Answer to dr. Foster

[Scottiedkelley]

Well, I have had bad anxiety the last month. It all started after I tried to ween off klonopin so that I could get approved by the FAA for a physical. When I was almost done with the weening I started to have bad anxiety. I went back on to my klonopin and it didn't help much. I didn't feel normal anymore, and after a month got depressed. I asked my psychiatrist if I was going crazy and he said I just had GAD. Iive been swapping and trying lots of different meds since per doctors orders and nothing helps.'ve been worrying about everything ever since and have been afraid of going crazy. I have a friend that has bipolar and she has frequent psychotic breaks when her anxiety gets bad. I'm just afraid it will happen to me. Your thoughts?

[Scottiedkelley]

Thank you doctor. You helped quell this fear. I took effexor 5 years, it worked great until I built a tolerence

[Peter Forster]

Thanks for the additional information. A couple of thoughts....

First, I think you are not at risk of "going crazy."

Second, I hope and imagine that your doctor didn't mean that GAD was not a serious condition when he said you "just" have GAD. In my experience GAD can be a terribly disabling condition... it also sometimes requires a while to treat effectively... studies on GAD with venlafaxine (Effexor) - which is one of the most effective treatments long term -  show that doses of Effexor for GAD are generally higher than for major depression and that the full benefit takes longer to be achieved.

Finally, I think that the addition of some form of psychotherapy (cognitive therapy or the new "metacognitive" therapy would be useful if you haven't already done so).