks seem to be increasing. Can’t fall asleep. Too many racing thoughts and the melatonin no longer works. In the past when I tried upping my trileptal, I would get foggy, tired and have some vision issues. At one point I tried a combo of Prozac and trileptal and thought it was causing my tongue to swell, so I quit the anti depressant. I have already ruled out other antidepressants as well. So... today he gave me three options. 1. Up my trileptal 2. Go off the trileptal, come back in a few weeks and then we will start an antidepressant. 3. Go off all meds.

I don’t like any of these options. I wanted to try to add the Antidepressant back in like before and see if my tongue swells and then try going off the trileptal from there. He said no.

I said I would up the trileptal but I just don’t feel right about it.

Any opinions on this? Should I try someone new?
 
Your tongue swelling means it was starting anaphylaxis level of an allergic reaction... which is lethal. Which is why ANYONE will tell you “no”. No one will give you a medication you are allergic to, on purpose. The whole “killing your patients is bad” thing ;)

A lot of medications have synergistic reactions 1+1=3 (sum is equal to more than the parts). These reactions happen in different ways. Some make each work better, or worse, or become toxic, or addictive as f*ck, or increase the likelihood of an allergic reaction, etc.

I have no idea if trileptal is one of those meds, but it sounds like it, from the options he gave you (ie willing to try antidepressants again (or other meds, too?), but ONLY after going off the tripletal AND letting it work it’s way entirely out of your system.

I’m not counseling against a 2nd opinion... I was raised by doctors and no one but no one gets more 42nd opinions than doctors themselves. Especially if the only options he’s willing to try are antidepressants for anxiety. Just not to expect anyone to be willing to kill you, to help your anxiety.
 
You summed up your options pretty well:
1) more of what your current meds
2) trying different meds
3) trying no meds

Sometimes, the options are shitty. But your doc has pretty much covered it. Except...

For long-term anxiety, where medication isn’t solving the problem, option 3 is more than just “nothing”. It’s trying non-pharmaceutical strategies. Thinking outside the box, and trying techniques that aren’t necessarily going to help today, or tomorrow, or even next week.

There are tonnes of long-term strategies for managing anxiety that don’t involve medication. That’s option 3. Option 3 is a whole new range of options. They take time. They’re frustrating slow to work. But your doc should be able to cover some of them with you, or at least refer you to specialists that can.

Don’t give up. Option 3 is how most of us have to manage severe anxiety long term:)
 
You summed up your options pretty well:
1) more of what your current meds
2) trying different meds
3) trying no meds

Sometimes, the options are shitty. But your doc has pretty much covered it. Except...

For long-term anxiety, where medication isn’t solving the problem, option 3 is more than just “nothing”. It’s trying non-pharmaceutical strategies. Thinking outside the box, and trying techniques that aren’t necessarily going to help today, or tomorrow, or even next week.

There are tonnes of long-term strategies for managing anxiety that don’t involve medication. That’s option 3. Option 3 is a whole new range of options. They take time. They’re frustrating slow to work. But your doc should be able to cover some of them with you, or at least refer you to specialists that can.

Don’t give up. Option 3 is how most of us have to manage severe anxiety long term:)
I kind of want to get to the point of option 3. I just think that stopping all my meds while I’ve already had three panic attacks this week isn’t the best plan. I do use magnesium glycinate daily, too. Which I think helps.

Your tongue swelling means it was starting anaphylaxis level of an allergic reaction... which is lethal. Which is why ANYONE will tell you “no”. No one will give you a medication you are allergic to, on purpose. The whole “killing your patients is bad” thing ;)

A lot of medications have synergistic reactions 1+1=3 (sum is equal to more than the parts). These reactions happen in different ways. Some make each work better, or worse, or become toxic, or addictive as f*ck, or increase the likelihood of an allergic reaction, etc.

I have no idea if trileptal is one of those meds, but it sounds like it, from the options he gave you (ie willing to try antidepressants again (or other meds, too?), but ONLY after going off the tripletal AND letting it work it’s way entirely out of your system.

I’m not counseling against a 2nd opinion... I was raised by doctors and no one but no one gets more 42nd opinions than doctors themselves. Especially if the only options he’s willing to try are antidepressants for anxiety. Just not to expect anyone to be willing to kill you, to help your anxiety.
The tongue swelling was quite possibly not related to that med. I seem to be having issues with strawberries, and I am a sax player and had been playing a lot of gigs at that time. I had never had tongue swelling from that before but my friend mentioned that that happens to her when she is playing or practicing a lot. So, who knows!
 
I loved Trileptal! It was awesome....until it wasn’t. My dose was upped and I developed asthma. (Yeah, I always get the crazy side effects!) IIRC Trileptal can cause depressive symptoms, which explains my bumpy ride which included a hospital stay (1st one in 9 years). I don’t really have any advice, just want to say I understand your med frustrations. I’m now trying to stabilize on something else, while trying to figure out if the med is causing brain fog, or if my dissociation is just going haywire. It’s always something! Lol. :hug:
 
Don’t give up. Option 3 is how most of us have to manage severe anxiety long term

^^Totally agree with @Sideways - It's option 3 for me too. Chemicals just make me worse. But I learned the hard way.

Try not to look at Option 3 as the final resort. It's actually far, far more effective than any medication but it takes a lot of work and dedication and a commitment to educate yourself with strategies that help you.
 
If you need medication, please don’t stop searching. I know why Trileptal worked for me.....it regulates the nerve impulses of my highly sensitive system. I know I can’t just use coping skills to make it all better, just as someone can’t use coping skills to take their epilepsy or bipolar disorder away....two of the other disorders helped by this medication. This class of meds is quite small, at least for drugs even considered off label for psych disorders.....I’m burning my way through these drugs fast, and desperate to stabilize on one of them, because I know they work for me.
 
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