Has anyone found a drug that actually helps reduce anxiety?

[Marne]

Feeling so fed up with this anxiety and phobia (of being sick) , i have been on anti deresants for 6 months and am on my 2nd lot and can see/feel no change at all. The trouble is i hate going to the gp as i'm worried i will catch a bug and get sick but i need to go and get my medication changed. This anxiety effects me every day (90% of the day) and controls everything i do (or don't do as i may come into contact with a bug). Tonight my anxiety is extra high as dd1 told me a boy in her class was sick today, i am now panicking that dd1 will get sick and then i will get sick, i am counting down the last 2 weeks of term, each day i take them to school gets worse and worse (my anxiety gets worse, i feel like a baloon being blown up getting closer to going 'bang').

I have tried CBT (twice), i have had hypnotherapy (it wasn't for me) and have seen 3 different therapists at my gp surgery, it feels like theres nothing else that can be done. I don't know how much longer i can cary on like this . I wish there was pill that could take this fear away but it doesn't look like there is.

Has anyone found anything that works?

What ad are you on? Citalopram 30mg has been great for my anxiety. Have you been referred to a psychiatrist?

Citalopram worked for my panic attacks within about 15 hours of the first pill though that varies and different people suit different meds.

Phobia wise I have noticed a reduction in those as well- I called someone for a chat today (you know hoe significant that is for me!) and I even didn't faint when a snake came on TV- heck I even types 'snake'.

Might be worth a shot?

Sancti - can I ask what dose you're on?
I wondering if I need something too ...

Citalopram was mentioned when i saw the nurse but then my gp gave me mertazipine (sp), i havn't seen a phychatrist (just a counceller from mental health team). Should i ask for Citalopram? I hate seeing the gp as it feels like they dont understand how i am feeling, the nurse is lovely but will only send me to my gp.

Gym/exercise. And find a counselor who uses several different techniques - NLP did fuck all for me but loads of people find it incredibly helpful.

I'm going to have to be brave and go to the gp arn't i?

The pills i am taking are doing nothing at all (even on a higher dose i feel no different than i do without them), dh had the same pills when we moved house and they knocked him out (maybe i'm just a tough old bird).

I take 20 mg though that is being reviewed in a few days

Dh has taken 40mg for years, it saved our marriage.

My dh was on them a few years ago, he has been on several different ones but said that they were the best ones (gave him more energy and less anxiety).

Could you ask for a phone consultation, as it's a change to your established medication? Then you only have to pop in for the scrip :)

I could try,they will send the perscription straight to the chemest anyway which is just down the road from me.

Can you get some more support in RL? I think anxiety gets worse if you give into it/avoid stuff.

Marne what medicine have you been taking ? Seroxat helped with my anxiety in the past but it has had a lot of bad press so not widely prescribed. I think if you find the right medicine for you it will be very beneficial .You sound a lot like me !

I'm on 40mg of Citalopram which have helped enormously with my depression, but I was still getting very anxious and panicky.
I started taking 0.5mg of Flupentixol at night as well about a month ago, the difference has been amazing! Feel much calmer and the panic attacks have gone, with the added bonus that I sleep better too :)

Greenwash- i havn't got much support in rl, dh trys hard but ends up telling me 'to pull myself together', no one seems to understand how i am feeling and i find it hard to explain to people, i even find myself lying to the councellers after a while as i feel guilty that the therapy is not working (so i make out thing are improving).

I have dd1 home from school again today as she has lost her voice and has been coughing for 2 weeks non stop, i really need to take her to the gp but i'm petrified as theres a tummy bug doing the rounds .

Marne

I really think you should telephone the GP and explain; you will categorically NOT be the first to have this issue, and because I 'know' you in RL I know just how long you and your DD have been off form.

I can;t say what med would work for you because nobody can, it's trial and error. however I hope you don't mind me saying that knowing you a little, and the extreme pressures you have been under as well as the lack of RL support you can access at home, I do think it is worth trying some meds at least as a bolster to help ypu get things sorted a little in your own life. Meds can be great for that, I think for me they are forever but for some people they strengthen them enough to deal with things that have gone awry and I do think you could benefit from that.

Most of all though you know where I am X

Agree it's trial and error, for me citalopram has worked well.

Yes; whereas DH was started on Prozac and that was horrid for him, but literally saved the life of an anorexic friend.

Thank you Sancti, i'm going to phone the gp and see if he can see me and dd1 tomorrow (i probably wont be able to get an appointment today). I know i need to get dd1 looked at, she has had far too much time off the past 2 weeks but still seems to be poorly and very chesty (i still have the cough and high temp too on top of the anxiety). I feel so guilty as dd1 knows that i am anxious and its making her anxious (although she's not too bothered about getting sick and said she was almost sick in assembely yesterday through coughing so much), she's now in her room reading and watching a dvd (she's very quiet so deffently not well), i feel so silly for getting so worked up about taking her to the gp, i know it will only take half an hour .

I smoke cannabis for anxiety and other heath issues. I'm not advocating illegal activity but its what I do. I have no unpleasant side effects and its completely natural.

I don't tremor now, citalopram seemed to make this worse, I sleep better and worry less. Generally I'm a lot more relaxed, I was recommended this by a friend and was very sceptical at first, but after reading for weeks I decided that chemicals are crap and not helping me at all, Where as this does.

Its also not damaging at all to heath. Compare this plant to the crud that Gp's push and for me this was a no brainer. My doctor knows this and he also approves.

A few spliffs a day compared to a cocktail of dangerous chemicals?
Just my 2ps worth.

I can't smoke cannabis (makes me worse and havn't touched it for years), i know it can work for some but can make things worse for others (as we found out with dss a month ago). Cannibis made me self harm as a teen.

I can't smoke full stop. Absolutely hopeless at it. However I am excellent at swallowing pills, and v grateful for the help they have given me.

Cannibis made me self harm as a teen.
BOLLOCKS.`

Did cannabis stand over you with whatever you harmed with? Saying go on, do it? Or was it down to mh issues? I can't abide scapegoaters, Sorry but what you said was ridiculous and needs challenging.

What about self harmer's that don't smoke?

Its a good job you gave up, sounds like you could have been one of those very rare cannabis psychosis types.

Sorry Constable but i beleive it did!

Last month my step son took cannabis, he was suffering from depression and self medicated, he ended up in a phychiatric hospital for 3 weeks, he was phychotic and parinoid, we feared that he would take his own life, for 3 weeks it was like having a toddler (he wouldn't talk, he followed us around and he was petrified to be left on his own). I never thought that cannabis could do this to someone but sadly it happens a lot. Some people just can't smoke it (a bit like booze, some can handle it and others cant).

I'm glad you have found something that works for you but sadly it doesn't work for everyone and can be very dangerous. I have had worse side effects from cannabis than i have from speed. Saeriously its not something that i will be trying agin (EVER).