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Anxiety/Panic Disorder (LONG) - Effexor XR
Hi! I'm a 30 year old male who is extremely healthy, very athletic (work out daily), and fairly out going/sociable. Since I was about 18 years old I've smoked marijuana on a daily basis to help chill out at the end of the day. In my younger years, I've also experiemented with different types of drugs, but never had an addiction and stopped the hard partying by my mid twenties. Two years ago, I was in Amserdam over the holidays and ate a pot muffin from a local bakery. What ever was in it made my hallucinate for days. In the past when I would wake up from a bad trip and I was sober and good to go. Not this time! I got back to the US a few days later still feeling very trippy and out of it. A week later, I had my first major panick attack that landed me in the ER. After having a battery of blood work, EKG's, and basic neurological exams, they found nothing wrong. The trippy feeling eventually subsided and I moved on with my life. From that time on, every so often I would have feelings of dissociation that would trigger panic attacks. The spells would be brief and then would end. The last few weeks I have been under some stress do to my job ending, etc. I have started to feel socially anxious (have no idea where this is coming from - I love being out with friends) and am starting to feel that spacey/trippy feeling I felt a few years ago (this time with no drugs which makes it very scary). I decided to quit smoking herb last week as it was something I had been planning to do anyway and I was hoping I would lose the spaciness I have been recently feeling. Since that time I have felt VERY out of it and the panic attacks have become debilitating. Going to the dry cleaner almost made me have a meltdown. Again this coming from a very social, outgoing person who works with the public for a living! I saw the MD Monday and he feels that now that I may have a chemical imbalance. He prescribed me Effexor XR and I have been on it for 3 days. I feel like I am coked out of my mind. I have no appetite, super energized - I can't even drink coffee and I am known for my Starbucks quad shot latte in the morning. On top of that, I have a wonderful love/sex life and I can barely come when having sex! I feel as spacey as ever - WTF is wrong with me? How have I slipped from being a confident, cool, successful, happy dude to a lunatic that doesn't want to leave the house in the span of 10 days? I am a naturally very high energy person - is Effexor the right drug for me? When I was thinking anti-anxiey I pictured that nice warm calming effect of xanax or something. That is more what I am looking for. I don't know that I want to be on anti-depressents. I don't suffer from depression!!! HELP!!! Does anyone else have the spacey/trippy feeling? No one I know understands what I am talking about!
I dunno why that was to brian....shoulda been addressed to trentztrik. Something else I will say is that my doctor, as well as giving me a prescription, told me I should go see a psychiatrist or psychologist, one of the two because that can help also, I forget which. She just gave me the name of a place to help me. I think I am going to try that too, because I would prefer not to need any medication at all. And I think over time, those kinds of treatments might actually cure you, while medication is just kinda a temporary fix.
Well after one day of taking buspirone, I could feel my anxiety was totally gone in situations that before woulda felt unbearable. But on the other hand, I still felt kinda less outgoing that I really am. But anything was better than feeling how I felt before. I think I am going to try taking only a fourth, third, or half of a pill instead of the whole thing, the least amount I need to feel comfortable. I definitely felt I could function better, like I would actually be able to go sit in a classroom for hours though and feel fine, instead of flunking out of college because I cant bring myself to go to class, or leave after being there 5 minutes. And I didnt feel any need at all to drink alcohol to feel comfortable, and stayed completely sober, while around strangers. Well, sober besides the buspirone, not sure if that counts. In fact the thought of alcohol while on this stuff was extremely unappealing, so I think it is killing two birds with one stone, because my anxiety without treatment was turning me into an alcoholic. Anyway the point I am trying to make is I noticed a huge difference right away. I think by taking a little less, before situations I know will make my anxiety kick in, will really benefit me, at school, work and other situations I am around a lot of people. And time by myself or with close friends and family, can be spent completely sober for me, with no busiprone needed.
Although it was only one day though, so maybe things will change, I will keep you updated. But no racing heart, or sweating. No turning red and worrying about other people looking at me. No desire to just get by myself so I could feel normal. If you do decide to take this it might make you feel less outgoing than you know you really are, but I am willing to accept that over the problems I was having before. It seemed like something I could work on, as opposed to before, when I knew I was really a fun person, but couldnt show it no matter what.
