Anxiety

[Gmomt]

Hi - I have been on Prozac for a week and a half for depression/anxiety - I know it takes weeks to really get in your system and work but I feel like my anxiety is through the roof! I do feel like my depression is better, I'm not as sad but I feel like my anxiety is on overload - has anyone had this same issue? Thanks

[Markrh]

Like you and many other fellow suffers I have been on medication for anxiety and depression for at least 15 years for depression and about 45 years for anxiety. I take this medication at certain times of the day, along with quite a few other drugs, via the nomad delivered every week from my pharmacis, therefore it's easy to follow the correct dosage but also easy to forget I'm taking medication to help with my symptoms! The fact that I forget I've got symptoms proves that they are working.

Let me explain I' ve been on 1 x Mirtazapine 45mg at night for at least continuously 15 years. I remember that I didn't feel any different for the first few months, I was told to persevere as they said it would time time 'to kick in'. Then it was strange I didn't get an 'on the road to Damascus' moment or experience, what I did feel after about 7 - 9 Months was that I didn't have any depressive thoughts or mood so frequently and these became less and less over the years. Today I really can say that I do not have depression but I forget to mention, to myself, that this mainly due to my medication. I really can be a delusionary fool!

For anxiety, which I've been treated for by numerous Doctors over a period of 45 years. I've been given 'activan', valium and other opium based pills with varying degrees of success and equal failure. Obviously you have to be very worried about addition and subsequent withdrawal and I have been through some horrible withdrawals, but that is for another post.

I am currently on 1 x 2 per day of Pregabalin 75mg per day for at least the last 5 years. I believe it was originally for epilepsy but this is a side bonus. As opposed to depression tablets, the pills for anxiety did/do have an ' on the road to Damascus' experience for me. This is probably because of their opium derivatives and why the danger of dependence and withdrawal. However I have eventually after years of trying with different pills and various doesages, believe I have been given the right solution. Everything is not all 'a bed of rose's' but my anxiety periods are very rare and I've not had a 'panic attack' for at least 5 years. The latter is down to a brave night nurse, who when I was in hospital, sat with me and held my hand through a bad attack at night. She said nothing was going to harm me and just talked to me gently. Nothing did happen and I've not had an attack since!

So my advice, after all the above, is stay with your 'depression' prescription it can take an awfully long time to work and when they do you might not realise it! Be careful with any anxiety prescription, most tablets used are highly addictive. Be very honest with your Doctors and yourself. These pills usually have an immediate effect so be warry as it's easier to over proscribe and even easier to take more pills than you should. I know that from personal experience when I thought they weren't working, took more and ended up in a hospital on suicide watch; not what I intended. That why I think a nomad dispenser is a great idea.

I hope the above is helpful anyway it's some of my experiences of anxiety and depression treatment.

Take care.

Markrh

[stacci7774U]

Yes. I am on a cocktail of meds but if a PTSD trigger comes up my anxiety is through the roof. I really need XANAX to take for the really super-highly anxious times but nobody wants to prescribe that type of drug anymore, so I'm in therapy for the PTSD, plus I took a class on coping skills for anxiety. Maybe you will benefit from what I was taught: use mindfulness- it's helpful to use an object such as a lipstick or a pen to notice every little tiny thing about that object; work on a project such as one of those adult coloring books, and you will find that at least for a little while, you are thinking about something real instead of worrying; meditation , too. It helps me to use a CD to meditate with. You can get them at major book stores. The one I love is called "Releasing Fear and Resentment", and I was able to download it for a couple dollars a few years ago. Those at just a few of the coping methods that I was taught. Maybe you will be fortunate enough to be able to get the anxiety under control with meds alone but if not, please try some of the things that I mentioned.

[Markrh in reply to stacci7774U]

Thank you stacci7774u for your reply. I had forgotten that I have been on various behavioural courses, one of which was a 6 week intensive residential one. That was based upon 'mindfulness'. We did examples as you explained. They all had 'buzz' words to remember the appropriate action you should perform to help you in times of stress or anxiety ( I've got all of the text & workbooks upstairs someware). The fact that I have forgotten them doesn't mean I've forgotten the overall action, in fact over time it becomes second nature.

The point I'm suggesting is that for me, with numinous taught behavioral techniques in my bag plus the correct medication I can get it right. It was, and still is, a long road with may mistakes on my behalf, that takes time to travel. Hopefully we can arrive safety and good time.

Take care,

Markrh.

[gogogirl]

I imagine everyone is different, but I thought about this awhile ago. The greatest generation and generations before them lived through unbelievable times such as going through the depression and WW2 then having the resiliency to come back. I do not know what meds if any ( other than alchohol ) were available to calm people or if they just somehow had the moxy to see things through. Also, how do people who actually live in war zones do it? Perhaps we do not know all of the information available. At some point ( I believe it was during the 1980s) anti depressants and other meds were prescribed so much that some magazines labeled the US as prozacnation. I remember reading a little about that. In the decades preceeding that, no everyone, but certainly enough became hooked on fast food, soft drinks and weight gain. I heard someone say awhile ago that depression and anxiety were caused by behavioral responses to traumatic events, and sometimes not having enough support. When people were less mobile it's been said, there was more community support. Generations sometimes lived in the the same house or the same block. Today, that is more rare as younger people often move to other areas or where the work is. Of course history is in the perception of what happened when.