Anxiety Medications

[EsotericTrivia]

What are the best medications that people have tried for Generalized Anxiety Disorder?  

I have what seems to be constant anxiety related to health problems (still determining if they are imagined, real, or a bit of both), and had been put on Ativan .5 mg to help with night sweats (worked for about 2 weeks), and now Xanax (works during the day but does not help at night), and am trying Zoloft 25 mg (which seems to worsen the night sweats).  Wondering if there is anything better out there, especially for the night sweats, the day time anxiety is bad enough, but its the inability to get a good night sleep without having to change my clothes and go to the bathroom every couple hours that is really getting me down.

Any advice from fellow sufferers would be appreciated.  I posted a journal entry with my last 4 month journey with anxiety and health issues for anyone interested in my story.  

Thanks

[RichReynolds]

And it's magnesium oxide which I know now is the hardest to absorb.

[RichReynolds]

What a good MG to start with for the adaptogen?  Have u heard of the Ron teeguardens dragon herb super adaptogens?

[RichReynolds]

One more question what do u think about the already magnesium 250 mg and daily vitamin I've been taking and adding the adaptogen with it?? Overdoing?? Or wouldn't hurt??

[Kev90]

Nope I actually recommend it.
What kind of magnesium do.you have? If you don't have magnesium citrate finish your current bottle and get magnesium citrate. Its better absorbed in your body very healthy. Glad to hear your at ease! Let me know how your doing anytime sorry I responded late! Take care and God bless!

[RichReynolds]

Well I can honestly say I've cut out caffeine all together just recently I try not to drink coffee either.  You have put my mind at ease I can say for now.  I purchased NATURAL CARE SLEEP FIX FROM WALGREENS and also gonna purchase the adaptogen vegetarian capsule it's called imperial adaptogen the ultimate tonic supplement.  Also through my insurance I'm gonna do Acupuncture.  And try that.  I'm totally for the natural way as well.  My sister was on Ativan and still had crazy anxiety.  I don't want that. I'm getting active and have a gym membership with my wife and she's totally on the page of helping me out and trying to understand and help me.  Again thank you!!

[RichReynolds]

I read up a little on the adaptogens.  Does it give u insomnia?  I'm not really loosing sleep it's just hard for me to go to sleep because the bad thoughts and the constant mind racing that anxiety gives me.  I wanna be a ale to go home wind down water the grass but before I start that on the way home take something that way after I do all that I can climb in bed and crash out.  I know there's gonna be a lot of trail and error with these things. But I'd rather know what to go to straight off the bat.

[Kev90]

If you take it at night ashwaganda is more of a sleeping aid and rhodiola is more day time for sure. I also take herbal teach for sleep my favorite is called nighty night you can get at sprouts I love it. I'm a big health freak i take supplento everyday so if you have any questions on a certain product or herb let me know dude. My dad was the head surgeons at St Jude. He was always skeptical of my natural supplements but he has health problems with diabetesome. Tried my enzymes extracts mixed with herbs he loved it lol thought it was magic lmao gut health is really imporntant when it comes to disease so yeah Bro take a lot of natural herbselection that act like antibiotics. Just take the adaptagens first try rhodiOla in the morning to.mid day they wshkuld make you sleepy at the end of the day.before bedtime. Your adrenal glands are.probably on overload and I wouldn't drink coffee in the morning. I l love it but it has screwed  me over I just found out by quitting the stuff. Also I used to sleep at2 or 3 am and get up at 4 or 5 super bad.

[RichReynolds]

Thanks for ur responses.  I've been doing natural 250 mg of magnesium and a daily vitamin. Been reading on other stuff that is natural as well.  I wanna find a good sleep aid something natural.  To help me fall asleep faster.  I work from 11-9 pm so it's hard to wind down after work. I still haven't touched the celexa 10mg but it has crossed my mind several times.  I haven't had a drink since NOVEMBER OF 2015 and because I do t drink I don't smoke either. Talking with other people like u really help with the anxiety cause it lets me know I'm not alone.  Thanks again for ur responses and I'll will definitely K.I.T with what I've been using naturally or if I went the medication way either way I hope all the new ways we try really help us out and get past this so we can have normal lives again.  God Bless

[RichReynolds]

More to fill in the gaps.  I've felt I've had anxiety for sometime is started after drinking on the weekends and having the hangovers in fear I was gonna die. I haven't drank since November of 2015 nor do I smoke. Every now and then it will be there. I think to much, fears bad thoughts. I started going to church and praying about it.  I just want to feel normal again. I'm a father of four kids and want to be in the lives and function normally!  Will celexa 10mg be good for me and will it take away the anxiety and bad thoughts and help me live a happy and normal life.  Again I'm very new to this stuff so please help me out.  I've read tons of blogs and postings about this and some are scary and some are a breathe of fresh air.  Please help!!!

