Don’t stop taking your anti anxiety medication if you feel good!
My daughter, who I have written extensively about here (see the post My Daughter Got Help with her Anxiety) had been doing soooo well. Anti anxiety medication alone was not enough for her. With the addition of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, she began to have many anxiety free days and was sleeping well. In addition, she started acupuncture for her migraine headaches which had not been responding to medication (and are connected to her anxiety). The acupuncture was working well for her too! And then her therapist and her psychiatrist decided that maybe Beth should try to wean off of some …
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?
Anticipatory anxiety plus social anxiety
I have a wedding to attend tonight. As I keep repeating, my anxiety is quite successfully under control with my Paxil CR and Neurontin. However, the roots of social anxiety run deep. I have had a bit of nervous anticipation about this affair for the last month. As the day got closer, I began to think in terms of “once the wedding is over”, regarding things like making a doctor’s appointment or completing some chore. There will be a sense of relief on Monday morning. Now i can deal with my life without this hanging over my head causing me …
Sleeping at the wrong time due to anxiety disorder and excessive worrying.
My anxiety is now under control most of the time thanks to my anti-anxiety medications - Paxil CR and Neurontin. (Read the post The Results of my visit to the psychiatrist and Your anxiety might be caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain. ) When the anxiety was free to enjoy itself in my brain, I often had trouble sleeping. When I would try to fall asleep my over active mind refused to stop its thinking. The anxiety disorder which caused me to think too much and worry about every little thing would render me sleepless.
During the day, I …
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 …
When anxiety clouds my head
While I was taking my shower this morning, I was thinking about the fact that I am missing my therapy appointment this week since my therapist will be away. I feel fine about that since right now I have no outstanding issues that I feel frantic about. Then I began to think about that franticness, and how it affects my thinking.
When I am worried (as in becoming panicky) about something, it can be hard to have an appropriate reaction to that “thing”. Appropriate is a loose term, I know, but I think you realize that I mean a “not off 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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