Am I immune to medication?

[Middleoftheroad]

Decided to tackle my anxiety in July
Prescribed sertraline (sorry typos) for insomnia and
Citralopram for anxiety (started on 5mg and gradually increased)

The sleeping tablets didnt work at all. For the past 4 weeks I've been on 20mg of citralopram and Beta Blockers.

Nothing. I have never felt any drowsiness orside effects people describe. Anxiety no better and still have accute insomnia.

Beginning to think medication doesn't work on me when I read about people feeling zonked out or that Citralopram is their Godsend.

Why am I not responding to anything after 3 months?

Booked in for CBT too but I really need sleep......now....

[JenBehavingBadly]

Sertraline isn't a sleeping tablet, it's an SSRI anti depressant and it can actually make insomnia worse. Citalopram is also an ssri anti depressant and taking two lots of those can actually cause anxiety or make it worse. Being on two SSRIs at the same time - I'm surprise you're not bouncing off the ceiling.

I don't think you're immune to medication. I think you're on medications that are exacerbating the problem.

[JenBehavingBadly]

Pregabalin would be an option for anxiety, or the beta blockers by themselves. Medicines affect different people in different ways, which is why it can take a while to find the right ones.

[AnxiousCarer]

Different medications work for different people I would discuss with your GP trying something different. I'm on prozac at the moment, have taken it in the past with sucess for depression, taking it for anxiety this time and its doing sod all so far. But then CPN thinks anxiety is due to PTSD which I believe isn't generally treated with anti depressants so maybe thats why. CBT definately sounds like a good plan.

[couchtofivek]

You're taking two SSRIs! That's why you're insomniac and anxious. You need an urgent review of your meds. SSRIs work pretty much the same way, the different names are mostly just branding exercises by pharma companies.
See a different GP as soon as possible.

[AnxiousMunchkin]

It would seem really odd to be on both sertraline AND citalopram at the same time, did you mean that? I would have thought co-prescribing of two SSRIs would have been queried by a pharmacist at dispensing.

Beta blockers only tackle the physical symptoms of anxiety - the high heart rate, shaking, sweating etc, they don't do anything for the thought patterns and emotions. I find them invaluable to be able to get through the day at times though. Psychiatric medication is a bit lucky dip though, I've been on 5 or 6 SSRIs/related drugs until I found one that made a huge difference for me, and meant I was well enough for CBT to be useful to me.

Has your anxiety been diagnosed - is that what the concern is? What symptoms come under anxiety for you?

[Middleoftheroad]

Sorry.... no wonder you all thought wtf?
The sleeping tablets were Zopiclone 7.5mg.
The Escitralopram is 20mg plus beta blockers (not on sleeping tablets any more as didnt work).

My anxiety is being scared of everything. That something terrible like a car accident, terror attack will happen. Last night at cinema with kids kept thinking somebody could come in with gun etc. Also play over smallest conversations in my head all night.

Heart palpatations and going red when speaking to people...