[EsotericTrivia]

Hi Rich,

I am kind of in the same boat as you.  They prescribed me Zoloft and I took it and it just seemed to make the issues I am having worse.  I too no longer drink or smoke, and have 2 small boys.  I feel you pain, if I find something that works for me, I will make sure to let you know, please do the same and fee, free to reach out to me if you need someone to talk to.

[Kev90]

Go natural. And yes hangovers are scary if you have anxiety. Cortisol dUde. You need to lower it. Drinking a lot raises it and it's mostly in yiur body when you wake up regardless of being sober.or or.not . So take natural supplements but first take care of yiur gut while you take stuff for cortisol. Disease starts in the gut. Drinking and other crap here on this planet that we take can cause bacteria infections to start in the gut. Fear in the head or anxiety can occur if your have bad bacteria infection in the gut. People don't even know it. Goldens seal with oil of oregano act as a antibiotic take some with an adaptagen like rhodiola Rosea. Go to mothers market or online getat good brand and start popping thone suckers they are healthy and you need it guarantee you you will feel like new and your old normal self again. Do not waste money on big pharma please. Go natural. Buy the best products out there you will only get healthier i.promise

[RichReynolds]

I'm new I'm 34 year old male and was prescribed celexa 10mg a month again and have not taken it because I'm scared of the side effects.  Ibe had anxiety for the last couple days and last night was the worst. I close my eyes and its in fast forward can't shut my mind off.  Help should I take it or is there something naturally I can take to calm me down

[Kev90]

Adaptagens work like a charm yes go natural. You will never go back to big pharma. Rhodiola is my favorite as well as ashwaganda. There are more out therearly yiu can take to reduce cortisol levels dramatically. Also take goldenseal or oil of oregano get rid of infections or bad bacteria in the gut where most anxiety and disease  comes from   believe it or not. Exercise stay healthy try not to drink as much if you already do. Alcohol that is lol quit coffee and go with warm or.hot lemon water.in the morning. Nascent iodine super healthy to so take it after you take adaptagens to get a very good adrenal gland. Thanks

[EsotericTrivia]

I would say the anxiety is crippling, my wife says I'm not functioning.  I have been to the doctor several times and had blood tests galore.  Not just night sweats, almost constant anxiety all day long, worried about dying of something the doctors are missing got not finding fast enough.  And I have a long history of anxiety issues,  just never been this bad before.

[Paxiled]

Ok, that's the information we needed.  So you have an anxiety problem and a night sweats problem.  As i said, all antidepressants can cause night sweats - doesn't mean they will, but they can.  I got them from Lexapro and Celexa.  But it's also a common anxiety side effect as well, which might suggest a physiological cause for the anxiety such as a hormone imbalance and might not.  Unfortunately, there's no answer to your basic question -- everyone metabolizes drugs differently and has different experiences on them, so what works for one won't for another.  You're still on a small Zoloft dose, so you've a ways to go to see if it's going to help or not.  You didn't mention if you tried therapy.

[EsotericTrivia]

I do see a therapist every other week, I am also sober and go to recovery meetings 4 times a week.  As you said I am not comfortable with taking the xanax and Ativan.  I try to just deal with the anxiety during the day, doing Yoga, working out for 30 minutes, or taking a bath if it gets really bad, and was taking .5 ativan at night as that seemed to help for about 2 weeks, but then it stopped working (though the night sweats are much worse if I dont take it).  I went to the ER yesterday, as the zoloft seemed to amp me up even at the low dose, of course nothing was wrong with me according to the tests they did.  

Not sure what to do, some of the people I have talked to suggested Buspar might work better.

anyway thanks for responding.

[cmropen]

Track your symptoms, write them down, and give your doctor a call to let them know about the night sweats. It's important you communicate with them about side effects you're having so your current treatment plan can be reviewed and evaluated. Talking with your doctor is the best way to understand what your other treatment and/or medication options are. It's also possible that they may want to send you for physical tests to rule out any underlying physical causes for the night sweats, so ask about that too.

[Paxiled]

You say what "seems" to be constant anxiety.  I agree, you don't sound like the typical anxiety sufferer from the little you've posted here.  Everyone with health problems gets anxious about it, but that's not a mental problem, that's life.  Anxiety as a mental disorder involves chronic anxiety that is irrational and seems to have arisen from nowhere.  If it arises from somewhere known, that's a different kettle of fish unless it's diagnosed as PTSD, which you don't have.  So if you don't have an anxiety problem, the night sweats are being caused by something else.  If you do, you should have a lot of anxiety -- irrational fear -- and not just night sweats.  Night sweats are also a possible side effect of most antidepressants, and taking benzos for a problem that isn't anxiety is taking an addictive drug for no useful purpose.  Maybe there's more to this story, but if I were only suffering from night sweats and not constant crippling irrational fears I would be looking for the physiological cause or dealing with it somehow, not getting involved with the very complicated drugs used for people who have no visible alternative to get on with their lives.  And if it is anxiety, but your life is otherwise liveable, therapy is a place to start.  Have you ever had your hormone levels tested over a period of time, meaning not just once?