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A topic I think we should talk about Anxiety

I think it would be a good idea for us to bring to light who is feeling extreme anxiety and what we are doing about it what we think is causing it.
My story is I started feeling it one day when I was on triple Therapy with incivek but was able to control it with a 10 mg. valium before my morning does. When I stopped the incivek my body even though it is coming more alive one week later the physical anxiety and I mean racing heart, nerves shaking internally. It's bad. I ran to my GP and he gave me Clonaazepam 0.5. but I took it the minute the pharmacy filled it and felt much better. This morning I woke up about 5am with the anxiety feeling coming on and took one .05 went back to sleep and at 7 am took 600 mg of Riba but had to take another '05mg. Well see how I can do with the 400 mg dose this afternoon. I want to be careful to use just want I need. I don't want to run out and it say only 1 three times a day every 8hr or went need. wondering if I should stick with that or do the double up in morning and just one in afternoon with lower dose. This is the only problem I'm having right now, but extreme anxiety feels like a big one. I've never had it before and it is scary. I am going to my hep doctor to see if he can do something better to get me through the next 3 months. I have to get through the 24 weeks at least. That's my first gold before I decide on whether I can do the additonal 48 weeks. If anyone has imput as to their experience it might help all of us who are feeling this. Unfortunately I was a valium user before tx so I probably have a higher resistance to these drugs.
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Avatar universal
My doctor just lowered my riba to 800 for a month anyway. He said it doesn't matter much now. I'm pass the crucial part and it may lessen anxiety and raise hemoglobins so I'll have more energy. Still anemic even on procrit.
Helpful - 0
190885 tn?1333025891
i really don't know for sure if its helping...i think so....i don't seem to have much anxiety....and i feel fine mentally...when i was on the incivek i felt not so great mentally but once off what a difference that way....my anemia is such a drag though...i started up 400 riba today...had to take 5 days off...i took 11 days off once before...i still think the riba works way better on some then others...doesn't always matter what weight you are...i think 600 to some may be 1200 to others...may be the way we ingest the drug...i often wonder why they don't do a stool sample of folks to analyze every week to see how much riba is passed out of us...maybe some folks digestive systems just don't take in all the riba and they have less sx....someday we will know so much more...i hope to be able to cut down my riba by 200 or so cause it really affects me.....good luck....billy
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thank you oceanblue. I had a good visit with my doctor. I'm four week undelectable and everything he says has pretty much been right on target. He's going to lower my Riba to 800 mg. He said at this point it wouldn't hurt only help with anxiety and anemia. Although my anemia is no where as bad as most on here. I feel I'm in good hands and trying it for a month to see if he can get me feeling better is fine with me. He's seems to worry about the klonopin addiction. So I'm going to try and go easy on that.
@workingdog AD's have never help me in the past when I've tried them, but for those they help It's wonderful.
Helpful - 0
163305 tn?1333668571
Oh, and meditation of course. If you can stop, center yourself by listening to your breathing, and fill your mind with thoughts of loving kindness, the anxiety will dissipate.  Again, all I know is it works for me.
Helpful - 0
163305 tn?1333668571
Hmm, I've found that I get a kind of panic attack when I'm dehydrated.
Not to say it will work for everyone, but my advice is DRINK WATER!
It certainly can't hurt.
Helpful - 0
190885 tn?1333025891
i take zoloft....never took an ad before but over years of reading other posts here i thought it would be a good idea....i'm so glad i did....good luck anxiety can cause all kinds of problems and become a real drag....billy
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I truly sympathize with you streamline.

I had anxiety and claustrophobia come out of nowhere with many weeks to go on 48 weeks of SOC. It was frightening and incapacitating. I was up all night standing in one place or another in the kitchen with my husband with the first episode. I couldn't even sit down. At daylight it eased and I telephoned my doctor who prescribed xanax 5 mg every 8 hours if needed. It turned out the medication wiped out the anxiety completely but the claustrophobia persisted and would become more severe and the overwhelming anxiety would resurface then too. I had to keep up the xanax almost once daily until the end of treatment.

Everything was manageable after SOC was over and I have no left over anxiety, but, the memory of how upsetting those events were for me prompts me to tell you to do whatever it takes to get done.

I believe just having hepatitis c and going through the treatment is very difficult and produces anxiety. However, I also believe something in the mechanism of action and these drug effects does trigger unique anxiety and personality reactions in people having to take them. I felt like a switch was turned on in my case, it happened so fast. I have never been on anti -anxiety agents or anti-depressants but it was clear to me what was happening was completely beyond my ability to hold it back.

I hope you will find a schedule of medications that will work for you. Stay on it and work closely with your physician. Good Luck and keep on walking through it.
Helpful - 0
1826037 tn?1320337314
i have anemia and with that comes the high heart rate which makes me feel crazy ... i have to take xanax to be able to sleep cause my heart rate is 105 all the time .. so i think the combo of feeling bad , no sleep and fast heart rate are causing my anxiety ..but you should make sure you arent really anemic .. cause that causes the shakyness and  fast heart beat..im on procrit and hoping to get my hgb back close to normal soon
Helpful - 0
545538 tn?1295992017
Anxiety is horrible. Just a warning on klonopin, really addictive. You probably already knew this.

I will get off of my soap box now. Hope that you can excuse my offer of advice, as I often feel that the worst kind of vice is advice.

Kathy
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Good luck to you brianmo. You'll do fine. I know this anxiety is new to me too. I will definitely have more sympathy in the future for people who suffer from it after going through this. Stress I understood, but anxiety is a whole different animal.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thank you. I'm not on antidepressants, My GP prescribe the KLonopin. I'm off of the incivek now one week. I finished my 12 weeks, I'm still on interferon and ribravirin. I take 3 ribravirin  at 7 Am and 2 ribraivrin 4 pm. I"m using the system you mentioned starting this morning. I'll see how it works out. I wish he would have me a higher dose of the Klonopin. I would feel much safer getting through. I have an appt. with my hep doctor and will see if he can help as well. Thanks for your reply, it helps to see how others are handling these sides that come up
Helpful - 0
1148619 tn?1332010984
While I was deciding to do tx I started to have extreme anxiety that was new to me. I had never been on drugs before but was able to recognize it. I called my doctor and she said no, she thought once I started tx I would settle down. What was causung me anx was trying to figure out how I was going to get 60 grms of fat into my system. I just could not see it. So, I did a trial run for a few days. It was awful. So, I decided to go with victrilis instead. Once I called her with that decision all my anxiety was gone. The anx was awful. I would find myself driving not knowing where I was going, I could not sleep, what helped was exercise, pilates. Would calm me right down. I am now getting close to having to add Vic to my treatment and I can sense the worry starting. Called nurse yesterday to talk about it
4 pills 3 x day freaks me out. But, I will do it. I have to. He said it's important to get the timing down. He said he will give me a timer! I LOL.
Helpful - 0
1747349 tn?1332683680
I'm assuming you are on interferon therapy? If you are, high anxiety and many other emotions are very common. My fiance and I went through this and it was very difficult. As for how you take the meds: if 2 in the am and 1 in the pm work best for you, then take them that way. The Rx does say (3 times a day prn) which means when YOU think you need to take them. VERY important: make sure you discuss these symptoms with your GP or specialist, especially if you are on an antidepressant. Good luck to you my friend and please let me know how you made out. God bless you.
Helpful - 0
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