Why don’t anxiety meds work for me?

Posted by dorothy1914 @dorothy1914, Feb 13 5:13pm

In Sept. 2024 out of nowhere I developed extreme anxiety. Went to primary care doctor and was prescribed Effexor (which I had successfully taken previously). This time it didn’t provide any help. Dr. then prescribed Lexapro (which didn’t help) and then Celexa (which didn’t help). By this time, I lost 45 pounds by not being able to eat and constant diarrhea. Dr. then told me to find another practitioner as there was nothing more she could do for me. Since then I have seen 4 PNP and none of their prescribed meds have helped. What do I do?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Depression & Anxiety Support Group.

@rick98

Claudia I understand. I have the same type of anhedonia (loss of interest and love for things in life); it's a struggle getting through each moment of every day. Some moments are a bit calmer than others but it's constant torment and torture. I'm not sure what is happening to me and why. I'm thinking it's due to life issues but the torture is really more of a result of the Benzo Clonezepam I've used inconsistently for 10 years or so. As I said sometimes I wouldn't take it for days, even weeks and when I did it was .5mg on and off. I've come to understand that how I used it was very damaging to my Central Nervous System and that's probably why I am so debilitated with severe depression, insomnia and anxiety.
It was suggested to me by an experienced member of Benzo Buddies to use 1mg split in .5mg every day at exactly the same time 10am and 10pm to try to get some stabilization. I've done it for 6 weeks as a hold and 2 days ago I got the microscale and I cut my daily dose by 8%. 10% is the highest recommended reduction on a taper cut and a taper cut should be held for 2 to 4 weeks for the brain to slowly adapt to less but even so withdrawal symptoms will be experienced. The idea is to go slow, steady, precisely making taper cuts with a microscale over a long period of time to do it the safest possible way to minimize the risk of severe withdrawals. It gets even more complicated when low dose tapers are reached and it's recommended to get a pharmacy to give the medication in liquid form and the patient uses syringes to get more exact small cuts the last months before jumping off. Sadly the medical field and system here in the States with few exceptions doesn't understand this and doesn't recognize that the standard fast taper off of benzos or psych medication like antidepressants, etc. causes great arm by provoking acute withdrawals and long term protracted withdrawals. It's terrible and I never understood until now listening to dozens of Dr. Josef Witt Doerring's podcasts and being on forums like Benzo Buddies and other Facebook Benzo support groups learning in order to prepare myself if possible for the best outcome possibly. I'm not sure about your situation but it sounds like the Benzo and other psych medications in your life have put you in the same hell I am in. It's best to find an understanding, willing prescriber to possibly put you on some Benzo to stabilize you with precise daily doses at the same times each day and then try doing a safe taper as I described above. There's so much to learn about this and tapering is very complicated over a long period of time to minimize the damage to our brains. You're a good person that got mishandled by the medical field like me and it's awful. Now we try to survive this crippling c daily condition.
Nevertheless Happy Birthday and I'm glad to have met you and share in our suffering. It's best to have connections with people who truly understand. I will offer anything I can that I am learning that may be of use to you. My 💜 heart goes out to you and I completely understand.

Jump to this post

To @rick98
Hello Rick, most of the prescribers I have been seeing will not see me anymore as they won’t prescribe any benzos at all. There was only one PNP who would treat me if I agreed to his plan: .5 Ativan morning, .5 Ativan afternoon and 1mg Clonazepam at night for sleep. Knowing of your struggle with Clonazepam, I said that was not what I wanted to do. We left it where I would call him if I changed my mind. I have watched many, many of Dr. Josef’s videos and saw a wonderful documentary of Dr. Ashton describing her tapering method. I think the documentary dated back to the 1950s or 60s. I have been receiving emails from Dr. Josef’s facilities. I contacted him via email to inquire about his program. I mistakenly thought he had opened a location in Tucson, Az., but I was mistaken. He only treats/assists those people who live in a city where he has a program. Tonight is a weird one…I feel liked I am getting the flu (flushed face, headache, pains in my legs and back, stuffy ears) but I know it’s “just my anxiety.’ I wish you well with the taper. Try to find the documentary of Dr. Ashton. I think you’d enjoy watching it.
Claudia
p.s. so happy to hear back from you. Even though the topic is difficult, hearing from you brightens my day.

