I would like to see other responses to that myself. I go through the somewhat the same myself sometimes but feel that I bring in on myself. I worry about things a lot and just not accomplishing much really stresses me. I go through periods where it is worse than others. For me it causes a tightness in my neck and shoulders. I think for me it is a depression kicking in also. This time of the year is really rough on me. Not sure that is related to what you are experiencing or not. My doctor has been giving me muscle relaxers for years. I take one every night and when needed. I usually don't like to take them during the day unless I am really need them. Lately has been worse than normal. I need something that helps in my case also. I really think I need some other medication besides muscle relaxers. This probably is not the same as you but I thought I would put that out there also for response. I think they may be somewhat related.

Anxiety , sadly, can be part of COPD as well as depression. You ask is it normal" I suppose what ever is going on at the time is what makes you anxious. Worrying about it, will make you more so !! Worrying about an upcoming test, or if you are in pain, just about anything that worries you that you can not easily control, will make you more anxious.
You need to find your triggers, and learn to eliminate them if possible, or tone them down a bit. But that is what the medicine is for, but use it wisely.

Scott, muscle relaxers will not take care of depression, anxiety, mood swings, so you need to see either your pulmy, or your regular doctor and tell him you are having anxiety and would like to be on an anxiety med. I take 0.25 of xanex, only when I need it, not as a regular drug. It is not much, but it takes the edge off.

BJ

I agree with you BJ. I do think my tightness in my shoulders and neck are related to my worrying etc. The muscle relaxers relieve the tension and tightness but I think you are right. Be honest, I never have mentioned depression or worrying to my doctor. Actually the doctor I have is fairly new to me. I moved from Lynchburg to here 3 years ago. He continued to give me the muscle relaxer script. Depression is not something I have ever admitted to or talked to a doctor about. I guess I should. It has been on my mind a lot lately. I have an appointment coming up and will discuss it with him.

I have other conditions that cause a lot of pain. I also have insomnia. I have been somewhat anxious after finding out my diagnosis and trying to deal with it on limited knowledge. But I have hesitated to take my strong narcotic pain pills, and the few sleeping pills I have because I read somewhere they would depress my respirations. Wouldn't anti-anxiety pills do the same thing? I would love to have something mild to take at night. It would help me get some rest. Linda

i took diazapam & i ended up in the E.R. feeling like i was having a heart attack...so yes, it caused me more anxiety.
however, Lorazapam i can take with no problems.
i also tried xanax & felt drunk/loaded on it, so that one was out.
there are several anti-anxiety meds out there & you need to work with your dr which is best for you. Just because they are the same "class" of drugs, they are all a bit different.

with me, if i can keep my anxiety under control, then i dont get depressed. its when i worry about everything that i soon start to feel helpless & then go into depression. so the anti-anxiety medication is for my anxiety AND my SOB

it isn't that long ago we had a HUGE discussion about antianxiety meds; i wish i could find that to put a link for all the newcomers.

i also have chronic pain so have muscle relaxers and a pain pill.
the muscle relaxers i take only as needed when my pain goes "over the threshold". the pain killer i take is helps my breathing so i take that daily & it usually keeps me moving & breathing at the same time.

yes, all of these can cause slow your respiration, but there are ways to work with your dr about that also.
my 02 company offers FREE in home sleep study as often as i want one so i usually do one every 6 months.
i'm trying to have "quality life" not "quantity life"---there was a time my pain made me suicidal, that aint quality.

all symptoms and medications are something that needs to be discussed with your dr. and tapered to your individual needs.
a dr that truly understands COPD also understands the other issues that go with it; like pain & anxiety & depression.
i see my dr monthly & have my list of questions every month that goes with me as it seems that my "new normal" keeps changing LOL

