Hi wildflowers,

I've had tremendous success with Zoloft. They started me off with 50 mg, and eventually increased it to 100 mg, which is more standard for an adult. Your doctor will know best, but through my own independent research it's my opinion that the two best SSRI meds are Zoloft and Prozac. Paxil, from what I understand, has the worst side-effects and is also the most difficult to wean off of. With this in mind, if you're able to successfully treat your anxiety without the use of medications, that's certainly the best route.

As for making one feel disconnected or like a zombie, I haven't experienced any of that. However, everyone reacts differently to medications. What you might ask your doctor to do is to try an SSRI, such as Zoloft or Prozac for a week or two. If you notice the costs are outweighing the benefits, you'll want to inform your doctor of that and you can proceed from there. I'd also stay away from benzos, such as Xanax, since they have can cause some euphoria and, in my experience at least, has caused a great level of dependency. Again, everyone is different, so please take my advice with a grain of salt.

I also recommend reading, as well as hypnosis. At the risk of sounding like a salesman (I promise I'm not!), you might try going to hypnosisdownloads.com and doing a search for anxiety. They actually have hypnosis sessions for nearly anything you can think of, including eating disorders. The downloads cost around $10, just FYI.

Best of luck to you! I'll be praying for your recovery. :)

I also have had really success with zoloft. I had very bad anxiety constantly to the point of 5-6 panic attacks a day and had trouble leaving the city i live in. I have been on Zoloft for almost a year. finding the right dose was tricky. I started low and went up to 50 mg and felt really good, when i started having anxiety again my doctor had me go up to 75mg dose but I started feeling zombied and out of it. It was so hard for me to concentrate I accidentlly ran 2 red lights in a row before I realiZed it. So i cut my dose and am now around 60 mg. It works great for me, no anxiety and am clear headed. But dont be afraid to try. so many people I know feel like they wasted so much of their lives held back from their anxiety. I hope you like whichever SSRI you choose so much you wonder why you didnt try it before like i did. Also remember that it takes a while to build up in your system, so dont get discouraged if you dont see immediate results. and you can always switch to a different med if you dont like the one you are on. everyone is different and what works well for others may not work for you. good luck!!

I have anti depesisents have been a miracle for me the calm my emotions down to were i don't go from zero to sixty anymore they keep my head leveled they take about two or three weeks for you to really notice the affect as far as being sleepy i did that for 2 months I swear by celexa now if i don't have in my system for 3 days i feel weird. hope this helps if you want to talk message me

I was very nervous to start medicine. I was fearful of the side effects, I was fearful it was not going to get better, I was fearful in general because I had a doctor tell me they could not help me anymore but directed me to another doctor. I finally got the courage to go to a therapist and they worked with me finding the proper medication. It took a few months to find the right medication to find the right dosage. However, I now do have relief! But I can not lie it was not without bumps in the road. But I stuck it out even when it got rough, even at my worst point, I stuck the medicine out, I listened and trusted the doctors. And today I am on a very low dose of medication but it is not an SSRI. They actually did not work well with my body. I currently am on Nortripaline and then a very very small dose of lexapro (which technically is an SSRI) but it works for me. I am not numb to the world. I have my moments I break down and cry but that's okay it makes me human.

So I say find a great doctor, trust your doctor that they know what they are talking about (because there are some good doctors out there that are concerned about you) and give the medication a try. Medication does not hurt as I would rather be upset at not trying then trying and not find the right medication on the first time.

A lot of people have success with SSRIs for anxiety and depression .
My sister takes Pqistiq {an SNRI } and says it makes her feel normal. I have some success with Buspar myself. Just be aware that SSRIs go
from "energizing " like Prozac to "sedating" like Paxil. The trick is
finding the one that works for you. The side effects can be minimized by starting gradually and going up slowly on the dose.

Thank you so much to all who took the time to answer. It is good to hear that medication has been beneficial for you all. I feel like all I've been reading are the horror stories, so it makes me feel better knowing that these medications aren't all bad. I know if I do choose medication, it will be a lot of trial and error to find the right one for me. I guess that's the part I am afraid of. I hate anything having to do with the "unknown".