REPLY
@rick98

Claudia I understand. I have the same type of anhedonia (loss of interest and love for things in life); it's a struggle getting through each moment of every day. Some moments are a bit calmer than others but it's constant torment and torture. I'm not sure what is happening to me and why. I'm thinking it's due to life issues but the torture is really more of a result of the Benzo Clonezepam I've used inconsistently for 10 years or so. As I said sometimes I wouldn't take it for days, even weeks and when I did it was .5mg on and off. I've come to understand that how I used it was very damaging to my Central Nervous System and that's probably why I am so debilitated with severe depression, insomnia and anxiety.
It was suggested to me by an experienced member of Benzo Buddies to use 1mg split in .5mg every day at exactly the same time 10am and 10pm to try to get some stabilization. I've done it for 6 weeks as a hold and 2 days ago I got the microscale and I cut my daily dose by 8%. 10% is the highest recommended reduction on a taper cut and a taper cut should be held for 2 to 4 weeks for the brain to slowly adapt to less but even so withdrawal symptoms will be experienced. The idea is to go slow, steady, precisely making taper cuts with a microscale over a long period of time to do it the safest possible way to minimize the risk of severe withdrawals. It gets even more complicated when low dose tapers are reached and it's recommended to get a pharmacy to give the medication in liquid form and the patient uses syringes to get more exact small cuts the last months before jumping off. Sadly the medical field and system here in the States with few exceptions doesn't understand this and doesn't recognize that the standard fast taper off of benzos or psych medication like antidepressants, etc. causes great arm by provoking acute withdrawals and long term protracted withdrawals. It's terrible and I never understood until now listening to dozens of Dr. Josef Witt Doerring's podcasts and being on forums like Benzo Buddies and other Facebook Benzo support groups learning in order to prepare myself if possible for the best outcome possibly. I'm not sure about your situation but it sounds like the Benzo and other psych medications in your life have put you in the same hell I am in. It's best to find an understanding, willing prescriber to possibly put you on some Benzo to stabilize you with precise daily doses at the same times each day and then try doing a safe taper as I described above. There's so much to learn about this and tapering is very complicated over a long period of time to minimize the damage to our brains. You're a good person that got mishandled by the medical field like me and it's awful. Now we try to survive this crippling c daily condition.
Nevertheless Happy Birthday and I'm glad to have met you and share in our suffering. It's best to have connections with people who truly understand. I will offer anything I can that I am learning that may be of use to you. My 💜 heart goes out to you and I completely understand.

Jump to this post

To @rick98
Just received another email from Dr. Josef and his staff Wish there was some way I could forward it on to you.
Claudia