Linda, yes, if you take to many of narcotic pain pills, they can kill you because they suppress your breathing,
I take ambien for insomnia, and it seems to work good for me, just making me sleepy, but I wake up if I need to, so it is not a narcotic is in the hypnotic class.
An anxiety pill is kind of like a narcotic, where they can become habit forming, but if you go with the lowest dose to start, and see how it does for you.
It can make you sleepy, but a low dose may just calm you.
. Now I am speaking of my self, meds work differently on different people .
I take hydrocodone 5,/325 for pain, but never over twice a day, and normally only once, and not everyday. Just those when the pain is unbearable.
I never take them at night time. These do suppress the area in your brain that controls breathing, so you are ok unless you take a whole lot or have been taking it a long time at high doses.
My little anxiety pill I might take once or twice a month if I am really feeling antsy, and it is just enough to calm me.
I tried a higher dose, but it put me asleep, so that was not what I wanted.
You need to be very careful, and you too Scott, and talk with your doctor about what is going on, and what he recommends. Ask for the lowest dose. And do not use at night to help you sleep,
except ambian, and some folks have problems with that little pill....

BJ

oh my goodness, i just re-read my post & it sounds like i'm a drug addict LOL
i have many medicines for different conditions as i too was on disability for another condition long before COPD got me. not all are taken at the same time or day LOL
because of allergies & reactions i have had to play "musical" meds alot with my dr. so i have had to try many before we have found ones that work for me.
my point was if one medicine isn't working for you that you could need a different one so talk to your dr.

Increased anxiety can be a side effect that as you see below, you should let your Dr know about. Drugs.com is a good site to bookmark to check out med reactions on.

"If any of the following side effects occur while taking diazepam, check with your doctor immediately:
More common

Shakiness and unsteady walk
unsteadiness, trembling, or other problems with muscle control or coordination

Incidence not known

Abdominal or stomach pain
agitation
anxiety
black, tarry stools
blistering, flaking, or peeling of skin
blurred vision
changes in patterns and rhythms of speech
chills
confusion
cough......and there's more as you will see.

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/valium-side-effects.html

I started out on valium/diaz. in 07 before COPD raised its ugly head....it was used as a PRN/as needed for panic attacks n anxiety...I was switched to zanax as needed and I found it fantastic......

On return to OZ I could not get either as they are red hot on benzos...I was put on Lexapro which is supposedly among the best....takes 2 months before it has an effect but it did nothing for me so I stopped..

The theory behind it is that valium and Xanax are very quick working stabilizer of moods so basically when our anxiety sets in, it rapidly corrects it n we feel better. The shrinks do not like this much, preferring to use stuff like Lexapro to stop our stress levels peaking, instead keeping everything on a level keel. Sounds great in theory but.....does not work for me and if im super stressed n anxious, I want instant calming or my breathing starts getting erratic n panic sets in...

Well ive now been handballed to another expert in pain management for chronically ill people.....both pain relief via meds plus psychological causes of pain will be addressed.....well I hope so..

Just my take on this stuff....Peter

Thanks everybody for your input. Drugs can be very complicated, can't they. Hopefully, when I get my Pulmonologist referral, I can get some appropriate medication. Seems like, around here, if you ask for pain meds or sleep meds, the Docs think you are drug addicts!! I would just give anything to get a good nights sleep. Linda

I have GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) and I have felt horrendous on other drugs (Propranalol) which caused more depression, so I stopped taking it. A lot of the anxiety drugs seem to be a trial and error thing. I take alprazolam (xanax) and it helps when I'm having a panic attack. But for daily use, I use citalopram daily (for 6 years or so now) and when I am having a hard anxiety time (for example high stress time and can't cope) my doctor adds Buspirone (Buspar) and it takes the edge off. That took awhile to find what worked, and my doctor has tweaked the dosage and over time figure out what works.

My dad has COPD and now depression and anxiety, he likes xanax too for the panic attacks (prevention). He didn't like escitalopram (Lexapro) which is RELATED to citalopram but I still think he should try citalopram. My PsyD has told me citalopram has one of the least side effects out there for anxiety drugs. I like it and it has served me well these years. It took about two weeks to kick in for me. The first week I felt weird but that went away.

My dad also has been practicing yoga breathing for a couple years now to slow the panic reaction. He still uses the xanax, but he can slow his response to a panic onset. I find it helpful as well.

