Diagnosed with MDD and GAD

[Snowcap9]

I live with Depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The Depression is under control, due to medication and other cognitive therapy. It has not been a problem for many years. The GAD on the other hand is not controlled. While not crippling, I have not found a treatment that works well for me. I'm a bit worried it constant stress is causing damage to my body due to the production of chemical and hormonal secretions. These are not good when they are always present.

I am searching for medication and other treatments for GAD. I am starting an exercise regime and hope to be starting new medicinal treatment as well.

The depression started over 20 years ago. It took a few years to understand the cause and get effective treatment but it was successfully treated and I can say I am not depressed now and haven't been for over 15 years.

The GAD developed during the depression. It feels like a knot or hole in my chest. This is constant. Another problem with it is that I have associated the feeling with a need to smoke cigarettes. When I quit smoking I have a craving for cigarettes all the time. This has made it very difficult to quit smoking, even more difficult than than the normal problems caused when quitting.

My top health issues are GAD and smoking cigarettes. Losing weight is up there too but I'm working on that. I've lost 50 pounds in the past year and continue to loose weight.

[BonnieSue]

Hi Snowcap9,

I, too, had your diagnoses for almost 3 decades. The change is that I became bipolar II in the last 3 years. My depression, like yours, has been under good control most of this time, but I've needed many adjustments in drug therapy. As soon as my mood would dip, I'd report that to my doc and drug therapy adjustments would take care of it. I totally agree with you and believe in CBT therapy as crucial to my mental health also. I don't go often, just often enough for me.

I'm guessing you don't want to go on a benzodiazepine for your GAD? Or it's not being offered? That's what kept me sane and my GAD well managed for most of the 3 decades I mentioned. At about 27 years I found I didn't seem to need the benzodiazepine and backed off of it for 10 months until I'd gone from 4mg/day to zero. No anxiety problems for 3 years now. Amazing to me! I have, however, had short and long term memory problems after maybe 20+ years of benzo therapy. They mattered at work but not much in my everyday life now that I don't work. I don't regret taking the benzo because I really needed some control over the GAD to function both at work and at home. I also was married and raising 3 sons. Benzos got me through this successfully.

I hope you find a good answer, but I know the drugs most often used today to control anxiety aren't so helpful with a serious case of GAD. Take care...

Hugs, Love, and Blessings...

[LovePurple2 in reply to BonnieSue]

BonnieSue, congrats to you not being on the Benzodizepine anymore for anxiety. My family doctor put me on Clonazepam 0.5mg back in April 2015 after having anxiety & panic attacks after my open heart surgery Dec. 2014. She never told me they are addictive & I should have asked more questions & read up on them before taking any. I'm now having a current health problem since June of this year & my anxiety which was calm is now at an all time high & I'm seeing a psychiatrist for meds & a therapist for talk & support. The psychiatrist doesn't prescribe benzos anymore & wants to wean me off the clonazepam once he gets my current anxiety under control & said. that's a difficult medicine to come off of & he would have to wean me very slowly. It scares me, because I don't want to have anymore anxiety attacks & I'm so tired of them. My question to you is, did you have any problems being weaned off the benzo medicine & did you have any side effects after you took the last dose & afterward? I take 0.5mg & 1 1/2 a day in a 24 hour period. This medicine makes me very tired, especially during the day time when I need it the most & my anxiety is high! Thanks for reading & responding!❤️🙏🙌🙏

[BonnieSue in reply to LovePurple2]

I am so sorry about your health problems and especially about the anxiety and panic attacks. I took Tranzene/clorazepate for maybe 13 yrs. and Klonopin/clonazepam for about the same at 1.5 mg every 8 hours and 1 mg for the 3rd and last 8 hr. period w/in every 24 hours for a total of 4mg/day. It was easy for me to back off that dose because I judged it by the sleepiness I felt. I had no addictive symptoms or problems. But I was totally in control of my tapering off; my doc was happy that I initiated it on my own.

I totally get that you have a healthy fear of the anxiety/panic attacks when faced with getting off the clonazepam. Frankly I think there's a cowardice in docs that won't allow benzos where benzos are needed despite their limitations. I told you about my memory problems as a side effect. My Dad, however, has had no memory problems so they aren't guaranteed. I have had no other side effects from being off benzos. One of my sons has GAD and is on 6mg per day and still has his anxiety barely under control. Thank God his doc isn't afraid to prescribe this drug!!! He's also on a beta blocker to help with that; he has exercise-induced breathing and anxiety troubles, idk the exact correct term.

It does sound like clonazepam is both making you tired but leaving you with high anxiety and that doesn't seem to make sense. It's possible it's not the best drug of choice for you. I hope your doc is faithful about getting your anxiety under control and not undoing that progress by then taking you off the very drug that is successful. I find a lot of people do not have their anxiety controlled by an SSRI, SNRI or other drug prescribed primarily for depression. Sad, but true.

You, however, seem to possibly need another option for your anxiety. Possibly a beta blocker or other atypical or off-label-used drug is available that your doc would let you try. I am not the expert here and you might want to ask your doc about this, idk if you're ready for a change. I can't explain how I was ready to get off my benzo...it just happened. I went by my symptoms. I wish you the best of luck in resolving this difficult problem! 💜