REPLY
@rick98

Claudia I understand. I have the same type of anhedonia (loss of interest and love for things in life); it's a struggle getting through each moment of every day. Some moments are a bit calmer than others but it's constant torment and torture. I'm not sure what is happening to me and why. I'm thinking it's due to life issues but the torture is really more of a result of the Benzo Clonezepam I've used inconsistently for 10 years or so. As I said sometimes I wouldn't take it for days, even weeks and when I did it was .5mg on and off. I've come to understand that how I used it was very damaging to my Central Nervous System and that's probably why I am so debilitated with severe depression, insomnia and anxiety.
It was suggested to me by an experienced member of Benzo Buddies to use 1mg split in .5mg every day at exactly the same time 10am and 10pm to try to get some stabilization. I've done it for 6 weeks as a hold and 2 days ago I got the microscale and I cut my daily dose by 8%. 10% is the highest recommended reduction on a taper cut and a taper cut should be held for 2 to 4 weeks for the brain to slowly adapt to less but even so withdrawal symptoms will be experienced. The idea is to go slow, steady, precisely making taper cuts with a microscale over a long period of time to do it the safest possible way to minimize the risk of severe withdrawals. It gets even more complicated when low dose tapers are reached and it's recommended to get a pharmacy to give the medication in liquid form and the patient uses syringes to get more exact small cuts the last months before jumping off. Sadly the medical field and system here in the States with few exceptions doesn't understand this and doesn't recognize that the standard fast taper off of benzos or psych medication like antidepressants, etc. causes great arm by provoking acute withdrawals and long term protracted withdrawals. It's terrible and I never understood until now listening to dozens of Dr. Josef Witt Doerring's podcasts and being on forums like Benzo Buddies and other Facebook Benzo support groups learning in order to prepare myself if possible for the best outcome possibly. I'm not sure about your situation but it sounds like the Benzo and other psych medications in your life have put you in the same hell I am in. It's best to find an understanding, willing prescriber to possibly put you on some Benzo to stabilize you with precise daily doses at the same times each day and then try doing a safe taper as I described above. There's so much to learn about this and tapering is very complicated over a long period of time to minimize the damage to our brains. You're a good person that got mishandled by the medical field like me and it's awful. Now we try to survive this crippling c daily condition.
Nevertheless Happy Birthday and I'm glad to have met you and share in our suffering. It's best to have connections with people who truly understand. I will offer anything I can that I am learning that may be of use to you. My 💜 heart goes out to you and I completely understand.

Jump to this post

To @rick98
Do you have a pharmacy lined up that can help you with the water detox. I’ve seen several videos explaining how it’s done. There are a few compounding pharmacies here in Scottsdale that probably have helped people with this. I also saw information on using tapering strips but they are not available in the U.S. It seems like the UK is way ahead of us.
Claudia

REPLY
@rick98

Claudia I understand. I have the same type of anhedonia (loss of interest and love for things in life); it's a struggle getting through each moment of every day. Some moments are a bit calmer than others but it's constant torment and torture. I'm not sure what is happening to me and why. I'm thinking it's due to life issues but the torture is really more of a result of the Benzo Clonezepam I've used inconsistently for 10 years or so. As I said sometimes I wouldn't take it for days, even weeks and when I did it was .5mg on and off. I've come to understand that how I used it was very damaging to my Central Nervous System and that's probably why I am so debilitated with severe depression, insomnia and anxiety.
It was suggested to me by an experienced member of Benzo Buddies to use 1mg split in .5mg every day at exactly the same time 10am and 10pm to try to get some stabilization. I've done it for 6 weeks as a hold and 2 days ago I got the microscale and I cut my daily dose by 8%. 10% is the highest recommended reduction on a taper cut and a taper cut should be held for 2 to 4 weeks for the brain to slowly adapt to less but even so withdrawal symptoms will be experienced. The idea is to go slow, steady, precisely making taper cuts with a microscale over a long period of time to do it the safest possible way to minimize the risk of severe withdrawals. It gets even more complicated when low dose tapers are reached and it's recommended to get a pharmacy to give the medication in liquid form and the patient uses syringes to get more exact small cuts the last months before jumping off. Sadly the medical field and system here in the States with few exceptions doesn't understand this and doesn't recognize that the standard fast taper off of benzos or psych medication like antidepressants, etc. causes great arm by provoking acute withdrawals and long term protracted withdrawals. It's terrible and I never understood until now listening to dozens of Dr. Josef Witt Doerring's podcasts and being on forums like Benzo Buddies and other Facebook Benzo support groups learning in order to prepare myself if possible for the best outcome possibly. I'm not sure about your situation but it sounds like the Benzo and other psych medications in your life have put you in the same hell I am in. It's best to find an understanding, willing prescriber to possibly put you on some Benzo to stabilize you with precise daily doses at the same times each day and then try doing a safe taper as I described above. There's so much to learn about this and tapering is very complicated over a long period of time to minimize the damage to our brains. You're a good person that got mishandled by the medical field like me and it's awful. Now we try to survive this crippling c daily condition.
Nevertheless Happy Birthday and I'm glad to have met you and share in our suffering. It's best to have connections with people who truly understand. I will offer anything I can that I am learning that may be of use to you. My 💜 heart goes out to you and I completely understand.