Oh and for reference, my dad uses the .5mg of xanax and I use the .25 mg of xanax. The .5 is too much for me and I feel like a zombie, but the.25 is too low for him. Trial and error to figure it out.

I hope this helps!!! Also, many of us when we have serious health problems, we get anxiety and depression. I think its natural.

I forgot to preface this that I don't know about the drug in particular you are taking, but everyone reacts different to each drug.

gwapo - arggh.. that's so ridiculous that the docs would take you off of something that is working so well for you. The medical profession often goes on kicks like that, for a while benzo's are the devil and nobody can get them, then they forget about it for a while because now they are all against long acting pain killers like oxycontin and other ms type drugs so they don't have the energy to be mad at two kinds of drugs at the same time. For a person that is responsible and in need benzo's can be a good choice, especially the sublingual. I find I can get relief in about 5 minutes.

diazepam (valium) half life - 43 hours +/- 13 hours for certain metabolites

Lorazepam (Ativan) half life - 12-15 hours

Oxazepam (serax) half life - 8.2 hours

Diazepam, or Valium as it's called is the longest acting of the Benzodiazapenes. It has a very long half life and for this reason can cause some trouble if doses are too close together. Oxazepam, or Cerax has the shortest half life with Ativan being somewhere in the middle. Each one has their pro's and con's and even though they are all very similar and act on the body in the same way, some types will leave one person feeling disoriented, or high/loaded, or severely affect a persons memory, while another type will not. I myself didn't like diazepam because of the very long half life. If I had a bout of anxiety that lasted a few days, I would end up feeling groggy even if I only took one a day, because the doses were compounding and building up in my system.

For instance if a drug has a half life of 18 hours and you take 10 mg, 18 hours later you will have 5 mg in your body, 18 hours after that you will have 2.5 mg in your body.

I've had my best results with Ativan and Cerax . They don't leave me feeling groggy and if I need a second one during that day, I don't feel like it's building up in my system to too high a degree.

Also the extreme long half life of Valium contributes to its dependency potential and makes it a hard drug to come off if one becomes physically dependant on it. Docs usually switch you to an other benzo and withdraw you from that. There was a huge lot of trouble in the 1960's with diazepam when it was called the "mothers little helper" and housewives were gulping the things to drown out the sounds of their screaming babies, griping children and bossy husbands.

I think they are more concerned about long term addiction problems so they look for long term drugs and therapy to prevent this scenario.....I do not have much of a long term to even worry about addiction....I was relief from my anxiety now and quickly or the vicious cycle of SOB begins that creates more anxiety which makes us even more SOB....

Then tell them just that Gwapo, and don't take no for an answer. A similarly ridiculous statement was made by my mother's doctor when regarding pain relief for her incurable cancer He was concerned about the drugs addiction potential. Damned fool, she had less than a year left. He should have given her whatever she wanted and as much as she wanted of it. It's not like she was ever going to have to come off of it.
Simply tell him these are your days remaining to you and you intend to be as comfortable as possible and that you deserve to be comfortable and not be a guinea pig for him to try new therapies on that may or may not work and take months of regular doses before they have/haven't any action on your anxiety. I find myself quite annoyed by what they are putting you through since it so much reminds me of my mom's difficulties with her doctors. Maybe worse still was the doctors method of controlling my mother's nausea/vomiting. There were 6 or 7 progressively stronger anti nausea drugs and they started her on the weakest which were your basic over the counter motion sickness pills (called gravol her) he wanted her to try each for 2 weeks before moving her up one notch to the next strongest drug which he would want her to try for 2 weeks. Here she was down to under 90 mainly unable to eat and vomiting every day and getting skinnier and weaker all the time with the cancer blocking most of her lower intestines so her digestive system is backed up and he insists on running her very slowly up the scale of anti nauseants. You know what? Start at the top and move down the scale, get her some relief right now so she stops puking and wasting away. And mom absolutely forbid me from paying him a visit to make him understand. Still bothers me.........rant over. Lol