Hello friends,
Do any of you suffer with anxiety? I’m on 225mg of Effexor (anti depressant/anxiety). I’m pretty much ok during the day but when it’s time for bed, my insides are shaking. Even a sleeping pill they gave me doesn’t work. I can’t control that awful feeling of my body shaking inside. So, I don’t get much sleep 😞
Dear Smurf
If you comb my posts there are two words that become familiar: depression and anxiety. I am highly functional, so they tell me, and have never been hospitalized for it, but I have been dealing with and treated for anxiety and depression for decades. Getting this diagnosis made everything spin out of control. I got help, went to therapy, and took an antidepressant and had Xanax on hand for when I felt my anxiety taking control. I still go to therapy and once in a while, less than 5 times a month on average, I take an anxiolytic when I start to lose my grip. I plan to go back on an antidepressant soon. If you don’t have a therapist I strongly suggest you find one. Meds alone are not enough. You need a smart, compassionate professional to help you put all this into context, to help pull you up when you’re sinking. This situation is often more than we can handle alone.
I would ask if you could take Ativan with the Effexor at night time. My mind goes crazy at night, it won’t shut down. A change of pain meds did help some and I have Ativan for the other nights. It calms my mind so I can fall asleep.
I have suffered from anxiety my whole. So you can imagine what I'm like now! Lol.
A few years ago after bad reactions to a few antidepressants, my doctor back then perscribed Remeron. Seems to help. I take it at night about 1 hour before bed. It seems to help.
But, I also have a therapist through my palliative care doctor.
When I get totally overwhelmed, I call the SHARE HELPLINE and speak with a mbc patient who "talks me down."
When I find myself shaky and stressed, I get on my treadmill.
It is a constant struggle. I also have xanax when necessary.
Can't deal with this anxiety alone. Keep looking for help. It's worth it!
Thank you Sandra. Never thought of the 2 meds combined can maybe be the cause.
Dis you take gabatin? I don't know if I spell right. The onc prescribe to help w hot flashes but they give me alot anxiety and then she want to give depression pill and I said no! I stop take them and my anxiety went away. Maybe something that you take ? Did you try to drink tea before bed? That help to sleep and relax you. But in case it does help.
Funny. Now that I am experience severe lower back pain, my onco referred me to a pain specialist, part of a palliative team. She is starting me out (my first visit with her was last week and I go again this week). She gave me .5 of generic percocet to take 3 times a day although I find I need two of them at once. She also started me on gabapentin (it took me several days to get used to spelling it LOL). She is starting me off on one at night for one week, then two at night for two weeks and then three at night.
She told me to take at night as it may help with the sleep. The first one I took Tuesday night and I felt so jittery like I had a whole pot of coffee and thought Oh, no, not liking this. But then on second night (and I stopped the ambien) it does make me tired and I am sleeping better than I was with the ambien. It is probably a combo of the percocet and gabapentin.
I read about the gabapentin and she also told me NEVER to just stop taking it. I usually take a day off from the Verzenio and now and then but she said I cannot do that with gabapentin. I see her again this week.
It feels great not to have pain but I know the pills are masking it. She wants me to start physical therapy and I go next week to start. But I will have to ask her how will I know its working if I am on these meds. I am not sure but I do not want to be on this gabapentin forever. But for now, I am grateful not to feel the back pain. I was able to even walk without my back giving out. So although the first night, it made me feel so jittery, I guess my body had to get acclimated to it.
I hope she continues to give me percocet. Due to medicare and laws with opiates here in the US, my first week she could only give me a week's supply but after that she can give me more. She said something about wanting to try an antidepressant for my pain, but I would prefer the percocet.
Anyway, they will be testing me every time I go to pain specialist (urine test) to make sure I am taking the drugs and not selling them LOL.....but people do do that.
Unfortunately, I have no choice. I need to take whatever she gives me, not what I would prefer. They get so worried about addiction, even at stage iv cancer. Seriously, the laws are getting so restrictive.
I am not crazy about being on a drug that I would have to be weaned off. But heck, I just started it so we will see. I was honest upfront and told her I smoke marijuana. She thanked me for telling her in advance and said she has no problem with that bc many cancer patients use it. I could get a medical marijuana card as they now opened dispensaries in two locations in Manhattan. Unfortunately, Medicare and private insurance will NOT pay for the medical marijuana itself as it is not FDA approved and from what I read, it can cost $200 to $500 a month so that many people buy off the street. I would much rather be able to do that than these drugs but I cannot afford that and many people cannot (just read an article on it).
