Question about meds...

[buzznode]

Hi All,

I've got a couple of questions regarding some medications.

First off, a little history. I'm a 46 year old male who's been diagnosed with panic/anxiety attacks. However, I've never been told what "type" of anxiety or panic disorder I have. Probably about 98% of the time when I have an attack it's only symptom is chest pain. I call them twinges but sometimes they last longer than just a twinge. I have had attacks where I get dizzy, feeling like I'm going to pass out, trouble breathing and the like but normally it's just chest pains.

I'm a big guy, 6'0 and 325 pounds.

I'm currently taking 60mg of Cymbalta daily. I still have my attacks but not as often as before I got on the medication. My doctor was wanting to up the amount of Cymbalta I was taking, but with the changes to our insurance that took place January 1 of this year, I'm going to have to find a different medication than Cymbalta. Turns out a 90 day supply would run me $445.00. My doctor had me look into either Effexor XR or Venlafaxine (generic) to see if those were any more affordable for me. Turns out I can get Venlafaxine for $36 bucks for a 90 day supply. For obvious reasons, I'm going to go with Venlafaxine.

My question(s) are:

My doctor is starting me on 75mg (Venlafaxine) for the first 4 days and then upping me to 150mg daily.  Is this a "normal" dose of Venlafaxine?

Is 150mg of Venlafxine equivalent to 60mg of Cymbalta?

Should I expect identical results with Venlafaxine since it also is a SNRI?

Has or does anyone have any success with Venlafxine?

Thanks for the input!

Brad

 

[afuser11]

Have you had a cardiovascular workup? How did they get you to a place to diagnose panic disorder? Your only symptom other than anxiety is chest pain?

[buzznode]

Sorry, I had that in my original post, however I lost my internet connection as I went to post it and I guess when I re-typed it I forgot to include that information again. My apologies.

About the 2nd or 3rd time I had a "panic" attack, I went to the ER thinking it was a heart attack. Of course they ran an EKG and kept me overnight and performed a drug induced  stress test. Everything looked fine. I won't bore you will all the details, but over the last  4 years I've been having the panic / anxiety attacks with accompanying chest pains, I've had 2 chemical stress tests, many, many EKG's, a cardiac catherter, an endoscopy, a sleep study, x-rays and a calcium scoring performed on my heart and arteries.  Needless to say, everything has came back fine and there is no, none, zero, zippo blockages. The last stress test I had done was a couple of years ago.

I hope this helps.

Thanks again!

Brad