Why don’t anxiety meds work for me?

I could not suggest any medications for depression to anyone because of the historical, documented basis of treating "depression", a widely variable term with myriad characteristics that there is one set of biological measurable evidence to back, though claimed so otherwise by "authorities" in their corresponding fields.
I suffer from chronic low level to full blown episodes of "depression " over 40 years that's never been successful with any psychiatric medication.
For me it's a result of a series of very unfortunate life events and my inability to cope well with them. I've tried to develop coping skills with limited success at times.
It'd be interesting to share experiences and get more insight.
Wishing all well.

@rick98
While I have had lifelong depression, my number one issue is extreme, unrelenting general anxiety and social anxiety/phobia. I have been on many different combinations of meds since September when I trigged my anxiety which had been dormant for quite a while. Everything in my life has to remain the same including where I live. I started downsizing some of my possessions with the thought that “maybe” I could move closer to family as I am 75+ years old. That’s all it took, and bam, full blown crippling panic attacks. Medications that had been effective for me no longer are.

I'm in a very similar situation. Most people cannot understand what some of us go through because they haven't lived it. In my own way I look to these forums to try to connect with people with similar problems in order to give support and understanding and receive some through communicating. The stress of a move is tremendous especially when being an older individual. When younger moving was exciting not so anymore for me, just super stressful which has brought me unbearable anxiety and depression. on top of the depression and anxiety I started having before I moved and for the same reason you mentioned to be closer to the little of family I have left. I am happy in one respect that I finally saw my sister after years and live a day's drive from her now.
Medications are complicated because when it comes to antidepressants, mood stabilizers and so on they are based on theory with no sound measurable evidence behind their claims which is often why people find them ineffective. I don't trust the psych medicines any longer and prefer to be off of them. I have been prescribed Prozac and Gaba Pentin this time and again I get no benefit and actually feel they're making me feel worse in my head with anxiety, depression and insomnia. I find some relief yet with an antianxiety medication that has been prescribed to me over many years and have come to find out it's a benzodiazepine Clonezepam which I am physiologically dependent on now daily and it took has lost some of its original effectiveness and I am in a very debilitating depression right now for so many reasons due to events over my lifetime that made me vulnerable and I own up to my own part in some of the bad outcomes that I live with now. I no longer belief anti-depressants are good for me or will help me so I am going to talk with the psychiatrist NP and request that she wean me off of them after giving them a try for a month or so. Cold turkey is not advisable and can lead to very serious outcomes. Well, I appreciate the interaction with you.

There are some different genres of relaxation breathing exercises and guided meditations online that I find certain ones help me pass bad moments with a slight bit of comfort for my anxiety flare ups. There's also healing frequency music in many forms on YouTube if you Google them in a search and you may find something that could help you get through desperate moments. I have been bed ridden with depression for a month or so but I am usually very active and I know that some walking or other exercise can help with depression and anxiety even if it's around the house just moving the body. Always wishing the best for us and relief and comfort somehow.

To @rick98
I, unfortunately, put myself into this horror show. All I wanted was to be nearer to one of my sisters who has stage 4 cancer. I haven’t seen her in more than 12 years. We have no idea how much longer she’ll be on this earth as she has already exceeded the life expectancy the oncologists gave her. I should have left well enough alone. My husband is 8 years older than I and in poor health. I wonder how or if I will manage if he predeceases me. I have no one else. I saw my therapist today and told him about this morning’s total meltdown. My husband tried valiantly to control my outburst and console me. My heart palpitations are frightening.

@rick98
It’s now 11pm in Arizona and I am dreading it. All day long I look at the clock and when the night comes I panic because I know there will be another night with no sleep. I am sure most people think I am exaggerating when I say I don’t sleep but it’s the truth. Even today at my therapist’s office, he asked my husband if he observed me sleeping. He said he thought he did. But, I contradicted him and said just because I am lying in bed without moving, that doesn’t mean I am sleeping. I think insomnia is the worst symptom of anxiety. My husband is in pain right now from his Parkinson’s. It’s a horrible disease.

I take Ativan and I find that if I take it with food it does not work. So now I take it on an empty stomach hours before bedtime and then I'll sleep.

I get it. I believe you 100%. I have had sleep issues since I was 15 and I am 78. It's rare that I am tired or fatigued. The only thing that works is Ativan before bedtime.

I truly understand that condition with anxiety, panic, insomnia, depression and everything you explained because I have lived it and currently live it. I know you're not exaggerating and people can misinterpret seeing a person lying in bed under the covers with their eyes either closed or with an eye mask on thinking they're asleep while in truth that person could be just trying to maintain as calm as possible while they endure the sleeplessness which then this insomnia leaves us even more disregulated with myriad symptoms day after day barely surviving it. I have been through it in about 10 episodes of varying
duration since my first one at 24 and at different points up to this present episode at near 62. Somehow I try to not lose my mind with symptoms literally minute by minute. I am convinced that in my case it's due to early childhood trauma and a series of other childhood, adolescent and adulthood traumas that my basic characteristics as a human being were not and are not capable of coping with properly. Parents divorced when I finished 8th grade never showed much love to each other, father died suddenly when I graduated high school. I resorted back then in my adolescence to heavy alcohol and some substance use not much but some and I understand the reasons now. I've dealt with gambling addiction in my life that was ruinous as well as severe chronic episodic mental illness mainly intractable depression with anxiety and insomnia. Unfortunately, now I am certain that a medication that was introduced to me legitimately by doctors for anxiety Clonezepam (Klonopin) has over time taken mainly as prescribed has altered my brain and is causing the very same anxiety as well as other symptoms it was prescribed to alleviate. I'm very frightened for the future of being cut off of this medication as it is being prescribed less and less because of the now known dangers of long-term use and the consequences of protracted acute withdrawal syndrome that can and often does afflict patients on this type of medication long-term legitimately who either wean off or can no longer be prescribed and get cut off. It's an unimaginable nightmare that many have faced and are facing which I may face also in the future. I feel like I've been blindsided by all these realities in my life and it's day by day overwhelming. I want to pull myself together and get back to living a normal life as I have so many times in my life but I find I just want to lie in bed as comfortable as possible as I suffer through the daily nightmare with anxiety, much insomnia and depression and fear I love with barely coping like an injured, cornered, trapped animal just staying alive in a constant state of torment.
I completely understand the difficulties and struggles you mention and I validate them truly. I pray to a GOD that I don't understand for all of us suffering in so many ways and you are also in those prayers. After so much suffering I comprehend and empathize with other sufferers.
I finally slept last night well. For me it seems like I get one night of sleep either for a few hours or a full night every other day. It's very hard. Of course, I pray that you will somehow manage to get sleep whenever you can and get relief somehow from your anxiety as well🙏

@mikaylar
I had been taking Ativan for a long time and it basically stopped working for me. Sometimes I think the pharmaceutical companies “forget” to put the active ingredients in the pills. I am feeling terrible this morning and don’t know what to do. In December, I had convinced myself that I was addicted to Ativan and against my husband’s advice I spent a fortune at a detox center. Well, I was not addicted to it at all. But I am reluctant to take a pill now even though my heart is pounding wildly as sometimes I feel worse from the Ativan. I feel like screaming but what will that do to help me?