How many have you gone through?

USN78 · Post by **USN78** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 3:56 pm

Hello everyone, I like all of you have been looking for some answers as to why I am feeling the way I have for about a year now. Have been to several docs to include nurologists and had 2 MRI's on head and neck. I am currently seeing a psychiatrist and am on ativan 1 mg for sleep and luvox cr 200 mg for anxiety. Tried zoloft went all the way to max dose and no luck. The symptoms I am experiencing are daily almost all the time...eye pains (as if they are going to explode), sweaty palms, ringing in ears, heart palpitations, occasional hot flashes, anxious and the occasional head pains. So I'm wondering has anyone else had these symptoms? Especially the eyes, if it werent for that, sometimes I would just forget about all the other stuff. No one seems to have eye pains from what I am reading. I find myself thinking it cant be anxiety it has to be somethng worse like a tumor that went undetected early, paranoid szophrenia (am I going nuts), fibro, lyme disease etc. If it is anxiety how many meds have some of you gone through till you found the right one? How do you know when to stick with it? The luvox seems some days to be ok then bam, back to the symptoms. I'm afraid I am going to max out luvox as well and there might not be any hope for relief. Please give advice and thanks for all of your time.

LUVG · Post by **LUVG** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:56 am

This is what I think is so frustrating about anxiety is the vast list of symptoms. You desperately want someone to feel what you feel because somehow that makes it okay. At my worst, I had horrible ear pain.....neck pain, headaches, heart irrgularities, but mostly I could not eat. Lost weight like crazy, constant nervous stomach, then developed ulcers because of the acid build up. The psydoc that I found looks at this state much like a migraine, little doses here or there will not do it, he calls it mickey mousing with meds. He slapped me on Klonopin 1mg at night and .5 am and .5 afternoon and within about 3 days I was "normal". I began to eat, pain disappeared, I didn't pace all day thinking I was dying, etc. A week later, I have now started Lexapro slowly, and after 3 weeks will begin to taper off the Klonopin. The program has yet to tell me anything that I havent already read in the hundreds of books I've read, I've heard all these techniques before, etc. What I want is what we all want, firt tell me I'm not crazy or dying, and second help me deal with it. I personally have no problems taking these meds, did Zoloft about 2 yrs ago, for 6 months, but it really didn't do much for me so I stopped. My anxiety seems to come and go, maybe a year or two without, but when it hits, there is no way out, weeks later I end up in a deep dark hole, and psydoc rescues me again. I wish you the best of luck. So far the Lexapro and I are meshing, and in a week I'll go up to 10 mg and hold. then down will go the Klonopin at a very very slow taper.

epa · Post by **epa** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:20 am

I know how you feel. I feel pain sometimes in my left eye and it feels like I can't open it all the way. I have been on several medications like lexapro, effexor, prozac, and zoloft. I am currently on zoloft 200mg which helps minimally with my anxiety. I am always shakey, dizzy, ringing in my ears, night sweats. I haven't really found anything that works for me

JeniRN · Post by **JeniRN** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:34 am

ALSO, just for reassurance, everything I've ever read and listened to says that as long as we fear going crazy, then we are not....because true schizos and/or crazy people, do not care because they lose touch with reality. So there ya go......you're not going crazy. And as a nurse, the MRI would catch a tumor the size of a sesame seed

I tried Ativan to ease mine too, but my psych doc said it wasn't staying in my system long enough, Klonopin is not quick acting, but acts longer, that I needed a steady level of benzo to calm and let my physical symptoms heal, I truly was killing myself slowly by not eating......the sleepyness went away after about 4 days, and yes, I know, it can be tough to come off, but my life had STOPPED, and now I am doing anything that I want, so I will battle that in time as well. I wish you the best. I don't know anything about Luvox so no comment. Take care.

Justin O. Pinyon · Post by **Justin O. Pinyon** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:22 am

Another good med is Lexapro. I used to be on Ativan but when I found my new doctor he said that Ativan just chases the problem it does not actually help to stop the problem. I have been taking Lexapro for almost a year now and the doctor said it takes about a year for the chemical imbalance caused by low sertonin (in my case, anyways) takes a year to fully even itself back out. I started at 10mg and then went to 20mg and have not had hardly any attaCKS. The man reason for my getting this prgram is to be able to cope better with the aniety and eventually get off the meds all together as I do not want to be on them forever.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:00 pm

Thanks for the advice all of you. Like the point about how if we fear are we gojng crazy were not. Neve really looked at it like that. Thanks for making that point. As far as the meds go i just hit my 8 week mark on the luvox and "knock on wood" everyday for the past week that goes by it seems to be getting better. Walked into town this evening to a music festival with the family and even my wife was surprised how well I did. Usually I start to panic, sweats and get very irritable. One day at time right, thanks again.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:26 pm

Thanks all of you for all of the talk about the subject of medication. Sometimes I feel bad talking about it because one of the focal points of the program is to get off of your meds altogether. I happen to think that some people really DO have chemical imbalances in their brains and have to be on meds for their own sanity. I may be one of those people. I don't know. I hope not. But, after my recent attempt to lower my Paxil dosage slowly (with doc's permission), I've learned my lesson. My panic attacks returned with a vengeance, and I am back in that deep hole that one of you talked about. I take Buspar 60mg./day as well and have for over 10 years (Paxil 20 mg. basically since 2001). Recently, my doctor put me back on Xanax .5mg to deal w/my immediate symptoms, and it's helping but it's very short acting. I have to take more than I would like to, but it's a very low dose. I totally live by the one day at a time credo as I am in a 12 step program and that's one of our mottos, so it is very appropo for this as well. Does anyone have any advice on meds or the combo that I'm on? I've actually never been to a psychiatrist, but am now considering it to manage these meds. My regular doc is great, but i need to see someone who can really help with these symptoms and get me on the right meds.

I am waiting for my program to arrive in the mail, so I will be starting soon, although I feel a little too shaky to be starting now. I may wait until my symptoms are better and I'm sleeping better. Right now, I'm not sleeping. Does Ativan work better for sleep? I know Klonopin can because I've used that in the past. I may try that again...

Thanks all, and God bless!

Anne in CA