Posted by viridis on January 29, 2003, at 14:02:56
In reply to Tried many drugs, none seem to work, posted by Kindofblue on January 29, 2003, at 11:23:32
Are you seeing a regular doctor (GP) or a psychiatrist? If the former, I strongly recommend that you see a psychiatrist, preferably one who specializes in anxiety disorders.
The strong anxiety/panic component to your depression is just like what I experienced for years, and SSRIs (like Prozac) and the SNRI Wellbutrin made the anxiety worse. The key for me was stabilization with benzodiazepines (Klonopin, Xanax; there are many others). These can be a tremendous help, and can provide a baseline from which other meds can then be cautiously added.
Unfortunately, doctors (GPs especially) can be reluctant to prescribe benzos due to irrational fears about "addiction" etc. (very rarely a problem for anxiety patients). So instead, they try various antidepressants that can make the situation worse, and tell you just wait a few weeks and see if they help. This can be a very long and painful process, whereas benzos can ease the problem almost immediately, and allow trials with other drugs that by themselves might be very hard on someone with severe anxiety.
You might discuss this with your doctor, and again, if you're not seeing a psychiatrist I strongly recommend that you do.
poster:viridis
thread:138138
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030125/msgs/138163.html