Anyone taking doxepin(sinequan) for anxiety please tell me your experience

[JanaeAshley]

Hi. I just started taking Sinequan a week ago. I have read some scary things about the medication and I would like to know what side effects or problems patients have experienced.

It is hard for me to know what side effects I am experiencing because I am also going through withdrawal from Zoloft so any thing i feel I cannot blame on Sinequan.

I am taking 10mg for 2 weeks then I will be bumped up to 25mg.
Im also 22 years old and 130 lbs.

[Paxiled]

Just curious as to why the psychiatrist didn't taper you slowly off the Zoloft and get through the withdrawal before putting you on another med, especially one of a different class.  Did you ask?  I wasn't on sinequan, but I was on a different tricyclic, imipramine.  What I remember is dry mouth, constipation, a lot of sedation at the beginning but that passed, headaches.  It worked okay for a few years before it stopped working.  But you're not me or anyone else, so you're side effects will be all yours.  Don't pre-plan them -- wait and find out, it could be the easiest thing you ever do.  It was very easy to quit for me; Paxil worked better, but quitting -- well, you know.  Give it a chance, but remember, it won't do anything about your Zoloft withdrawal, whatever that might be.

[JanaeAshley]

It was my family doctor actually and he I guess just "forget" to tell me what to do with my zoloft. I tried to call him several times for a week and no returned calls... after a week of not being told what to do I went to the student health center because i was experiencing so much withdrawal symptoms. They offered to write me a prescription for a lower dose of Zoloft to take for a week then a lower one for the next week. I felt I had made it this far I dont want to start again. I  have just been taking an ativan during the day and the sinequan at night. The ativan seems to be controlling a lot of my withdrawal or at least calming me down enough to deal with it. I have noticed improvement everyday in my symptoms.

I was more so curious if the sinequan could be what is making me feel tingly mostly in my tongue and mouth. This only happens about 3 hours before I should be taking the sinequan. I take it at about 10 pm everyday and around 7pm I start to notice the tingling and dizziness.

I really don't believe SSRI's have much effect for me on my anxiety and panic. I have been prescribed different ones for years to have no success. Im hoping tricylic will do the trick.

Also I was reading about tricylics and the one you mentioned you took looked very promising.
If you dont mind me asking do tricylics tend to have sexual side effects. That is my biggest complaint with SSRI's and the lack of emotions I had on them.

[Paxiled]

Yes, for me the exact same ones, lessened desire and takes forever to reach orgasm.  My wife loves it, but not so much fun for me.  I can't say I had no emotions, though.  The tricyclic didn't seem to effect my personality much, but Paxil certainly did -- made me more aggressive and angry, for two things.  But I was also younger when I was on imipramine, and so were the women I was with, so that might account for why my sexual desire is so much less now than it was then, too.  Men, you know.

[Paxiled]

Oh, I should have added, that tingling and such sounds like Zoloft withdrawal more than a tricyclic side effect, but who knows?  Try to find a knowledgeable and understand psychiatrist -- hard to find -- because regular doctors really don't have a clue about these meds.  Psychiatrists barely do.  You really have to inform yourself; I found that out the hard way.

[JanaeAshley]

The zoloft was the only one to effect my personality. So far the doxepin seems to have little to no effect on my personality and has no effect sexually. Thank you so much for putting ease to my situation and offering the knowledge you have from experience.

Im beginning to think the tingling feeling i get is the start of my panic setting in or perhaps just me taking normal physical sensations and questioning them so much that they become possible warning signs.
Sugar seems to make me feel a rush of heat in my body and makes me feel hyped.. even in small amounts. Me being an anxious person with a deep fear of passing out or my heart stopping takes that rush as a warning sign and instantly im in a panic attack....


Thank you again Im clearly having a hard time distinguishing normal sensations from abnormal.

[JanaeAshley]

The zoloft was the only one to effect my personality. So far the doxepin seems to have little to no effect on my personality and has no effect sexually. Thank you so much for putting ease to my situation and offering the knowledge you have from experience.

Im beginning to think the tingling feeling i get is the start of my panic setting in or perhaps just me taking normal physical sensations and questioning them so much that they become possible warning signs.
Sugar seems to make me feel a rush of heat in my body and makes me feel hyped.. even in small amounts. Me being an anxious person with a deep fear of passing out or my heart stopping takes that rush as a warning sign and instantly im in a panic attack....


Thank you again Im clearly having a hard time distinguishing normal sensations from abnormal.

[Paxiled]

I wouldn't expect you'll ever find complete relief from your anxiety through medication.  Only a cure would bring that, and medication doesn't cure, it just mitigates symptoms.  Only therapy or happenstance will bring a cure.  I know I've never found one (and quitting Paxil left me completely non-functional).  What meds did most for me was stop me from getting new phobias, not eliminate the old ones, but that's pretty good.  It made life more tolerable and kept it from constricting further.  But I always still had the underlying illness.  Take what good you can get, but if there's an answer, it lies beyond medication.