Although it was only one day though, so maybe things will change, I will keep you updated. But no racing heart, or sweating. No turning red and worrying about other people looking at me. No desire to just get by myself so I could feel normal. If you do decide to take this it might make you feel less outgoing than you know you really are, but I am willing to accept that over the problems I was having before. It seemed like something I could work on, as opposed to before, when I knew I was really a fun person, but couldnt show it no matter what.
going off of anything- smoking for YEARS- new meds, etc is enough to make your body spin and feel muttled. First thing I would make sure youre correctly diagnosed. A 'chemical imbalance' is a term I am weary of. Unfortunately it gets generalized while the real problem/diagnosis gets ignored or misinterpreted. So seriously get a second opinion, especially if all of these issues are new, you dont want to be a pill guinea pig or mess around on the first diagnosis. Im only saying this because I was misdiagnosed and ended up having an entire summer with withdrawls from one thing, an allergic reaction to another- which the symptoms wernt in their books so they blew it off- anway 4 trips to the er, a spinal tap.... and I decided to stop that med and go back to original and within a few days I was fine.
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
going off of anything- smoking for YEARS- new meds, etc is enough to make your body spin and feel muttled. First thing I would make sure youre correctly diagnosed. A 'chemical imbalance' is a term I am weary of. Unfortunately it gets generalized while the real problem/diagnosis gets ignored or misinterpreted. So seriously get a second opinion, especially if all of these issues are new, you dont want to be a pill guinea pig or mess around on the first diagnosis. Im only saying this because I was misdiagnosed and ended up having an entire summer with withdrawls from one thing, an allergic reaction to another- which the symptoms wernt in their books so they blew it off- anway 4 trips to the er, a spinal tap.... and I decided to stop that med and go back to original and within a few days I was fine.
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
going off of anything- smoking for YEARS- new meds, etc is enough to make your body spin and feel muttled. First thing I would make sure youre correctly diagnosed. A 'chemical imbalance' is a term I am weary of. Unfortunately it gets generalized while the real problem/diagnosis gets ignored or misinterpreted. So seriously get a second opinion, especially if all of these issues are new, you dont want to be a pill guinea pig or mess around on the first diagnosis. Im only saying this because I was misdiagnosed and ended up having an entire summer with withdrawls from one thing, an allergic reaction to another- which the symptoms wernt in their books so they blew it off- anway 4 trips to the er, a spinal tap.... and I decided to stop that med and go back to original and within a few days I was fine.
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
going off of anything- smoking for YEARS- new meds, etc is enough to make your body spin and feel muttled. First thing I would make sure youre correctly diagnosed. A 'chemical imbalance' is a term I am weary of. Unfortunately it gets generalized while the real problem/diagnosis gets ignored or misinterpreted. So seriously get a second opinion, especially if all of these issues are new, you dont want to be a pill guinea pig or mess around on the first diagnosis. Im only saying this because I was misdiagnosed and ended up having an entire summer with withdrawls from one thing, an allergic reaction to another- which the symptoms wernt in their books so they blew it off- anway 4 trips to the er, a spinal tap.... and I decided to stop that med and go back to original and within a few days I was fine.
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
going off of anything- smoking for YEARS- new meds, etc is enough to make your body spin and feel muttled. First thing I would make sure youre correctly diagnosed. A 'chemical imbalance' is a term I am weary of. Unfortunately it gets generalized while the real problem/diagnosis gets ignored or misinterpreted. So seriously get a second opinion, especially if all of these issues are new, you dont want to be a pill guinea pig or mess around on the first diagnosis. Im only saying this because I was misdiagnosed and ended up having an entire summer with withdrawls from one thing, an allergic reaction to another- which the symptoms wernt in their books so they blew it off- anway 4 trips to the er, a spinal tap.... and I decided to stop that med and go back to original and within a few days I was fine.