Jump to this post

To @rick98
Rick, last night was terrible. I tried to sleep as I have an appointment at the cardiologist today. My heart was beating so loudly I am sure you heard it at your house! No matter how they try to convince me, I am 100% sure I never got detoxed at Gallus in Scottsdale. If I did get detoxed, why would I feel like this. To whomever is reading this (in addition to Rick I hope John is) I don’t know what more I can do. I don’t have a doctor to turn to.
Claudia

REPLY
@jschwing

Claudia:

You are not alone with the debilitating anxiety. I have been dealing with this for nine months now. Tried varios SSRI and SNRI but my body is rejecting the medications. Mine impacts me every day and has forced me out of work. Are you able to take any medication to bear with the anxiety? Doing all the protocols including trauma therapy and Neuro feedback. Already tried TMS. Not sure anything is working. I have super high frequency beta waves that seem to be stuck in this mode. Fairly certain that this is driving the intensity of the anxiety with tremors, no focus, etc

Jump to this post

Gawd...I can relate but I had debilitating anxiety since I was 16 yrs. old. When in my 30's I decided to go into therapy and because I had a trusting relationship with this pyschiatrist, she prescribed Klonepin for me and for the first time in my life, I didn't have panic attacks and head tremors. I actually think the tremors were more debilitating than the anxiety. You can suck it up and not tell anyone that you are anxious but head tremors are pretty difficult to hide!!!! So fast forward 30+ years. I was still seeing the same psychiatrist (not on a weekly basis) but anyway, she was retiring and because she had a good heart, she found the names of other therapists who were taking on new patients, etc., etc. When I voiced my new anxiety to her about whether this new therapist would be comfortable continuing to prescribe klonepin, she assured me that klonepin was the correct drug to take for my anxiety. Tremors I will get to in a minute. So I developed IC (interstitial bladder pain) which was severe and no real fix. For awhile I tried different things that my new neurologist prescribed but no real help. She recommended that I see the pain mgt. clinic at the same hospital that she worked. So I did and the doctor had all my health records and put me on Lyrica (pregabalin) and within a couple of weeks, I noticed that I was forgetting to take the klonepin. The Lyrica works for both nerve pain and anxiety and also my head tremors disappeared. Meant to circle back and tell you before getting on Lyrica, I broke down and saw a neurologist (at same hospital) after a work buddy said to me "oh you have tremors too. do you take anything for it?" At first I denied it as I always found it embarrassing to admit to and talk about but then I figured, do something different and discuss with this person. Turns out she also had tremors and was seeing a neurologist for them. I went and it was diagnosed at "essential tremors" which just means that they are hereditary and not symptomatic of any disease. The neurologist gave me a RX for something which helped. I can't remember the name of it. But this is what I want to make clear to anyone reading this post. When I began taking the Lyrica for a totally different and painful problem, it not only alleviated that pain completely, but as said no more anxiety or tremors. I know that it is a drug that is addictive, the same as the klonepin. However, if I can take one pill that works for several health problems, why wouldn't I do so. Hope this helps in some small way. I felt bad when I read that you had to leave work because of the anxiety and tremors. Do not suffer in silence. It is 2025 not the Victorian Age. Neurologists, therapists, etc. will listen to you and want to find an answer.

