Increased anxiety, panic and depression

[hooterificjoy]

For the last year I have been dealing with increased anxiety, panic attacks and depression. This is something I have been dealing with since a child and have been on Zoloft for the last 12 years and did fairly well on it. I got a divorce 3 years ago and honestly until last year don't feel like I really processed it and that is when everything came crashing down. I was also working overnights and was constantly on the go so I decided to quit my job and become self employed. Despite Drs wanting to up my zoloft from 100mg to 150mg (which made my anxiety way worse) I decided on my own that I wanted to try and decrease my dose and maybe get off completely and try and handle my anxiety on my own and with occassional klonopin/xanax. I was able to wean myself down to 50mg over 4 months and seemed to be doing well or so I thought. I recently went on a 35 day vacation across Asia and when I came back the anxiety, panic attacks and crying spells started back again in full force. I went to another dr (physch PA) who thought I should try a mood stabilizer (Lamictral) which I did for a few days but only made me crazy. So then she suggested I up my zoloft to 75mg and see how I feel. I did that and about 5 days in the anxiety was twice as bad. Once again I messaged by Dr and recommended switching from zoloft to effexor 37.5mg . She said to wean myself down from the 75mg over the next few days then start the Effexor. I took 25mg last night and was gonna start the Effexor tonight. I just wanted thoughts/experiences on Effexor for anxiety,panic and depression. I honestly had switching meds and feel like that is all the drs want to do. My anxiety is so bad right now that I have to take klonopin once or twice a day (0.25mg), i can't concentrate, I've had several major anxiety attacks/meltdowns, I have constant headaches, brain fogginess and just don't feel like myself. I just want this to end and I'm afraid of the side effects of starting on a new medication.

[l8blmr]

I don't have any experience with Effexor. Most of the meds you mention work by changing levels of serotonin and norepinephrine. They're used primarily for depression and they often have poor results.

Are you doing anything with diet, exercise and talking therapy? I expect you'll have more success with addressing the root causes of your anxiety than with medication.

[MomLeslieM]

Ugh...I'm sorry you're going through this all again now. As I read the beginning of your message I was thinking maybe you need to switch meds. Remember that a lot of time the side effects do go away AND the med itself takes some time to build up and work - so it's kind of a catch-22 -- deal w/ the side effects hoping the med itself kicks in and works and that the side effects go away. liblmr asks some good questions about getting to the root causes of your anxiety -- therapy can definitely help with that and with giving you some coping skills to use when you are feeling anxious. Have you found any activities that do help to bring you peace and calm?