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
going off of anything- smoking for YEARS- new meds, etc is enough to make your body spin and feel muttled. First thing I would make sure youre correctly diagnosed. A 'chemical imbalance' is a term I am weary of. Unfortunately it gets generalized while the real problem/diagnosis gets ignored or misinterpreted. So seriously get a second opinion, especially if all of these issues are new, you dont want to be a pill guinea pig or mess around on the first diagnosis. Im only saying this because I was misdiagnosed and ended up having an entire summer with withdrawls from one thing, an allergic reaction to another- which the symptoms wernt in their books so they blew it off- anway 4 trips to the er, a spinal tap.... and I decided to stop that med and go back to original and within a few days I was fine.
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
going off of anything- smoking for YEARS- new meds, etc is enough to make your body spin and feel muttled. First thing I would make sure youre correctly diagnosed. A 'chemical imbalance' is a term I am weary of. Unfortunately it gets generalized while the real problem/diagnosis gets ignored or misinterpreted. So seriously get a second opinion, especially if all of these issues are new, you dont want to be a pill guinea pig or mess around on the first diagnosis. Im only saying this because I was misdiagnosed and ended up having an entire summer with withdrawls from one thing, an allergic reaction to another- which the symptoms wernt in their books so they blew it off- anway 4 trips to the er, a spinal tap.... and I decided to stop that med and go back to original and within a few days I was fine.
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
going off of anything- smoking for YEARS- new meds, etc is enough to make your body spin and feel muttled. First thing I would make sure youre correctly diagnosed. A 'chemical imbalance' is a term I am weary of. Unfortunately it gets generalized while the real problem/diagnosis gets ignored or misinterpreted. So seriously get a second opinion, especially if all of these issues are new, you dont want to be a pill guinea pig or mess around on the first diagnosis. Im only saying this because I was misdiagnosed and ended up having an entire summer with withdrawls from one thing, an allergic reaction to another- which the symptoms wernt in their books so they blew it off- anway 4 trips to the er, a spinal tap.... and I decided to stop that med and go back to original and within a few days I was fine.
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
going off of anything- smoking for YEARS- new meds, etc is enough to make your body spin and feel muttled. First thing I would make sure youre correctly diagnosed. A 'chemical imbalance' is a term I am weary of. Unfortunately it gets generalized while the real problem/diagnosis gets ignored or misinterpreted. So seriously get a second opinion, especially if all of these issues are new, you dont want to be a pill guinea pig or mess around on the first diagnosis. Im only saying this because I was misdiagnosed and ended up having an entire summer with withdrawls from one thing, an allergic reaction to another- which the symptoms wernt in their books so they blew it off- anway 4 trips to the er, a spinal tap.... and I decided to stop that med and go back to original and within a few days I was fine.
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
I wish you good luck and i know it sounds lame but remember to breath. this stuff takes time:)
going off of either med, an antidepressant or an antianxiety med can be very hard. you have gotten some good advice. the med your on now was the hardest for me to quit. i hope everything works out for you. take care .Remar
Brian - the same thing happened to me. I have been a heavy smoker for years and recently quit due to my increased social anxiety. I'm not sure if the cessation of my weed smoking has been causing this trippy/out of it feeling. I haven't smoked in about a week. Let me know how the BuSpar goes - I don't think I want to be on antidepressants. I like having a high libido!
I agree that the food we eat has a lot of bad chemicals in it. But I know for me personally, I think smoking pot for years is what caused my social anxiety, or atleast made it 100X worse. At first when I started smoking pot I would feel nervous or anxious when in public and around sober people, and it morphed into me being anxious around people all the time. But I was a very very heavy smoker for years. I would say to quit smoking pot, and try to follow your doctors advice and if it doesnt work, try something else. But I just got prescribed to buspirone today which I think is the same as buspar, and I will let you know eventually how it works out. I have never been to the doctor for my anxiety before, so I cant give advice on any medications.
I would urge caution in taking anxiety meds. Just remember...once you start something you eventually will have to quit and coming off anxiety meds in as bad as coming off pain meds. I've done both and would choose opiod withdrawal over anxiety med withdrawal.