REPLY
@dorothy1914

To @rick98
Do you have a pharmacy lined up that can help you with the water detox. I’ve seen several videos explaining how it’s done. There are a few compounding pharmacies here in Scottsdale that probably have helped people with this. I also saw information on using tapering strips but they are not available in the U.S. It seems like the UK is way ahead of us.
Claudia

Jump to this post

No Claudia I do not have any access to a liquid tapering or compound pharmacy. If you do that is excellent for tapering especially at very low doses when paradoxically the Central Nervous System has even more difficulty and withdrawal symptoms. To taper at the lower doses the optimal way is called "hyperbolic tapering". You can Google it and learn more especially from Dr. Josef Witt Doerring on his podcasts. I don't believe that the conditions we suffer will just resolve on their own though I could be wrong. It is absolutely necessary to get a doctor, a PA or a NP that understands to some degree not cutting a patient off cold turkey or too fast. This is difficult to find in our current system with so much ignorance around Benzo withdrawal from being dependent on a legitimate prescription; it's very dangerous and debilitating which I think you may be experiencing. Please seek medical assistance until you find someone to help you.🙏

REPLY

Ok I guess I don't understand why you all continue to suffer with this crazy making anxiety. I have had it all my adult life and I am 76 now. So number 1 that I know is that traditional talk therapy does not help anxiety in any way. Will of course help with a lot of other things. I have a lot of experience with talk therapy and it has helped me with different things but not anxiety. Here is what I don't understand..why would anyone suffer needlessly when there are several drugs that will help. Do I wish that if I meditated I would no longer have anxiety. Well of course noone that I know of wants to take any medication. That is my family and friends. We arent druggies. Okay so that said why aren't you seeing qualified psychiatrist etc that will write the scripts and of course monitor you. I am not sure why you are wanting to withdraw unmonitored. This process isn't trying this at home thing. Please stop this. Recognize that you have a treatable condition and please get treatment

REPLY
@scain

Ok I guess I don't understand why you all continue to suffer with this crazy making anxiety. I have had it all my adult life and I am 76 now. So number 1 that I know is that traditional talk therapy does not help anxiety in any way. Will of course help with a lot of other things. I have a lot of experience with talk therapy and it has helped me with different things but not anxiety. Here is what I don't understand..why would anyone suffer needlessly when there are several drugs that will help. Do I wish that if I meditated I would no longer have anxiety. Well of course noone that I know of wants to take any medication. That is my family and friends. We arent druggies. Okay so that said why aren't you seeing qualified psychiatrist etc that will write the scripts and of course monitor you. I am not sure why you are wanting to withdraw unmonitored. This process isn't trying this at home thing. Please stop this. Recognize that you have a treatable condition and please get treatment

Jump to this post

To @scain
I do not want to go through this without medical help but my doctors have withdrawn from helping me. I can’t find anyone to help.

REPLY
@dorothy1914

To @scain
I do not want to go through this without medical help but my doctors have withdrawn from helping me. I can’t find anyone to help.

Jump to this post

Claudia:

I understand the predicament. Sometimes these situations are not treatable like how others find relief. You have already tried the SSRI and SNRI and Ativan and did not find the relief needed due to treatment resistant issues. I know you have tried many medication options that have not worked and I feel very badly for you that you have not seen results. Personally, my psychiatrist is out of ideas. He did recommend Ketamine therapy, but now have been unable to proceed with clearance due to the cardiac issues. Since you have gone through The MD route, maybe consider a functional medicine Doctor for support. I am still praying for you Claudia.

REPLY
@dorothy1914

To @scain
I do not want to go through this without medical help but my doctors have withdrawn from helping me. I can’t find anyone to help.

Jump to this post

Are you talking about professionals in the mental health field too? Why are your doctors unwilling to treat you anymore. Did you not follow their instructions or decide that you knew best? I have a brother who refuses to go to therapy and continues to diagnose himself and know best how to treat his all encompassing depression for 40 yrs

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.