Alprazolam is Xanax, and that is a fast acting, short lasting (about 4 hours) benzo medication. I have tried Wellbutrin in the past, but I can't remember how it was. I know it was pretty mild from what I recall. If you feel you still have troubling anxiety, ask your doctor about trying a different medication than Wellbutrin. Give it a month or so first, to see how it goes. It can take 4-6 weeks to get the full benefits.

The exercise, walking, is great. Keep that up. It helps with anxiety and it will help you physically.

Your hunger pain/bloating sounds to me that you need to eat more than you are eating now, and to eat something substantial. Did you mean you are having two smoothies a day and that is all? Try a lean protein (chicken, eggs, turkey) and a complex carb (wheat toast, whole grains, oatmeal, brown rice) and a green vegetable. Eat at least 3 small-medium size meals a day. Drink eight 8 ounce glasses of water a day. You can also ask your doctor about working with a nutritionist. I had to work with one once, and it got me to eating lots of healthy foods again, and it helped me a lot and from that point on (I went 30 years ago)

Anxiety can often cause stomach troubles of all sorts.

Keep your stress levels down, keep up the exercising, and I think you might want to look at what you are eating.

You're doing great!

I'm clueless on the med cocktail but digestive and chest ailments are a common anxiety side effect for me and they seem to come in almost as much variety as my anxiety does. Knowing which psychotherapy and/or self care tools to ply for each go-round requires allot of trial and error. Why can't life be simple and predictable?

Sharing about my symptoms as they arise within my therapy support network helps me find more confidence in my best guesses. Wishing I didn't have to guess remains high on my wish list, but working with what is available is all I have to work with.

@GirlinCalif no its usually smoothy in the morning and then chicken breast , rice and beans.

Ive been on xanax for a couple of days .25x2 and am quickly realizing that when i think I don't need it in the evening- anxiety creeps up. Like tonight, I am pretty tired so decided not to take it at the usual evening hour (I wont be able to walk or run this weekend). Fast forward a few hours and man was it different. So took evening pill 20 minutes ago and its starting to work already. If Im anxious I set my timer for 1 hour when I take it- its a nice visual representation of it working.
Its crazy how irrational fear and anxiety can be so strong. Your mind knows its not true but it still takes hold. For example, when I run I get my heart rate to 160 or higher depending on cadence and temp. If I had a heart condition, that would have triggered something. It feels like because the heart issue was debunked by doc and ER it simply shifted to the stomach

@ arfie- I agree when I am speaking about them in therapy its like you can feel the symptoms literally leaving your body

Just hate how weak it makes you feel ya know? My doctor actually took a full body EKG and said look at your resting heart rate that's pretty awesome and I still sometimes get anxious. The weird think is that its a trigger, I feel a sensation and immediately anticipate a painful attack and immediately go into how devastating that would be for my family.

I do think that if you are having hunger pains, that it is your body telling you it needs more food. I would suggest 3 meals a day. And don't forget the 8 eight ounce glasses of water (maybe more, since it's hot out and you exercise). Are you of normal weight?

Yes, irrational fears can really do a number on our bodies. It's difficult sometimes to get a hold of this, but write down your fears and then challenge each one that you wrote. Challenge it's validity. That what are the odds this is a true statement. What are the odds this sentence will actually happen.

That is CBT therapy.

Stay busy, do things you like to do and that are fun and bring you joy. The more idle time we have, the more time for anxiety to creep in.

Are you taking the Wellbutrin daily also?

They feel like hunger pains but don’t think that they are. It’s the closet way to describe the sensation. Started taking both yesterday but am waiting for a call to discuss possible interactions along with nexium. So have not taken nexium until I hear from him.

How are you doing now, how is it going with the two medications?

Hi GirlinCalif! Better thank you. At first I was only taking the Xanax when I was feeling anxious and not twice a day- which meant that I was always chasing the anxiety. I started taking it twice a day on Saturday and it made a big difference. Thursday was interesting, I went for a quick two mile run. After wards, I was walking to cool down and my heart rate shot up pretty high. I panicked and went to emergency clinic. Everything checked out ok, I was a little dehydrated. So basically what I think happened was I ran ( so heart rate elevated), I hadn't drank nearly any water before (so dehydration caused heart rate to elevate) and it was 100 degrees so heart elevated to get blood out to skin to cool my body down. It sucks to have a constant reminder that anxiety is there just waiting.

I took alprazolam for a couple of years but my current pdoc took me off. I was using too much of it to manage horrid anxiety.
It is possible that your anxiety symptoms are becoming physical as well as mental. I’d keep in touch with your dr about this. I took Wellbutrin for a while too and it helped.
I would warn against using the Xanax too frequently. Try to use other coping skills to see if that brings down the anxiety. I also took Ativan for several years but 60 pills would last me several months because I have learned to bring down my anxiety with other coping skills.

@Kisses2016- I think its a balancing act, at least at first. Finding the right meds and or combination. For me I use to only use alprazolam when I would get hit by anxiety. In some ways almost looking forward to ending anxiety with the med. Which creates a psych connection. I take .25 twice a day or have been for the last two days and it has evened out the day for me. E=Which opens up me being able to learn and implement coping skills.

It was interesting yesterday (first time I took twice a day as prescribed), that I was watching television and just going about my day when I realized wait I haven't been anxious in hours.

I saw my psychiatrist yesterday and he added 100 mg Zoloft. He wants to see how that works to see if we can drop wellbutrin from the equation since it can sometimes cause anxiety. I have mixed feelings about it. I was excited because we were trying something different, but wasn't so jazzed to add another medication.