Drugs

[Andy.t]

Well a few days ago after a worsening of my anxiety i went to the GP. I explained how i spend some nights sitting there worrying until the early hours of the morning, and how my blood pressure is continously high due to a permanent state of worry. He then prescribed me Zispin(mirtazapine). Thing is, they are antidepressants which he says help anxiety. However the info leaflet is plastered with references to possible suicidal thoughts.

As of yet im kindof scared to take them. I was just wondering, do such drugs really work with anxiety, ie can they acruallly make you stop worrying, and does anyone suffer such side effects? Anxiety seems behavioural so i just dont see how drugs can really change that??

[Amie]

Andy, I've never heard of that particular antidepressant, but a lot of them can really make a difference.  Probably the reason for all of the warnings is CYA procedure. (cover your 0104)  They're trying to keep any law suits at bay for the 1 in 100,000 people who happen to have suicidal thoughts.  Sometimes anxiety can be caused by screwed up chemistry.  If that med doesn't work very well, there are all kinds available.  I take Lexapro.  I still have to take a little xanax, though.  But it really has helped.  Not too many side effects.
Hope this helped a little

Amie :)

[Knightsaber]

Me before taking meds. 

Me after:  :love:

It might take time (it took me years) to figure out with your doctor what the best combo/drug is for you.  Yes, anxiety can be calmed with drugs.  It is not behavioral it is chemical.  I hate fighting about this statement, so if anyone feels otherwise, I probably won't respond.  Just to say it again.  Some anxiety is normal, everyone has anxiety.  If you didn't have it at all, you would be the most laid back person in the history of time.  Anxiety to the point of irrationality is not normal, it is a chemical imbalace caused by a trigger...or not caused by a trigger, simply an imbalance (my psychiatrist claims that 99% of all cases involve a trigger).  The drugs change the chemical balance in your brain, to ease your anxiety.  Since depression and anxiety are (for some odd reason) 'amped up' by the same chemicals in the brain, anti-depressants can be valuable for anxiety.  Let me go through my drug history.

First time it was decided I needed meds I was given Paxil, which made me insanely angry and violent.  That lasted about three days (no joke).
Next they tried Prozac which did...nothing.  Nothing at all.  Not a thing.  It wasn't the right one, obviously.
Next I was given Amitryptyline.  It gave me horrific night terrors.  That lasted three days.  I threw those away.
Next they tried Zoloft.  Hey, that took the 'edge' off of some of my anxiety.  So eventually we upped the dose, me and my doc.  And up, and up, and up.  Eventually I was taking 200mg a day, which at the time was the legal limit (I think it went up since then).
After four years, alas, the Zoloft stopped working.  Not all at once, but little by little I was falling back into my old anxiety patterns.  (It looks like a little checkerboard, with these cute little frills ar...nevemind that). 
Then they tried Effexor XR and I took it, knowing that my doctor is not likely to give me something that will make me -worse-.  It didn't seem to do much but after a few weeks I could tell it was working (I'm a pro at this point).  Now I'm in the stage of up the dose, up the dose, up the dose.  Right now I seem to have leveled off at 225mg of it.  It's good.  No nightmares, no bad side effects, nothing horrible.  Much less anxiety.
I have carried a bottle of Clonazepam (Klonopin) in my pocket for four years (not the same bottle).  I take it when the anxiety begins to defeat my Effexor and my relaxation techniques (and have no doubt, anxiety is one tough cookie, it can beat you when you least expect it to). 

Overall, I feel ten times better than I did before I had any meds.  Occasionally, I lapse into a period where my anxiety is horrific, but I think everyone has that.  It's like a bad day.  Everyone gets a bad day.  You see what I'm saying?

My bottom line is that you shouldn't be scared to take something your doctor thinks will help you.  The doctor knows far more about what's going on medically and medicinally than the average person (even us look-everything-up hypochondriacs).  If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.  If it has a side effect you don't like or can't deal with, then the doc will try something else.

And if anyone ever tells you that drugs for anxiety/depression/health anxiety is a 'joke' or 'a sham' or a 'cop out' or that you should just 'get over it' because 'it's just in your head', you give me their address so I can show them how good it is to have a painkilling drug when you really need one.

