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Severe anxiety meds

15 replies

hk1993x · 26/06/2024 22:58

Can anyone recommend a medication that targets anxiety and ocd? I've tried the majority of SSRIs and SNRIs, lithium, beta blockers you name it and also had ECT. I don't feel myself and was wondering if there was other meds out there that may work?

OP posts:
OytheBumbler · 26/06/2024 23:04

I don't know about medications but have you tried any CBT type talking therapies?
Don't know whether they'd help you but have been useful for a family member.

Sauvblanctime · 26/06/2024 23:05

Duloxetine!

meimyself · 26/06/2024 23:59

Anti psychotics can work well for anxiety, and valium

rowanrome · 27/06/2024 00:08

I have mitrazapine and lamotrogine at a low dose. This was tried as a last resort as others were no longer as effective as before. Apparently the way these work together helps anxiety and sleep. I hope I spelled the medication correctly.

pimpelipom · 27/06/2024 06:40

Pregabalin. I had severe anxiety and it helped.

Binman · 27/06/2024 06:45

If you have had ECT do you not have a consultant who could refer you to a specialist psychiatrist. Did the ECT help?

fghjkaflgcjk · 27/06/2024 06:57

Has there been a thorough check of whether there is any underlying issues that may be making anxiety sensations worse? E.g. low iron/ferritin, magnesium, B12, Vit D? These are easy to remedy and can feel horrible. In no way suggesting this is the problem, just that if they are off they may make you feel worse. Easy for the symptoms of these to be dismissed as part of anxiety, without checks.

I carry Xanax, so feel I have a rescue med with me. One in my wallet, one in a metal capsule on my key ring.

BusyWren · 27/06/2024 17:04

I have now tried just about all the SSRIs and SNRIs and find nothing seems to help. I even had a psych evaluation a couple of years ago and no help. Just said “You’re taking venlafaxine, there’s nothing else for you”
Im not sure my GP is going to be very helpful - how do you get referred or be able to access these other meds?

RedPanda2022 · 28/06/2024 08:16

I have found low dose antipsychotics invaluable for anxiety - quetiapine, risperidone (switched from risperidone when I became pregnant and was advised to change to quetiapine, then decided just to continue in that)

Blackcats7 · 28/06/2024 08:42

I take aripiprazole daily plus lorazepam and propranolol as required.

BusyWren · 28/06/2024 11:18

Where are you getting these prescribed? GP or specialist?

Blackcats7 · 28/06/2024 12:58

BusyWren · 28/06/2024 11:18

Where are you getting these prescribed? GP or specialist?

Not sure if you mean me? I have a consultant psychiatrist who then tells gp what to prescribe. Like all nhs consultants they don’t do their own prescribing.

BusyWren · 28/06/2024 13:13

Blackcats7 · 28/06/2024 12:58

Not sure if you mean me? I have a consultant psychiatrist who then tells gp what to prescribe. Like all nhs consultants they don’t do their own prescribing.

I meant anyone who is prescribed something other than SSRI / SNRIs or propranolol. I was referred to psychiatry for evaluation a few years ago but discharged with no help. I guess I need GP to refer again?

Blackcats7 · 28/06/2024 13:23

@BusyWren yes you will need a new referral. Hope you get some help

GiveMeMySoddingCokeZero · 28/06/2024 15:29

Lithium is what I take at the moment and works well for me (as a bonus — I take it mainly for bipolar disorder) with few side effects, but you don't seem to have been so lucky. I also sometimes take benzos for the very occasional state of arousal (I don't stop to wonder any more whether it's anxiety or agitation).

SSRIs and SNRIs are useless for me, too.

I didn't get much out of beta blockers either, primarily because they make me keel over every time I stand up, but also they only calm the physical symptoms, and the positive feedback loop that some people get from them doesn't work for me.

Pregabalin helped a little, but I was getting fed up of injuring myself as I lost whatever meagre amount of physical coordination I might have previously had, and quit it after I twisted my ankle so badly on a run that I had to call my partner to drive over and pick me up off the pavement.

Antipsychotics kill my anxiety, along with my alertness, my intellect, my motivation, my curiosity, and my physical health. Doesn't matter whether it's trifluoperazine, haloperidol, risperidone, quetiapine or olanzapine, every one of them turns me into a placid, gormless lump of human flesh with some new and alarming serious physical disorder (some permanent).

Have you ever tried an antidepressant that isn't an SSRI/SNRI? There are so many other classes to try… some people get on well with mirtazapine for anxiety, I've heard. Or you could look into an MAOI, especially if there's any element of social anxiety? There's a small group of people with social anxiety (and another small group of those with depression, especially atypical depression) who do really well on phenelzine, one of the MAOIs. Or there's the tricyclics — some people who SSRIs have failed do well on those. Or there's several novel antidepressants been released in recent years.

Some psychiatrists are so bloody unadventurous 🙄

I'm guessing if you've been offered ECT then you've already been offered relevant talking therapies, but it's always worth looking into a refresher if they've been of any help at all in the past. And if they didn't help in the past, it's always possible things could be different this time round — different circumstances, different therapist, maybe different approach (though for OCD it would almost always be a similar modality).

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