I am so sorry with what you are going through and I know what you mean. You are so ready to get something to help you. I have heard that some dr have added somethiing with anti-dep, but of coarse they will prob say no. They seem so funny about adding med when we are tired of feeling like crap. Do you think your med is helping at all. I am working my way off of lexarpo since I swear it is making my anxiety worse. I feel like I do better when I talk to someonem, but I am good about holding in things. Do you have more dep or anxiety? I am so sorry and I know I prob didnt help much, but I wish you luck with your appt. Courtney

as long as you are not having a bad reaction to the effexor i would try as hard as you can to just let it do its thing. try to find stuff that helps you unwind physically like the longest walk you have ever taken and then try to sleep and just keep doing that until it starts working. dont even think about going near caffein or sugar if you can help it and eat more meat if you are not a vegetarian. anything to calm you down. good luck!

court its the anxiety big time...its so bad all the time that nonthing seams real anymore...depression isnt too bad and spac...im hanging in there ive only too just now my 6th day....still feeling anxiety all day tho i feel somethn diff occasionally but not like i did yrs ago when i was on it!! idk guys i just want to enjoy the holidays since last year i missed them all :(

guess i need to list my current meds and the ones ive tried
CURRENT
zoloft25mg..weaning off lost effectness
effexor xr 37.5 mg just started last sat
trazodone 50mg
lamictal 75mg x3


TRIED
abilify.gave me rls
seroquil gave me muscle twitches



ok guys thats it

Hi Hon, I hear your desperation for relief & oh boy do i relate. I have OCD

I hear you loud and clear on the uncontrollable anxiety and the "I WANT MY LIFE BACK!" When it all started with me so much so that I was put on disability, that's all i would say "I WANT MY LIFE BACK". I never got it back, unfortunately.

I spent a lot of time trying to help myself. I've given "help notes" to those closest to me in case I call in an uncontrolled place. I walk a lot which sometimes help, I always have a bottle of water with me as if it escalates to a panic attack, one of my biggest fears is that I can't swallow. I joined the Y two years ago and that has been a TREMENDOUS help to me. I go at 6 am when there's hardly anyone there (can't be around a lot of people).

Although I've tried SO MANY cocktails to "fix me", I am just on Ativan 2mg 3x a day now. Definitely not the perfect solution due to its addictiveness and possibility of my body requiring more........ but it's been good for 7 years so at that point, I'll take the good and just wait for the bad.

I'm NOT fixed ....... but I just take one day at a time. My past life is gone. Went from a $92K/year career to a $1500/mo disability check. After several years, i realized that this IS my life now.

GOOD LUCK TO YOU!

o wow! irisheyes i know ur tryn to help....but that was a kick in the gut! that really gives me lil hope

I know Drs want to prescribe newer medications but I would ask your doctor about Lithium for the Bipolar. I don't know what all medical conditions you have so you may not be able to take this medication but I believe it to be one of the best for Bipolar even though it is an older medication. The only problem you will need to drink lots of water with this medication especially if you drink soda or any alchohol.

charlie supposly i dont have bipolar...atleast thats what he says.... and i do have a thyroid problem... so i dont think he wuld put me on it??

I hear you! I totally understand. It is so hard to get the pills to start working, then you go through the "inital" phase of the pills in your system. Then maybe, just maybe it may work. I cannot say those particular pills worked for me,as we are all different. I myself was on paxil for 15 years and was not informed to get "talk therapy" with it. So just the pills did not help me except to keep me from crying...the pills just masked what I was feeling. I recently got off of the meds. I swear I will not! I absolutely refuse to be put back on those drugs. I have just started therapy, before taking this step, I had lost my appetite, chronic crying, overwhelming feeling of grief...why? I don't know. I called my Dr. who instead of throwing a pill at me had me come in for a psych assessment, I went in
talked with the counselor, this blew me away, after spending and inital time talking, after I was starving, I was so hungry...I ate more than I normally would, I could actually concentrate on my work. I then scheduled a therapy session with a psych dr. So far, I think it s a step in the right direction. I'm not saying this is what you should do, but adding meds to meds I don't think is the answer.

I take effexor and remeron for depression.
I take adivan for panic attacks. I also take ambien to help me sleep.

I feel that sleep is very important. gentle hug

that should have been Ativan

Crystal, I didn't mean for that to be a kick in the gut. For some it's a quick fix and I envy those people ........... for people like me, I was so anxious to get my life back and I just dug a deeper hole for myself. I tried too soon to move forward with dreams that I had (opening my own business) because i was determined to be stronger than this "inner beast". It didn't take long before I sold the business and went into a deep depression because I just couldn't do it.

On the UPSIDE I have come a LONG way over the past few years. I am no where near the person I was then. I had a therapist for several years and it always helped to talk it out.... but i'd always make notes every day that I didn't see her so I wouldn't forget what it was I might want to tell her (my brain often moves as fast as a VCR in fast forward (when there used to be VCR's). I bought a lot of self-help books (on tape... can't focus long enough to actually read a book); I started eating foods that helped; and joining the Y and the exercise was probably one of the best thing I did to help myself.

You can do it........... just don't ever give up the fight even if you fall. Get up, brush yourself off, and try again. It can be a long road ... but I'm sure you, as well I have, will never just give into it. I fight every day. But no, I know I'll never get my life back as it was before this started. I've come a long way, but I also know and have accepted my limits. And yes............ it totally PISSES ME OFF!

You're younger than me and have a lot more fight in you.......... so FIGHT!