New Here, But a Pro at Anxiety

Hi everyone:

A little bit about me. I have been in psychotherapy for a little over 10 years and was on Celexa (20mg) prescribed by my GP for 8 years until I weened off the drug a little over 4 months ago. I can say that I'm better off now than I was 10 years ago. Having said that, I still feel that I haven't gotten over that hill when it comes to my anxiety, and while surfing through the forums helps, I sometimes feel like I may have been misdiagnosed by either my therapist or my GP.

Although I feel anxious I have never experienced what would be called physical panic attacks (shortness of breath, sweating, etc). The anxiety itself for me is more a constant feeling of mental nervousness or being easily agitated. I always feel afraid to say the wrong thing have a constant fear of failure. I'm in my mid 30s and have yet to commit myself to dating. Despite encouraging sessions with my therapist, I still have yet to "break free."

As mentioned, I was on Celexa for 8 years and while it helped somewhat, I never felt a huge improvement when taking it. In fact, there had been times where I stopped taking it and didn't feel differently either positively or negatively.

Of course there's more I could share, but there's limited room for one post. I guess my first question to everyone is wether there are medications other than Celexa that I might try to use to treat my anxiety? I think that I've blindly followed my GPs instructions all these years since from what I've read, Celexa is more common and effective in the treatment of depression rather than anxiety.

I hope you can give me a hand with some suggestions. Thank you.

Mike

Hi -

Sorry to hear that you have had anxiety for such a long time, with not too much significant help from the drug. There are definitely different drugs you could try for anxiety. SSRI's are prescribed for anxiety, so your doctor wasn't off with prescribing Celexa, but you could have tried different ones, as some may be more effective as others. There are also benzodiazepines (such as Xanax and Klonopin) which are made directly for treating anxiety. I think perhaps you should set up an appointment with a psychiatrist, as a GP is not specifically trained on what to prescribe for mental health issues. GP's are known to just hand-out anti-depressants and aren't comfortable prescribing anything else. A psychiatrist would be able to give you more options, if your GP is too reluctant.

What type of therapy have you had? CBT is known to be the most efficient with anxiety disorders, although I've yet to try it myself. I've found talk therapy to be rather useless for myself, encouragement didn't do anything to help re-wire my brain, which is kind of what's necessary to treat anxiety.

- EGD.

I have seen a CBT and it has helped me quite a bit. However no matter how effective therapy can be, there are times when "the moment" occurs and I become overly apologetic to others if I make a mistake while at other times I can become easily agitated. The best way to put it is when I do feel anxious, I don't get panic attacks but "agitation attacks" where I can become easily un-nerved. Hopefully there is medication that could help.

I hope you can try some different medication soon and see if it helps. I hope things improve for you.

- EGD.

I certainly can relate to the anxiety. I feel like I talk too much, repeat to much etc. I myself just feel like my insides are just screaming at me a lot of times. Which is why I just took a lorazepam, which you may also know by the brand name Ativan. I take them usually at bedtime to help with sleep also. Then I can also take them during the day on an as needed bases. I will give you a link if you would like to check it out. Maybe something like this from your doctor may help more. *link removed by mod*

I have a few other things that I do..some I need to do and haven't. I have collected this information on my travels through the message boards. I will give them to you.

1. Instead of fighting the anxiety go with it - fighting it can make is worse and last longer.
2. Do deep breathing exercises by taking a few deep breaths and releasing slowly.
3. Count backwards from 100 by 3's when you feel the anxiety coming on. The idea behind this is for you to take control of the anxiety before it controls you. Try doing some deep breathing before you do this.
4. Do something that you enjoy and can focus on - music, bike ride, go for a walk, meditation etc.
5. Scent Therapy - Lavender can have a calming effect on people.
6. Exercising 3-4 times a week, exercise will emit endorphins which is a natural tranquilizer.
7. Try and stay away from caffeine and sugar. Eat healthy.