VIIBRYD: Any good for anxiety?

[flowerville]

Hello,

Currently, I am on 300 mg fluvoxamine and it's not that great.  There's a lot of sweating, still quite depressed, can't get wood very easily, and it's not doing as much for my extreme anxiety as it has in the past.  The only thing I can think of is to switch from generic fluvoxamine to brand LUVOX CR.  Upgrading to the brand often makes a significant difference.  If this doesn't work, or if I get desperate, I was thinking about asking my new p-doc for Viibryd.  I am hearing good things about it.  Desirable side effect profile.  You get the sheetz in the beginning but that's life.

I understand Viibryd's mechanism of action and it would seem to me that it would be effective for anxiety, since it is a "cross" between an SSRI and an agent such as Abilify or BuSpar.  But I never read anything about its efficacy with anxiety.  Before I collapse on the street sometime from a panic attack and never wake up, I was wondering if anyone has any data about the efficacy of Viibryd with real bad anxiety?

thank-you,

FlowerVille

Veritas.

[flowerville]

Thanks for your comments, Lydia.

With an appropriate dose of Xanax XR, I think I will be okay.  Upgrading from fluvoxamine to Luvox CR will help too.  WHO CARES if it's much more expensive, I'm a Federally protected witness, you know :)  

I --think--, when taking Luvox CR, you can cut the Xanax dose in half, and everyone likes that, including me.  I may be able to squeak by on 3 mg of Xanax XR.  That's not an awful lot.

I love to take buspirone, I am taking 60 mg of it now.  I plan on taking it for the rest of my life -- unless I have to switch to Parnate, in which case buspirone is contraindicated.  I would never survive the washout between an SSRI and an MAOI, incidentally.  I'd have to be hospitalized, and we already know the local city hospital here in the Bronx delivers a huge dose of substandard mental health care.  

I don't know about your opinion, but mine on Xanax XR is that taking 3 or so mg a day for several weeks or months is fine if you meet the criteria for PTSD, which I do.  Then, with a little luck, I could "graduate" to a smaller equivalent dose of Klonopin or just plain old Valium.  The brand.  Not the generics.  There some real bad generic clonazepam going around lately, for example.  Why settle for anything less when you are a Federally protected witness, right?

Viibryd sounds to me like it's got some potential, but it's just too new for someone as ill as me to get involved in right now.  It's also hard to take in the beginning, with the nausea and the runs and all.  

That's my 2 cents.  Thanks again, Lydia.

Baby John

P.S.:  It just needs to be accepted that the events of last several months of my life have caused enormous, enormous emotional and physical damage.  It's going to take a lot of money, effort, time, expert doctors, etc., in order for me to maintain good health in a preventive fashion and meet (or exceed!) the life expectancy that God gave me when I was born.  

Period.

Period.

[RubyWitch]

You appear very knowledgable about the medications you take, which is a most refreshing change of pace around here.
Since the fluvoxamine does not seem to be working well for you at the max dose of the generic brand, I think you're wise to consider an alternative plan at this time. As you said, perhaps trying the Luvox CR may kick-start its efficacy.

I am unfamiliar with "Vibryd," aside from a very quick peek on a Google search. It appears you have done your homework on this medication as well. I didn't see much that referenced it's efficacy for anxiety, but perhaps I didn't read far enough down to it's list of unlabeled uses.

Essentially what I'm telling you is that I have no data on the efficacy of Vibryd for "real bad anxiety." So sorry.
Perhaps someone else on the forum can help you better. Personally, I'd discuss it with my pharmacist.
Maybe you just need to do more of your own research and collect the data to decide if this is something you'd like to try. You seem more than capable of reaching your own conclusions.

On the topic of difficulty getting WOOD, we are experiencing the same WOOD problem here in the Pacific Northwest. We export so much WOOD to Japan, a damn cord of WOOD costs over $200 now! Would you believe that? A state that is heavily WOODED has such a shortage of WOOD for those of us who burn WOOD in our WOODSTOVES, would you not consider that just a little ironic? I sure would.
Peace out
Greenlydia