GAD-College-Counseling

[David]

I was diagnosed with GAD back at the beginning of July. The weird thing is that I went to 2 more Dr.'s over the symptoms that I was having and it turns out I also was suffering from a bacterial infection in my stomach and from acid reflux disease. They put me on a heavy dose of antibiotics to get rid of the bacterial infection in my stomach and some antacid medications for the acid reflux. Well all the Dr.'s agreed that I had GAD. The first put me on Ativan on a as needed basis but I found out that it's addictive so I stopped and I asked my current Dr. to try something else. Well he gave me paxil and the first day I took it, I went crazy! Didn't like it at all so I stopped taking it. I haven't taken anything since then for fear of the medicine. Well now with the stress of college (which just started a week ago) and me being away from home for the first time, I'm going crazy. I've had back pains,neck pains,chest pains,worrying,homesickness, just overall madness. I'm constantly worrying about my dad and my sister and everyone else back home. I'm fine when I'm with people. All of it goes away. But you know not everyone can be around me all the time. Point is my anxiety is becoming overwhelming. I can't go to the library and actually study because I'm by myself and it's so quiet that I feel all alone and I start worrying and that's what I end up doing. It's gotten so bad that I don't even go to my dorm room anymore. I'm always using the public computer labs to do my internet browsing because I don't want to be alone. My college offers counseling services for free and I'm thinking about calling and scheduling an appointment to sort out my issues. I really would like relief from anxiety so that I can be happy and relaxed and become more focused on important things like school. Do you think I should start counseling and maybe even try a new medication? Is paxil actually good or should I try another medication? After paxil through me into a panic attack and made me all nervous, I am deathly afraid to take it. I just want relief!

[apple]

Hi David

Boy you sure are having a rough time.  I think going to see the councilor is a good idea.  It will be good to talk to someone who may help you thru this change in your life.

As far as meds go...there is so much out there its hard to say what would help you in particular.  Paxil  is also known to be addictive and hard on the body.  Actually there is a risk with most meds to be addictive...I'm not trying to scare you, I just understand your fear.  Sometimes you have to look at whether the benefit is worth the risk.  The thing with addiction is that you can always slowly wean off the meds when your ready, with the help of a doctor you can get off a med with little or no withdrawls.

Check out http://www.anxietyzone.com/index.php/topic,223.0.html.  This is a list of meds and what they do and different categories to help you decide what meds to try.  Sometimes something works but the side effects are too much so you can try something in the same category.  OR you may try a med that does nothing for you and need to try another type.  You could print it out and take it to your doctor to figure it out.

Meds can be scary...but remember that the side effects are possible but that doesn't mean you will experience all of them.  When you find the right one...it means less suffering for you.

Hope this helps

[David]

Thanks for your response Apple! That's what scares me most about medications is some of the symptoms. For instance, Paxil can cause an increase in suicidal thoughts. I'm not depressed and it makes me scared to death that this medicine will make me depressed. I'm going back to the Dr. this tuesday and I'm telling him everything so maybe we can get started on something else. I'm gonna print out the list of medications too! Thanks!

[David]

Well I went to the Dr. to find out that I have esophagitis,gastritis,Acid Reflux Disease, and something that causes my digestive muscles to weaken meaning food is retained in my stomach causing stomach nausea,vomitting,etc. AND I have bronchitis which is causing my chest pains and whatever. To top it all off he thinks I'm developing a health anxiety due to all this so he put me on Lexapro. He told me it's my choice to try it or not. I haven't decided just becuase the side effects scare me and I had a huge scare with paxil so I'm still deciding if I should try it or not. He told me that he thinks I would greatly improve on lexapro because my anxiety level was through the roof which just makes all of my health problems worse. I go back again in three weeks for a checkup. Currently I'm taking Erythromicine 4 times a day- each pill is 400mg, Pepcid 2 times a day-20 mg each, Difil GFort (cough medicine) 4 times a day,Reglan 4 times a day-10 mg each. You can imagine a person with GAD taking this amount of pills everyday with all these health problems, moving away from home the first time, and startng college, feels. I'm so overwhelmed which is why I'm really considering trying lexapro. It's only 10mg a day and he wants me to cut them in half and start off that way for the first week and then continue to take them regularly until he feels I should stop taking them. I'm just worried that since I just started college and anxiety medications are different with everyone, that i'm gonna be all floaty and sleepy all the time when I have school to worry about. AH! So much stress!

[apple]

Wow!!   you got a lot of bad stuff goin on!

Yeah...you dont know how your going to be when you take the Lexapro.  I do know others here have been on them.  Remember...you can always go off of them if the side effect become too much for you.

Mind you...taking nothing could be just as bad for you with collage, if your anxiety keeps workin at you.

Whatever you do...know that we are here for you when you need to talk

[mbabynz]

hey david i am taking aropax which i think is paxil i havnt had any really bad side effects on them but i was so scared taking them so i took a pill to calm me then took my aropax it worked out all ok when you take a drug the 1st week is the hardest as your anxiety creeps up quite bad unless you take a calming med for awhile while the meds start to work which can take some time.its all worked out ok for me hope it all woks out for you.
take care
mbabynz