Posted by Mike_Cohen_2 on June 19, 2008, at 19:27:19
My brother passed away 15 mos. ago. We were best friends and he was 39, me 38 y.o. This is when my anxiety problem started. I was on Serzone for about 3 years for panic attacks I would get infrequently, but I never had GAD. After my brother passed away, even with the Serzone on board, I started getting sick, GI problems, Nausea all the time, anxiety, crying spells, etc. All labs and testing came back normal. MD decided to get me off Serzone and switch to Lexapro. I took me forever as I had an interaction with both meds on board, so I weaned off the Serzone over 2 mos. and then had no problem getting on the Lexapro. Two months after starting the Lexapro, she switched me to Zoloft 100mg, BTW, I was up to 30mg on the Lex prior to the switch.
psych doc. added Lamictal and Respirdal and I'm off them now as they did nothing for me. I'm still on the Zoloft 100mg, but my anxiety persists, even with Xanax 0.5mg-1mg prn and Klonopin 1mg twice/day and Xanax XR 1mg twice/day. I'm well covered with benzos, but the anxiety persists.
Current Symptoms:
I'm irritable, get short of breath and tachycardic at times. BTW, I'm also on a beta blocker and still get the tachycardia with little exertion at times. My carotids feel full. The anxiety doesn't have me freaking out as I'm kind of use to it and I havn't had a single panic attack since getting off the Serzone. The worst part is when I get up in the morning. I feel shaky, out of sorts, and very anxious. This goes away with an hour or so after taking am meds.So, my question is: Since the Zoloft nor the Lexapro didn't help a single bit and it's been 6 months of being on them, not at the same time, is it possible that an SSRI can actually cause anxiety after all this time. They talk about downregulatiuon of the receptors, etc. and initial anxiety is normal and goes away. I just feel like it has all gotten worse since starting the meds.
Had Cortisol and a ton of thyroid tests done, and also adrenal glands checked. All labs normal, Cardiologist testing is all normal.
My cholesterol is 389 and I suffer from Vitiligo, which is depigmenting of the skin and an autoimmune disorder, but thyroid antibodies were negative. I just started taking Cytomel to boost up my T3 even though it was normal mid range on the scale, but that has done anything either.
I'm just wondering what would happen if I ditched everything but the Benzos, and then taper off them if everything went away. My depression is pretty much in check, so that isn't an issue. And I get some days where I feel totally fine for a few hours, but this is far and few between.
Any thoughts would be appreciated, you too Phillipa :-)
Thanks as always,
Mike
poster:Mike_Cohen_2
thread:835538
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080617/msgs/835538.html