Why don’t anxiety meds work for me?

One more quick comment. Thank God for my wife!

Also, sometimes I think this whole mess started due to long term use of the SSRI medications. Just a thought.

@jschwing
My husband will ask me if I want a turkey sandwich or eggs, and I stutter and say “I don’t know.” That’s how it is now with everything. I can’t make a simple decision. I thought I lost some financial paperwork today and I went nuts with worry. The ringing in my ears escalated to unbelievable levels. One minute, the house is too hot and the next it’s too cold. I am depressed now because of everything I have read about people PROPERLY tapering off Effexor over a course of years, just to have NEW symptoms pop up a few weeks or months later. someone described it as ‘whack a mole.’ You hit one and another one pops up. I fear this will be a lifelong battle. I just watched a video on utube where Dr. Josef interviewed a man (I can’t think of his name) who survived getting off all his meds properly and over time. He said he had over 700 symptoms start to appear within a few weeks or months of his successful taper. These were symptoms he never had before. He has also written a book about his experience. If I can find the video, I will send you the title. There is another man who is detoxed from everything except a tiny amount of Klonopin. He has spent over $120,000 getting off the drugs. Luckily, his insurance also covered some costs. Not too encouraging.

@jschwing
Originally, the only medication I was on for close to 30 years was the Effexor (no benzos). It was my decision to stop it. God only know why I made such a life altering decision. I honestly didn’t know you had to taper off of it. All my horrors could have been avoided if I had only looked up on line ‘getting off Effexor.’ The answer most people gave was don’t try. If it works for you, stay on it. After going into withdrawal from the Effexor, I was put on every medication under the sun to try to help. I refused to take the antipsychotics but was open to pretty much everything else including the benzos. As I said, my husband is taking care of me but he is starting to slow down. I worry I will wind up hospitalized when he can no longer assist me.

@jschwing
The author of the book I mentioned is D E Foster. The video with Dr. Josef is called Benzodiazepines destroyed my life — and how I fought back. It is quite lengthy but interesting.

Never heard of this? What does KPU stand for?

Hi Claudia:

Are you sleeping at least some in the evening? The sleep has been such a struggle with all of this.

I was planning on staying on Paxil for the rest of my life. Then, after a surgery with a nerve block, everything changed. That is why I wonder if the long term use of the SSRI created risk for a relapse or the neuro toxicity caused the change. The Paxil dose was increased, but I could not tolerate it and, like you, none of the medications have been successful in improving the baseline depression, or anxiety.

@jschwing
No sleep in the evenings or even a daytime nap. I feel miserable. I should have stayed on the Effexor (I know I have said it a thousand times). The therapists have said I should stop blaming myself, but there is no one else to blame. Every day/night is intolerable. The tinnitus is one of the worst symptoms with the general weakness coming in second. I want to eat breakfast but I don’t even have the strength to open the box of waffles. I think my husband is still asleep. He has insomnia, too, so even if he gets an hour’s sleep it’s a victory. Life is tough.

I get it. I blame myself for pulling the trigger and going forward with the surgery. Sure I had pain walking , and sure the knee was bowing out and the tibia turning out increasingly. It was not ideal, but, I tolerated it. And it did not impact the sleep or mental functioning. So, my wife tries to remind me that the physical aspects of the knee were getting worse, so I really had no choice at some point to do this. But it is hard not to feel regret due to the new reality for the past year. I tell her I would rather be walking with a cane than dealing with the brain and emotional issues that it triggered; then she gets really mad and reminds me that we could not have predicted that this result would have transpired. So many of my colleagues were getting this done all with success. So, I do not try to make her angry, so I try not to talk about it and bottle this up.

By the way, what do you do with the time at night when you cannot sleep? I have not figured this one out, and if I get out of bed and go in another room, I struggle to occupy myself and it tends to make me more anxious depressed. So, I usually just lay there and breathe.

All the therapist say to focus on any positives and not focus on the condition or symptom; your brain is always listening. But, I have tried this approach and the symptoms are very real and are present. The therapists also say you need to make room for, acknowledge and be compassionate and not resist the suffering. A pretty tall order when your brain is not functioning correctly and with this level of suffering. I am beginning to not recognize my real self anymore and it is SO painful.

I sympathize with you. I feel so scared . I am very nervous and worried. I have pain in my right buttock and I am so scared that at any minute the pain will start. Sometimes the pain is so intense. I feel afraid to do anything. Also I am recovering from a broken ankle. I am just a big mess. I am depressed. I feel like I am useless and don't know what to do.

My heart breaks for all of you. Why don't doctors warn people how difficult it will be to get off these drugs? God bless Dr. Josef, there should a provider like him in every state, the need is so great. My husband is in a similar situation, sick for over 2 years with Long covid, depressed, anxious, gut issues constantly. He was prescribed over 15 anti depressants over the past 2 years and worst of all, Ativan, nothing helped. Now he is trying to taper ever so slowly off Ativan. My question for you all is how can I as his sole care giver be of the best support to him?
It is a marathon with no finish line in sight.