[mbabynz]

wow knight what a great read thanks for all that info cut along story short i have just started arapax been just over 2 weeks I'm also on xanax 0.25mg 3 times a day so i don't have a clue if the arapax is working or the xanax is stopping the anxiety becoming really bad i get told wait about 4 weeks to notice a difference damned if i know what to do oh by the way Andy i was just like you way to scared to take any drug but i decided to give it a go and the doc gave me xanax which calmes you quite a bit well i took half of 1 to try it out soon as i took it i walked around kept myself busy and then i thought well that wasn't so bad so i upped to 1 and that didn't do any bad thing to me so if your scared ask your doc for something to calm u 1st then after 1/2 hour take your antidepressant soon you will know yourself that its all OK best of luck with it all i know exactly how you feel.
take care let me know how your going
mbabynz

[Knightsaber]

Antidepressants take a month or so to 'kick in'
Xanax and drugs like it take about four minutes.  But you can only take them sparingly, alas. :)

[Andy.t]

I have been thinking about anxiety being chemichal today.
My thoughts were that if anxiety is purely a behavioural problem, then surely it would be present at all times of the day with equal severity, and trigger after trigger would elicit it. That is, it is intrinsically wired into the way someone thinks and thus everything they do would go through that behavioural process and results in anxiety.

However, my anxiety is no way a constant. For example when im relaxed, listening to music not thinking about work, i feel mentally better, i dont worry about little health triggers anywhere near as much. However when iv been working all day, havent spoken to anyone, havent had anything remotely mentally pleasurable, my anxiety is at its worst. A constant thought pattern of worry over little things, an overactive mind trying to pin ilness onto every minor little glitch in addition to the physical manifestations of my anxiety, that is high blood pressure, pressure feeling on chest etc.

My theory i suppose is that anxiety is a chemichal imbalance of some form. An imbalance which in some way triggers a certain pattern of thinking... a cyclical routine of hyperchondriac thoughts. Something not down to someones behaviour, but down to the very chemistry of the brain. After all it is the chemichals in the brain which determine the behaviours and control everything to do with the mind.

As for when im relaxed and happy,then certain neurotransmitters eg. serotonin are released which maybe inhibit the introspective, negative thought patterns associated with anxiety.

Iv been thinking alot about this today, and it has made me think that yes maybe i should try drugs and see if correcting that chemichal imbalance really does help rid of anxiety. Does that sound in any way plausible or am i just ranting??

[Andy.t]

for example:
A behaviour is e.g. someone who is scared of spiders. Every time they see that spider it triggers the same response of being scared. That behaviour pattern arises every time they see a spider, without a change.

My anxiety(which fluctuates, although i appreciate some have continous anxiety) cant be a purely behavioural problem, as when im relaxed and not stressed, a pain in my side isnt appendicitis anymore, its just a pain in my side. Whats the difference?? im calm and happy, something in my brain chemistry prohibits me from unneccisarily worrying. I.e this is the level that non hypochondriacs are at permenantly, ie they dont have this imbalance which makes them think like us.

What do the drugs they give us for anxiety do? they are chemichals which alter the chemistry of the brain. Result: The anxiety goes away as the imbalance is corrected. Ie. its a chemichal alteration

In conclusion i think we hypo's are in some way different in a biochemical way in the brain. A pattern of thought results from this which we all share in common, but because it stems from the mind we all automatically assume it behavioural.

[michelle]

Knight, My name is Michelle and you could not of explained your letter any better about the meds.  The same for me.   Before meds Oh my Lord!!!  First Paxil,  The Paxil made me do a 360 then after 6 years, I was switched to effexor.  I do not know if the effexor is right  for me.  Everyones mind and body responds differently.  At first it was o.k.  I am not sure now.  We have to see I have been on since August.  About 4 months ago went up to 225.  Talk you later.

[hkov]

Prozac helped me - along with XANAX - they do the trick for me.  I only take them when Im REALLY SKITZED OUT THOUGH.