Venlafaxine for social anxiety?

Hi gilly - thanks for your reply - a lot of people I know with anxiety are taking citalopram - in what ways does it help you? Sorry for being nosey but just trying to get medication right once and for all! Many Thanks.

Ur not being nosey lol. When I first starting suffering with panic attacks I was put on citalopram. I hadn't left the house in 7 months, and within a few days of taking 10mg I was out and about! My life was back to normal for 5 years, i had no more anxiety and not a single panic attack. I came off them and was great for nearly a year, then one day I had a panic attack in a shop. I stupidly went running back to doc and demanded I was put back on citalopram, which unfortunately didn't work as well that time, so I asked for something else. To cut a long story short, I tried a few different ones and none worked. I am now medication free for 3 weeks and feel better than I have done in years!

That is great news.  Shows that sometimes medication is not the answer, but it can help us through a rough spot.

THANKS for sharing this! Gilly.

As an 18yo I had a panic attack just before doing a choral perfomance in front of 20 aged people. I don't think I really mentally got over / addressed this situation so anything else after was put back on this incident.

Anne240's I right I think. It would be great to have a headache tablet solution which kills off things for a day or so, BUT that doeesn't have an issue coming on / off. I was actually put on Methamphetamines at one stage [would you believe it was only because I had the name of the tablet on a folder sticking out of my bag when I went for the appointment?!?]

Perhaps people will have to keep helping other people like several husbands on the forum

We have a daily paper for the trains and any comments are "HEY this school kid didn't give up their seat" etc etc.. I come back with "well did you respectfully ask them?" cause my experience is they say "Ooh sorry and get up"

SO in the panic attack context, I wonder if there was a little extra good publicity about "helping people in distress" Then when you say - I'm sorry i'm having a panic attack", people will actually help instead of thinking they are going to be sued for abuse or filmed or something ..

Gillybean36 is right citalpram and mitazapine did nothing for me on anxiety side, I am just start venlafaxine now so we will see.

 

..................we all benefit differently from different drugs

Hi, any help crom venlafaxine cor anxiety

Hi Lucy did you have any side effects? Are you stil taking it?

I had a lot of side effects when i first started taking it...really bad - i can't fully remember it all anymore but disorientation, dizzyness, extreme anxiety...night sweats etc... after 3-4 weeks these effects went away and from then on I was just so much better. I was able to live a much more normal life and deal with underlying problems by having therapy. I started coming off venlafaxine about a month ago, reducing very slowly. Again, horrible side effects but they wear off and then i have a few days of feeling normal before i reduce the dose again. I have found it a difficult drug to get onto and come off but once on it it worked really well for me.

Hi Anne it's a strange one as when I'm in my comfort zone I'm told I'm very self assured and eloquent yet if I'm in a meeting or meeting someone for the first time I'm so aware of potential nervousness that it turns on an anxiety switch...even when with family which never used to happen. I've had this for about 20 years now and never really addressed it properly. I've had a bad time with anxiety over the last 4 months and I feel like I'm making progress but can't seem to shake off this erratic anxiety around people when I know that when my confidence kicks I'm usually the very confident! It's like I'm at war with myself! I've had counselling which helps at the time but I think I really need to break down my thought patterns ....the problem stems from a lack of confidence as a child according to my therapist...I was a bed wetter until age 15 and felt abnormal and at a loss at the time.

David have you heard of 'tapping' ~ EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)? It is something I discovered via my best friend earlier this year. It's difficult to explain but if you google it you will be able to read about it. I've found it to be very effective & used it before an interview as I felt so anxious...

Hi Lisa yes I've tried that with a therapist and did feel some relief but haven't tried it before an anxious event maybe I should. I remember trying Sertraline once for depression but came off it stupidly because it made me nauseous ...but remember it did numb my self consciousness which is what I need.

I am wondering if it might be useful & worthwhile to look at alternatives to medication to decrease self~consciousness? I know that I've found the EFT to be useful & my best friend has just completed a course in it. She's going over it again with me later this week. I know that there are many ways of managing anxiety & feelings of self~consciousness. I'm not the most confident of people ~ especially in new situations but I find that focusing my mind in a positive way does help. Which can be easier said than done & something I'm still working on! 

VERY interesting comments Thank you David + lisa

I've been told that I scenarioise too much - got a video memory that can remember sights/sounds/smels/feelings from 41 years ago.

I then pre-scenarioise during a stress event and I think its like having 15 televisions on at the same time so I can hardly listen to the Real Me, cannot remember what was being discussed or anything.

Thks to Attenborough et al , I go back to ancient times and think what would this reaction be useful for? well security of the tribe, emergency situations like floods, etc. So maybe would have been a "crazy person" on the edge of the tribe untill the situation arises where the tribe needs to be saved, then it does its job.

NOTE: This scenarioising has a really good modern application in I.T. support where you get presented with It doesn't work and the tv's go on showing network issues, or screen problems, or memory, or, or, or.

Unfortunatly I got pushed from IT into management *waah* :P