Medication NEVER works for me

This is my second post in an hour I know lol I'm having a bad day. Anyways, I've been on at least 10 antidepressants, SSRIs, SNRIs, other stuff, things that were for schizophrenia (which I don't have but they also were used to treat anxiety). Some for a week, some for a few months. Well NONE of them have ever helped at all. My anxiety is very very very severe and constant and never let up or got any better while I was taking the meds. The only thing that happened was sometimes I would get nasty side effects or the anxiety would get worse/I would get depressed or even hallucinate or something. The only thing that helps the anxiety is Xanax, which I've been taking for a while now but over a short period of time it stops working, and they have to up the dose which I hate because I think about future withdrawals when I eventually get off it and I hate being so dependent on an addictive med. Psychiatrists don't seem to believe that nothing works for me as I tell them and it just seems to go in one ear and out the other and they up the dose or put me on more meds. Is anyone else like this? After going through like 20 meds you'd think I'd have found the miracle one by now..

[vicky17]

I've bin on a lot and I'm only 23 but for the first time in years I feel normal again they put me on propranolol 40mg I bin on them a week and I can tell the difference I can go out and I ain't done that in a while walk outside with my little girl to the park still a little panic but it controls it and the only side effects I had with that is muscle ache

[Agora1]

I was put on a small amount of Xanax for many, many years when eventually the drug stopped working. (I was reacting like someone in withdrawal) My body had become dependent on the Benzo. From there I was placed on a different variety of medications. Nothing worked. That was 5 years ago. My consensus was that I was now addicted/dependent on Benzos. I read about a program in the UK that helped patients wean off benzodiazepine by substituting one drug for another until completely off the meds. It took me over 2 1/2 years to complete the transition. It has now been over a year since taking my last benzo. My body was so saturated with this drug for way too many years that it thought it couldn't function without it. I wish I could say that I'm cured, but I'm not. My anxiety is so severe and so deep that I may never fully recover but I can tell you that something inside of me is different. I've gotten my energy back, my mental clarity is back and for the first time in a long time, I am not walking around like a zombie. I still have a way to go because the fear led me into Agoraphobia which I am now working on fighting. So yes, there is someone else like you who has been diagnosed with such intense anxiety that nothing seemed to work. I will continue to educate myself so that one day I may be able to help others who live with this intense daily fear. Did I say "live", I mean exist. I don't know if there will be a miracle drug in my lifetime and so I am counting on the miracle being within me. Good Luck to you in finding a solution. My best to you, Agora1

[veganese]

I don't take meds for anxiety, not because I'm any braver than others who do. Things get pretty overwhelming, at times, but I didn't want side-effects confusing the real issue. My feelng is that taking them only delays dealing with the core reasons for your mind and body producing the myriad of horrible symptoms of anxiety. Take control of your own recovery. That move/decision, itself, is very empowering. Who could point a finger at anyone for opting to take meds when they suffer hell each day. Losing the fear of symptoms is the way forward, little by little. I'd suggest reading Paul David's book, At Last a Life or recent follow up book. Could go to his web/blog pages which are also very helpful in explaining how he himself recovered. Other replys give good advice, too. Best wishes.

[Mia51]

im the same,I dont know how many medications ive been on over the years and nothing works. Infact Ive given up trying as the side effects are awful so now im on a low dose antidepressant and anti anxiety pill.Dont know the answer anymore.

[cat3]

I suffered with chronic anxiety/depression for 30 years and it took over 18 months of trying different meds (persisting with each one for 6 weeks & suffering some dreadful side effects) 'til I found something which really worked.

Even when the side effects of certain drugs felt unbearable I persisted, in the knowledge that the brain will automatically reject any new mind altering drug, and only by persisting with it can you overcome that rejection 'til the side effects subside & give way to the benefits.

I think I tried 12 in all and on number 12, instead of feeling worse, as I had with all the others, I felt ok..............then much better.

It's not possible to find which one is right for you by giving up after 2 or 3 weeks of difficulty because at that stage you haven't allowed the drug to be fully assimilated into your system, to the point where the side effects stop.

I've now used Seroxat (Paroxetine) for over 20 years and they've helped me through divorce, breast cancer and a brain haemorrhage, and they continue to keep those horrible panic-attacks and the deep depression at bay.

I wish you well. xx

[alamagoosa]

I read a statement. It's not what's wrong with you. It's what happened to you.

[booboo_27]

I too have tried a good bit of meds too. I hate the side effects feeling spaced out, tiredness and in creased anxiety . I have a problem not giving the meds time to work because I have so many irrational. fears like loosing my mind completely just heard to many horror stories about them. I'm so scared please help. Hope the best for you .

[AgoraThePhobe]

I'm turning 25 a little bit later in May, and I also have this problem. I am on 250 mg of Sertraline, 1 mg of Prozasin for PTSD related dreams, and 1 mg of Clonopin. I am also on Ativan as needed which is every time I go out, which isn't often, and as needed is usually three at minimum. anything else, I might have been popping a flavorless mint. my psychiatrist won't raise the clonopin dosage because he's afraid of making patients addicted to benzos, but 1 mg is another mint that does basically nothing. the Sertraline makes it so I am turning down my anxiety from 1000 to 999.999, but I am nowhere near being even close to properly medicated. atypical antipsychotics make me gain a lot of weight and give me tremors, tics, and oculogyric crises, as well as raise my blood pressure, so I can't take those. Zoloft is doing nothing. I've taken buspirone. it did nothing. i'm getting really disheartened. I feel like I'm never going to be where I was in the past. i'm going to therapy and i'm getting help, but I really feel like things would be progressing better if I actually had a cocktail of medications that at least cut off half of the volume. I feel like i'm trying so hard in therapy, but I can only do so much, because my brain is broken, and I can't fix it all by myself. I just want to feel human again. Sometimes, I think this will never get better. Sometimes, I think i'm just going to spend my whole life in terror.