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Anxiety and Depression not responding to medication. Help!!

Posted , 3 users are following.

AHart
AHart

At the beginning of January 2016 I got severe food poisoning and landed up in hospital for 4 days. While in hospital I started noticing some anxiety which the doctors gave me Xanax to calm down. Since then things have gone extremely downhill.

I was put on a low dose of Cipralex which made my anxiety worse right off ther bat. I landed up checking myself into a psychiatric hospital and was trialed on several medications with similar side effects which my body just couldnt handle. I then had 2 courses of ECTs which helped somewhat but didnt last that long.

Since then I have been on SSRIs, SNRIs, MAOB, mood stabilizers and benzos. All of which made my anxiety and depression worse.

4 years ago I was on Cipralex and Klonopin for a minor episode and my body tolerated it well and I resumed enjoying my life.

I am now currently on Zyprexa, Lamictal, Buspar and Ativan 3 times a day which is being crossed over to Clobazam.

Every morning I wake up shaking and sick to my stomach with anxiety and lately my depressive symptoms are getting worse. My feeling is that the ativan wears off by the time I wake up. I have tried longer acting benzos but they seem to either make me more depressed or loopy.

Doctors have said that I might be sensitive to medication that affects serotonin and have sort of labeled me 'treatment resistant'. Have tried CBT and Hypnotherapy which hasnt helped either.

Where do I go from here? All I want is my life back. I used to be an outgoing carefree person. In the gym 5 times a week. Now I dont have any enjoyment in anything anymore and my anxiety has consumed every aspect of my life and I envy everybody living a normal life.

Can anybody relate and maybe have some insight as to what I can do??

Thanks!

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • Tip
    Tip AHart

    Posted

    I feel your pain. Anxiety is the devil at play. Mornings are tough for me too. I'm currently on Klonopin and I don't think it's strong enough. I do the breathing exercises and they do help if you are committed to them.

    ?In addition to the Klonopin, I take hydroxyzine, Lamictal and Trazadone. My sleeping is fine, it's the waking up in the morning that has been difficult.

    ?I post here as often as I can to help get out my worries and frustrations. I suggest you do the same. We are all here to give advice and support you in anyway we can.

    ?Are you seeing a psychiatrist for your meds? Talk therapy with a psychologist? Keep going back and asking questions. There's a rigt treatment for you.

    ?I don't know if anyof this is helping. You said that being on Cipralex and Klonopin have helped. Go bakc on them to see if they ease your anxxiety.

    ?Like people on this forum keeping tell me, everything will be alright. Keep fighting and maybe give the breathing treatments a try. Doing them is a committment. Trust me, I have good days and bad days but I keep trying.

    ?I start back at work tomorrow and I am nervous and anxious to the max. I'm a teacher and although school doesn't official start until the 16th, I have to head back early to getting everything ready and organized. I'm also went through a break up. WE are still friends and the parting was mutal. But in the words of Bob Marley, "everything little thing is going to be alright".

    ?Keep posting and keep working at it. You are doing fine and it will get better. There's a treatment for you, you just have to find it.

    ?Take care of you. I'm sending you positive vibes.

    • AHart
      AHart Tip

      Posted

      Hi Tip,

      Thank you for your response and your advice! Getting a reply to my post has already put me at ease. 

      The first medication that was given to me when I 'relapsed' was Cipralex at 5mg which I was on before. All it did was make my anxiety 100 times worse and brought on panic and depressive symptoms. Maybe I was started at too high of a dose. I will chat to my psychiatrist about it again and maybe give Cipralex another go at a baby dose. Although his assumption is that my body is too sensitive to medication that affects serotonin. It doesnt make sense to me why it worked in the past but doesnt seem to work now.

      I'm going to my first support group tomorrow. Hoping that might help. I'm sort of grabbing at straws to try and feel better.

      I hope things work out well for you tomorrow. Thanks again for your response and positive vibes!smile

    • Alwaysalone
      Alwaysalone AHart

      Posted

      Hi AHart.

      I suffer from severe anxiety, agorophobia, and a few other bits and pieces that have made my existence hell.

      I have panic attacks and pass out only to be more stressed out by the people trying to assist.

      I have tried almost every medication for my disorders with results that either make me physically ill, cause side effects or just don't work.

      My body becomes tolerant very quickly to medications, so on a rare occasion that i did find something that helped, it didn't help for long before i had to raise the dose and/or stop all taking it all together.

      It's a nightmare and the doctors have labelled me as "very difficult" because they basically just can't be bothered, or don't want, to help me.

      I've rarely seen anyone for years now because i just can't deal with the situations etc. I have a gp that i see once in a while, but that's about it.

      I haven't been on meds for i don't know how long now, mainly because of my body tolerance level, and it's hard. It's very hard so i can relate to your problem and really hope they can sort it out for you or get you on the right track.

      I wish you all the best.

  • lisalisa67
    lisalisa67 AHart

    Posted

    Theres some kind of gene testing avaiable to see how you metabolize medicines used for this. cyp450 ( this would hands down explain ssri sensitivity) i believe is one if them. There is also brand new blood testing for treatment options but i dont think its public just yet you can look into trials on that topic. Since you noted you are resisitant what About not being in four different meds now? Did they discuss weaning iff everything then maybe using nothing for a bit to let the body clear whatever is in your system out. I have no clue how that works with weaning off it all except maybe one of them. Something tomdiscuss with the doctor.Maybe even trying a new doctor with a fresh perscpective or different kind of treatments all together. Lastly theres a new study that out that is talking about pulling in muscle relaxants like flexiril, gabaoentin and some others and they seem to respond to anxiety aspect. I would also wonder if your thyroid, hormone levels and just you whole bidy chemistry has been recently checked in case there an actual issue behind all this. Lastly have you looked into alternative doctors and treatments? Thats ail i can think of on options.
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