What medication actually works for anxiety?

[Wenchelda]

I've posted a couple of times in the past about my anxiety - I may even have asked this exact question but in my current state of fear, I can't think how to look for my previous threads so hope it's ok to post again.

I have suffered anxiety for over 4 years, mainly centred around my health and, in particular, a huge fear of cancer. I've had over 12 months of CBT, which helped at the time and I've mostly been able to keep on top of it but recently feel like I've been struggling again.

Twice during major anxiety attacks, my GP has prescribed me diazepam but I've been too scared to take it and never collected the prescriptions. (Not quite sure why I feel scared to take them. If I was prescribed medication for a physical illness, I would more than likely have it without question but this feels different somehow)

Anyway I don't want to keep having these horrible attacks and suffer the overwhelming fear for days at a time. I'm sure I've read about people taking low levels of something just to keep on top of it and prevent the anxiety taking over. I think I might ask my gp for something but would like to go prepared with a bit of knowledge about what options there are and what might be best.

So that's my very long winded way of asking if anyone takes anything for anxiety and if you would recommend it.

Trying to distract myself from my current panic by focusing on this instead. Sorry it's so long. Thanks for reading if you got this far.

I have had to try about 5 different types of oils before I found the ones that work for me. There is not a one size fits everyone sadly.
Some oils make my anxiety worse. I have one oil that absolutely knocks me out at night. It's so wonderful to be able to sleep again after years of waking at 3 am.

Hello, as a therapist myself I specialise in anxiety and helping mums. You mention your fear of cancer?

Most therapists will help you look towards the future and to think positively and change your thoughts (CBT), but unfortunately, unless the root of the problem is found, it will return.

This is scary I know, because many people don't want to look back on their past, but how much longer can you go forward with this fear?

Imagine your fear as a table with legs. The top of the table is your fear. The legs of the table are all the contributing memories/events that are holding up this fear and causing a great deal of anxiety.

What I would do is find the memories associated to this fear and remove them and what happens when a table has a no legs? It goes!

Now you don't need to worry about where it came from or even try and remember, that is the therapist's job! Your job is to answer some questions but let the therapist do the hard work.

I think with around sessions you could have this resolved, with relief after your first session.

Big hugs xx

Sertraline. Amazing stuff. I feel totally normal now on minimal dose.

Get a phone appointment. Get them to ring back. Get some sertraline

hello all, i don’t know how this works so i’m not sure if anyone will see or respond to this. i started taking wellbutrin XL maybe 6 months ago, that dramatically went up to 300mg because i couldn’t notice a difference in anything. my main problem is me literally having NO motivation. everyone says “just get up! just do it! it’s not hard!” and i’m questioning why the hell i can’t just get up and do anything? i know no pill is going to “fix” me but i’m failing terribly in school, i’m not motivated, i can’t focus, and i’m really depressed. i was put on wellbutrin to target some anxiety or add/adhd. didn’t do anything. i went to the doctors and got put on citalopram 20mg. i read through the papers and side effects and i DON’T want to take it... i’m terrified, there’s scary, disgusting, and uneasy side effects. i’m sitting here staring at the bottle too scared to take it. i also don’t know if it’ll help with motivation and concentration that’s all i need... thoughts? experiences?

sertraline was hideous for me. Side affects so bad I preferred being anxious.

I've been unable to tolerate any SSRIs and tried various tricyclic ones over the years.
Started on Mirtazapine by the psychiatrist about 12 years ago and stayed on them for about 3 years then. I came off for 9 months when pregnant then back on them until I was pregnant again then stopped for 3+ years and restarted them 3.5 years ago. They used to work well and now they don't do much at all except make me drowsy at night. When it's suitable for me to do so, I'm coming off them again for good as I personally feel I'd be better off without but that's just me, we are all different.

There's a thing too - there are so many horror stories about withdrawal and I've never really had anything in the times I've come off these.

The same as all the horror stories about people taking the various drugs in the first place. There are many people who benefit greatly from these drugs and you don't hear so much from them because they feel better. It's mainly those who they don't work for or who have had a bad experience that you hear from.

I'll admit that I'm wary of new things and worry about side effects but only you can decide whether to try them or not because everyone is different. Just because they don't agree with me doesn't necessarily mean the same for anyone else.

This resonates so loudly with me, the anxiety, fear of cancer specifically, the vicious circle of the fear of symptoms causing symptoms it's so horrible.

I have a different experience though, namely constant dizziness, not severe like labyrinthitis but a constant woozy head. My therapist has told me it's anxiety symptoms but I'm convinced it's something wrong with my brain....of course!

Some days I cope better than others but this constant debilitating symptom is so depressing... what can I do about it?

Would meds help?

They don't prescribe diazepam unless you really need it so take your medication.
As you said you would for a physical illness