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Desperate for something (hopefully non benzo)that might help

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Desperate for something (hopefully non benzo)that might help

Postby gnossienne » Sun Nov 09, 2014 6:48 am

I'm already on a whole host of medications already, most of which I'm not sure are helping. I am just wondering if there's anyone who suffers from severe panic disorder who can recommend me anything that might help (other than benzos). My psychiatrist is a bit benzo phobic (especially after learning that I had a past history of alcoholism) and has only given me .5 mg of klonopin a day to deal with my constant GAD and panic disorder symptoms. I'm hoping next time I see him I can convince him to increase the dose (I think he said he only prescribes as much as 2mg per day for any of his patients), since I've been hospitalized a few times since I last saw him because of severe chest pain and very elevated blood pressure (something like 190/100 or so) related to panic attacks.

I seem to be a bit averse to SSRIs, like they aggravate my anxiety instead of helping it, especially at high doses, but I have not tried other types of antidepressants, besides the Brintellix that I am on, which I have seriously been considering discontinuing. It seems to help with my depression but make anxiety worse, just like every other antidepressant I've tried.

I'm already taking buspirone and gabapentin and they only seem to be helping somewhat. Do I have any other options that could possibly help? I don't care about being majorly sedated at this point, I just want these horrible feelings to go away. I've been wondering about olanzapine, because I read that in some studies it has helped with panic disoder/GAD. However, I'm already on 600mg daily of seroquel/quetiapine for sleep and I am overweight, and would rather not go the antipsychotic route unless absolutely necessary.

Anyway, is there anything else worth trying? I'm really not sure what to do about this and I'm at my wits end. Thanks in advance to anyone who has anything to offer.
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Re: Desperate for something (hopefully non benzo)that might help

Postby Philton » Mon Nov 24, 2014 6:06 am

So I'm going to be really honest with you. I've tried different kind of anti-depressants, and all seemed to work for a little while, but it always changed within a couple of months. At the moment I am not taking anymore medication. I do not believe in anti-depressants. They are not worth it, most of them are addicting and make life even worse. I can't remember the name of the first anti-depressants I got prescribed, but when I try to stop I would feel like a drug addict, I would be shaking all day, feel sick, have terrible headaches, be in the worst mood ever, and after two weeks I gave up and started again. I took citalopram for a while after, that one worked very well for me, but I was still not really satisfied. I stopped taking this a few months ago and I am doing good. I need to stay busy tho, or I will get panick attacks. I've had panick attacks where I start scratching myself without realizing it, nothing has helped with that. Only xanax has helped me with that, but I do not recommended xanax at all. I overdosed once in combination with alcohol and spend a few days in the hospital, it almost killed me, while I do not remember anything of the moment it happened. The advice I can give you is to keep yourself busy, whatever medication you are taking. Medication is not going to do anything for you if you are just sitting at home doing nothing. But I don't know what your days look like.

If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here. I hope you find the right thing for you. It's hard because every person is different. And I hope that someday you can do it without medication. Stay positive, life's great :)
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Re: Desperate for something (hopefully non benzo)that might help

Postby LAmourToujours » Thu Jun 25, 2015 4:04 am

smart to avoid the non benzo, psychiatry has issues, you're better off without
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
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