Paxil Withdrawal
I added a 4th Celexa, bringing my dose to 80 mg. In the US, that is considered too much but in Europe, according to my doctor, they use as much as 100 mg. Since I was on a high dose of Paxil, I probably will need the 100 mg eventually. My psychiatrist said that although the Paxil is now out of my system, my body is craving the Paxil and the Celexa does not satisfy the craving. Therefore, it will be about 6 more weeks until the craving is gone. In the meantime, I will continue to have days where …
Off Paxil CR and On Celexa
So it took about a month but I did it. So far so good. I have some morning drowsiness which one cup of coffee is taking care of. I am feeling pretty good, despite some unusual stress happening right now. This is just a quick entry to let you know the switch went well.
Third Week Switching from Paxil CR to Celexa
I am now taking 60 mg of Celexa and only 25 mg of Paxil CR. I am doing fine except I was drowsy the first few mornings of taking the 3rd Celexa for the first time. The psychiatrist told me to cut the morning pill in half and add it to the night dose. He always tells me to spread out the anti-anxiety medication into 3 doses a day. I think some doctors tell people to take it all at once. What does your doctor tell you to do?
Celexa vs Paxil CR for anxiety and depression
So this is my second week of switching from the Paxil CR to Celexa. So far so good. I actually think I am feeling better than usual. The kind of better where I find myself thinking on a Sunday night, “I like my life.” Even though I am going back to work on Monday after a totally rained out weekend. That is the kind of feeling good that FEELS GOOD.
When anti-anxiety medication is not enough to control anxiety.
My daughter suffers from a very very severe case of anxiety disorder. (Read post My daughter needed help for her anxiety disorder.) She has lived a life controlled by worry and depression. At age 34, Beth is finally seeing the light. She is successfully using a cocktail of anti-anxiety medications (prozac, neurontin, klonopin) which have definitely decreased her anxiety. But the medication has not completed the task of controlling Beth’s anxiety sufficiently. She continues to be functioning in a limited capacity both in her personal and business life.
For 2 years her psychiatrist has been begging Beth to see a Cognitive …
Generalized Anxiety Disorder makes me think too much.
Right now I am obsessing about something that is bothering me. I just can’t shut off my brain. I just can’t stop thinking about this particular issue, which is something involving my family that I have absolutely no control over. Yet my overactive brain refuses to let go of this. My mind continues to torture me mercilessly by making me think and rethink and worry and dwell on this issue. What a waste of time and energy. What a shame. Here I am, completely aware of what my brain is doing to me, and yet unable to get a grip …
There is no cure for generalized anxiety disorder.
I came across a website that flaunts a cure for GAD. There is no such thing as a cure for a chronic illness. Like diabetes, for example, generalized anxiety disorder is a disease that can be controlled using the proper medication and/or therapy. Do not be seduced into thinking that you can go off your anti-anxiety medication just because you feel good. Anxiety disorder does not go away with time.
There is an annoying radio commercial that has a woman with a silky voice cooing about the symptoms of anxiety and saying that you should not have to take a pill …
If anxiety strikes, I can now fight back.
As a person with generalized anxiety disorder, I am realizing that I will never be completely immune to overreacting to situations by becoming unbearably anxious. Scary as that is, I am also becoming aware of the fact the anxiety, when it strikes, will be more controllable.
With the help of my anti-anxiety/anti-depressant medications (Paxil and Neurontin), when, and if, I slip and find myself flipping out, I manage to grab hold before it pushes me over the edge.
Everything must be looked at in terms of degree. There is never going to be a CURE for generalized anxiety disorder. But the fact that there …
My Daughter Got Help for her Anxiety.
Once Beth was willing to admit that her anxiety was interfering with her life in a major way, she visited a psychiatrist who prescribed Prozac. Beth used Prozac for about 5 years and it raised her into a new reality. She became productive in her work (home computer business) and her social life improved. She was not so needy and did not obsess about every little thing that went wrong in her daily life. For the first time in her life, Beth was finally able to achieve a level of calm and contentedness that she never knew before.
However, as the …
Anxiety is not predictable for someone with generalized anxiety disorder.
Now that I am taking effective anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medication, I actually have many many calm, pleasant days where I feel in control, productive and happy. Before, I had nothing to compare my anxiety-filled days to. For me, that was all there was. And now that my anxiety is under control most of the time, I have good days and bad days. Before it was bad days and not-so-bad days. The sad thing is that now, when I wake up feeling anxious, it is like an old crappy shoe that still fits.
It is so easy to be sucked up by that tornado-ish …
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