Medications for anxiety

I am not a doctor or giving medical advice (went to law school so being careful : )) but I urge you to ask your medical providers about not using the xanax (or ambien!!!) long-term as it's a (unless your doctor says otherwise) a short-term only drug and all benzos (not the ambien - that has other serious issues imo) create a tolerance (you have to keep upping the dosage to get the same effect) and must be tapered off very very slowly under a doctor's care and many report withdrawing from a benzo as HIGHLY unpleasant. A "benzo" (benzodiazepam, like, for example, klonopin, valium, ativan, xanax). Feel better!!!

Hi, @max5647 -- sorry to hear that you went through cardiac arrest. I'm really glad to hear your current medications are allowing for some sleep at night.

We have many members who have taken Escitalopram (Lexapro), Alprazolam (Xanax) and Zolpidem (Ambien), and/or have been faced with anxiety, so I'd love to introduce you to some of them and get their take on your continuing anxiety during the day, despite the medication. I'd love to introduce you to @hezz @imfu @stillwater @jimhd @gman007 @happyat76 @annedodrill44 @cdcc and @ayankeeinnm.

@max5647 -- is there anything you find eases your anxiety at all?

@max5647, Hi and let me express my welcome to Connect. I don't know that you will find really helpful suggestions you can put to use, but I promise you will find a tremendous amount of support. I can't imagine how scary cardiac arrest must have been, but I would agree with your doctors about the level of medication you are on not being very high. I take two meds during the day (zoloft and buproprion) for my anxiety and have been using klonopin for breakthrough, but my new psych wants me off of it because I take opiates for my pancreatitis and they are both central nervous system depressants. To sleep at night I take Remeron 45 mg and it is the best medication I have ever used for sleep and I have tried most of them. I still have sleepless nights, but not very often and it is usually related to high pain levels. I have been reading a book called "Mindfulness:Finding peace in a frantic world" and working on meditation and that is the only process I have ever used that allows me to slow my brain down and not fixate on potentially (if we can think logically about our anxiety, we realize that we are imagining the worst and that rarely happens) negative endings to situations. It has helped me to realize what I am doing in my mind to create anxiety and, at least try to stop it; successfully more times than not. I definitely do not believe that is the only book or only method and you have to find something that works for you. It takes a conscious effort to stop the negative spiral and those of us afflicted with the problem just have to work at it. I have b=never found that any medicine alone keeps me from becoming anxious under the right circumstances. Good luck and ask any questions you like and if I don't have an answer, someone on here will!

I also take the dosages you take, but do not take a sleeping pill. Your dosages are low. I suffer from leg pain and I sometimes take an Aleve about an hour before I go to bed or a low dose muscle relaxant, Tizanidine. I would not take Ambien because of all the bad press it gets.

Do you know what causes your leg pain?

Anxiety is difficult. It becomes even more difficult when being invalidated about rare, severe side effects of a thyroid medication. The only medication I take. In other words I am making it up, not taking it correctly and blah, blah, blah. I have also been turned over to a collection agency from the health group I am in. I know I do not owe it and the problem is with the billing department. I live in Indiana and the health group is now sending things from Phoenix, AZ. Threatening calls-it never stops. A plot to destroy the worthless people in the world. Hopefully the insurance agent can clear things up. So now my pain is so much worse. Needed to vent. Sorry to be in such a state of mind again.

@parus

I'm so sorry to hear of the snafu in billing - how distressing! You never need to apologize for your state of mind on Connect. We are here for every state of mind.

Take care and try to do something nice for yourself today.

I look forward to hearing from you again.

Teresa

How awful to be going through that when you already have anxiety. I take it you can't see a different doctor? The one you have gives ME anxiety. Without a prescription, the only thing I have heard is Benadryl.
Anxiety is the worst. Bless you and good luck.

Yes. Bad knees/bad back

Bad knee; myriad of back problems.