Posted by medlib on January 11, 2003, at 23:24:07
In reply to Is there anyone out there like me?, posted by BettyAnn on January 10, 2003, at 19:47:32
Hi BettyAnn--
There's a real possibility that your dysthmia is largely secondary to your anxiety disorders. For that reason, given oc-occurring depression and anxiety dxs, my pdoc (and most others I know of) make anxiety the first focus of med intervention. (He also insists that there's no clinical justification for continuing to try more SSRIs if the 1st 2 don't work at all.)
If there is no pdoc near you who specializes in anxiety disorders, it would be worthwhile to seek one farther afield. Some pdocs who specialize will agree to medically manage an out-of-town patient by phone or email after an initial in-person interview. It's helpful to be able to locate such an expert in your state, since he will be able to prescribe with your local pharmacy. MDs are licensed to practice and prescribe by state, so an out-of-state pdoc would have to work with your local doc. A good place to start might be the Anxiety Disorders Association of America find-a-therapist resource at
Until you are able to get the right pdoc, therapist and meds combos in place, you might get a sense of hope or forward movement from a book several people I know have found very helpful.
"The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook" by Bourne
It may also give you a sense of what CBT has to offer, if you haven't done that type of therapy before.DO hang in--there are lots of people here in your shoes (and others who've found what they needed and moved on to real life!) You might search the archives for PDD or GAD or social anxiety/phobia to see just how many there are.
Please post and let us know how things go---medlib
poster:medlib
thread:135231
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030106/msgs/135452.html