So its only day three of my taking the gabapentin. One lady said it made her extremely depressed. As always, drugs affect people in different ways. But it actually works better than the ambien. I am sleeping so much better but that may stop when my body becomes acclimated to it so going by the "one day at a time" rule.
Let me know how it works for you. Supposed to help with nerve pain. I am keeping a diary of when I am taking it and how it feels so I can tell her when I see her next week. I just hope she does not stop the percocet but it is no my call.
Hoping it works for you! Let us know.
Hi I not taking anymore. I didnt like the feeling of been drug out or super anxious. I try 2 times and I was like not for me! So you know when your vitamin D is low it can cause depression. I am over all happy person under this circumstances of dealing w stage 4 but my last blood work show deficiency of vitamin D. And the doctor told me can cause fatigue, breathing issues and feeling down. She gave me 50,000 unit of vitamin D once a week. I start feeling better! I used to have alot back pain but in my last surgery the doctors remove part of my capsular in my right breast and the pain reduce drastically. Scar tissue pain radiate to your back!
Odd. It seems to make me more anxious. I figured my body had to adapt to it but I am feeling more anxious on it. It is only day three and I already take xanax (am on it for over 30 years way before they realized it should be a controlled drug. I used to get three refills on it). I even went to two different specialists but they said I have been on it way too long to try and get off. They said I should stay on it and think of it like a person who has to take heart medicine. I need it for maintenance now since my body is so used to it but i no longer got anxiety attacks. So now, its basically a maintenance drug. I went through xanax withdrawal once when I had no idea and no doctor had ever told me how dangerous it was. If there is a hell, it has to be going through a xanax withdrawal.
Unfortunately, my primary doc (no primary doc will prescribe it now, only a psychiatrist) was closed that week bc of Jewish holiday. I had no idea what was going on with me. I had run out of the xanax and since he was closed, though Okay no big deal I have to wait a week. OMG...it was a horror. they say xanax withdrawal is like a heroin withdrawal. but with a heroin withdrawal, you may feel like you are dying, but with a xanax withdrawal you could die. Never slept for three days, eyes were going, walking into walls, mini seizures. I called some medical hotline number and they told me to get to an ER as soon as possible. Well, I had nobody and I could not even get dressed.
I finally figured out to call the pharmacy who had been filling it for years and I was crying and told him. He said that is very dangerous. I am sending somebody over now with a week's supply. After taking one, I felt normal again. I never knew, nor did the doctors or the medical community at the time, how it changes your body chemistry. Now on this gabapentin, I feel anxiety. I do not like the way it makes me feel. Although I am sleeping a bit better, I feel anxious all the time and its only been three days. I do not like the way it makes me feel. I will tell the pain specialist when I meet her again on Tuesday.
I think the depression is a natural cause from being stage iv and for me, starting to get severe pain. But the palliative team says I have to go to a psychiatrist so I have to go but I DO NOT want to be on any antidepressants. I feel like I am on enough drugs as it is. I am going to tell her so far I am not crazy about this gabapentin (and just when I learned to spell it). Another lady said it made her feel more depressed.
I am in US and am told that they will be doing urine tests every time I go to make sure I am taking the medication and opiate medication and not selling it. I am fine with that but I am keeping a diary of how I feel on the gabapentin and I do not want to continue on this but she may tell me to give it more time.
Just curious, did your onco prescribe this for you or you too were referred to a pain specialist or palliative team. My lower back was hurting so much I could not even walk 1/2 block and I don't drive nor have any close that lives near me so I have to depend on myself for everything. I had to take car service 6 blocks to get toilet paper (I forgot to order it on my online delivery). They charged $15 to go 6 blocks, let me run in and get tip and drive me home.)
They are not sure what is causing the lower back pain. Two CT scans ago it showed it went to my bones (only my spine and caused two holes) but they think my back pain is not bc of the cancer but funny how it started right before they discovered the wholes. I can't keep track of all the medication. I want off this but she will say, and she may be right, that I need to give it more time. I am already depressed enough bc of the pain and do not need anything to make me more anxious.
Thanks for replying.
They gave me gabapentin for my hot flashes and they said help me to sleep. But I could not fall sleep bc I got super anxious and feeling nervous. I was like what is this! They removed my ovaries and they put into menopause earlier. I rather deal with hot flashes, but my hot flashes are less intense and when my vitamin was low I was sweating again back in my neck. But the intense sweating stop w vitamin D
I take tea to sleep. Have you try tea? Ginger and curcuma and cinnamon. You can buy the root.
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