I am going to pound this drum until someone listens to me and decides to make a change. I firmly believe that most, if not all, of our medical problems are food related. The FDA allows food manufactures to put countless preservatives, herbicides, pesticides, hormones, steroids and chemicals into our food and our bodies eventually loose the ability to properly deal with those items.
I also firmly believe that anxiety is one of the major responses our bodies have in trying to deal with these chemicales. Over the past year I have gone through a series of troubles and I am convinced that they have all been due to my poor diet.
Think aobut this...McDonalds, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, boxed foods, processed foods..this is the basic American diet. High in processes sugar, flour, rice...etc.
Example. Dairy cows now produce 3 years worth of milk in just one year due to the hormones and steriods they are given. At the end of the one year cycle the cows develop a condition called mastits. THis is when the pus and blood from the cow is actually found in the milk they give. At this point the cow is sent to the slaughter house for us to eat. All in the name of money.
Another example. My daughter began her monthy cycle at the age of 11...her best friend at the age of 10. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??? Both girls were fully developed by the age of 12. Steriods and hormones in our food supply. Doctors are now reporting that ADD, ADHD and child diabetes are at epidimic proportions and the reason is chemicals in the food they eat.
Before you begin anxiety med I would suggest a serious change in diet. Eat only fresh fruits and veggies, meat, chicken, pork and fish. This wont be easy and it will take 3-4 months for you to really see results but the fight is worth it. Let me know if this is what you decide to do.
I am going to pound this drum until someone listens to me and decides to make a change. I firmly believe that most, if not all, of our medical problems are food related. The FDA allows food manufactures to put countless preservatives, herbicides, pesticides, hormones, steroids and chemicals into our food and our bodies eventually loose the ability to properly deal with those items.
I also firmly believe that anxiety is one of the major responses our bodies have in trying to deal with these chemicales. Over the past year I have gone through a series of troubles and I am convinced that they have all been due to my poor diet.
Think aobut this...McDonalds, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, boxed foods, processed foods..this is the basic American diet. High in processes sugar, flour, rice...etc.
Example. Dairy cows now produce 3 years worth of milk in just one year due to the hormones and steriods they are given. At the end of the one year cycle the cows develop a condition called mastits. THis is when the pus and blood from the cow is actually found in the milk they give. At this point the cow is sent to the slaughter house for us to eat. All in the name of money.
Another example. My daughter began her monthy cycle at the age of 11...her best friend at the age of 10. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??? Both girls were fully developed by the age of 12. Steriods and hormones in our food supply. Doctors are now reporting that ADD, ADHD and child diabetes are at epidimic proportions and the reason is chemicals in the food they eat.
Before you begin anxiety med I would suggest a serious change in diet. Eat only fresh fruits and veggies, meat, chicken, pork and fish. This wont be easy and it will take 3-4 months for you to really see results but the fight is worth it. Let me know if this is what you decide to do.
Thanks for the responses! Aren't just regular anti anxiety meds pretty addictive for everyday use? He gave me some Ativan for panic attacks but felt the effexor would be good just to level me out. I have no depression (but if I still feel like this for an extended period I might become it - haha)!! Anyone try Buspar? I just want something low key to take the edge with no side effects!
I have the same spaced out trippy feeling at the moment and have had it constantly for about 2 weeks! I'm on effexor as well but it's not making me really energised or anything. I'm gone from the same spectrum, really social outgoing to almost agoraphobia! dont know what to do, going to a psych next week hopefully they'll help me out with these feeling and maybe put me on a different med. I agree with remar, try a different med ive been on lexapro and now effexor but are anti depressants, now i think ill move on to a straight anti anxiety if there is one! Good luck with sorting yourself out.
i can only tell you my experience with effexor. it was a horrible med for me. you might want to try something else. if your having just anxiety without depression then why did'nt your dr. give you an antianxiety med? it's true that some antidepressants work for anxiety too. i've heard this kind of thing happen to so many people after smoking pot. alot of them have had their first panic attack while smoking it or shortly after. believe me, you will find many people here that understand what your going through. talk to your dr. about stopping this med and putting you on an antianxiety med. you can pm me if you want to talk more. take care. Remar
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